Photo printing - final report

[Sylvia Steiger]

11/22/00: I am not at all pleased with the way anything has come out so
far, so for my last opportunity on not-previously-washed fabrics, I
ironed one of each preparation to (hopefully) heat-set the colors. They
have all been printed for over a week and should be thoroughly dry. (I
didn't mean to let them sit so long, just haven't had an opportunity to
do anything more towards testing.) I had a couple extra printed fabrics
left over, one Downy Care and one Bubble Jet Set, so I left them
unironed and washed new AND previously washed photos in plain cold
water, gentle cycle, dried in the drier on air only.

First wash results on ironed fabrics: Untreated fabric: color closest to
original, little loss of detail. Bubble Jet Set 2000: little color
loss, no detail loss. Downy Care: colors a little ruddy, minimal if any
detail loss. Great Value: colors are actually more intense! Blue
flowers and red hair all more vivid, skin more ruddy as well. Ultra
Nice & Fluffy, black and white: lost a little detail and color is a
little warmer. Ultra Snuggle: very pink with some loss of detail.

First wash results on unironed fabrics: Bubble Jet Set 2000, black and
white: dark a little bit washed out and a little loss of detail. Downy
Care: colors redder, a little detail loss.

Second wash results (remember, previously washed in detergent): Bubble
Jet Set 2000: noticeable color loss when compared to original, but
excellent detail and clear picture. Great Value: about 50% color loss
but details still clear.

Third wash results (remember, previously washed in detergent): Untreated
fabric: at least 50% color loss, significant detail loss, but can still
see picture easily. Bubble Jet Set 2000: colors still pretty accurate
but definite loss of detail. Downy Care, black and white: definitely
some dark loss and detail loss, but the photo is still recognizable.
Ultra Nice & Fluffy: more than 50% color loss, significant loss of
detail.

I was able to purchase Orvus at my LQS and washed everything the second
time in cold water and Orvus. (I diluted 1 tsp of Orvus in a pint of
hot tap water, shook it around to dissolve, then poured that into the
filled washer - I don't think Orvus will dissolve in cold water.)
Gentle cycle, dried in dryer with air only (no heat).

Second wash results on ironed fabrics: Untreated fabric: Significant
loss of color and detail. Bubble Jet Set 2000: some color loss but
difficult to tell without comparing to unwashed photo. Downy Care:
slight loss of color and detail. Great Value: some fading but still
reasonable color and detail. Ultra Nice & Fluffy, black and white:
noticeable fading, little loss of detail. Ultra Snuggle: too pink and
more color loss than BJS.

Second wash results on unironed fabrics: Bubble Jet Set 2000, black and
white: a little color loss, a little detail loss. Downy Care: redder
with some color loss but not bad.

Third wash results (remember, previously washed in detergent): Bubble
Jet Set 2000: some color washed out of darkest parts, but still good
detail and completely usable. Great Value: about 50% color loss but
detail still good.

Fourth wash results (remember, previously washed in detergent): Bubble
Jet Set 2000: less than 50% color loss, moderate detail loss. Downy
Care, black and white: significant fading and detail loss.

My conclusions: Don't wash in anything but Orvus and cold water.
Ironing after printing before washing may or may not help set the
colors, I probably will just to be sure. Bubble Jet Set 2000 seems to
help color photos hold up the best, whether ironed before washing or
not. Downy Care comes in second, does a pretty good job but that red
tinge was still a problem - wouldn't mind using this for black-and-white
photos if I run out of BJS. Cannot recommend Great Value, Ultra Nice &
Fluffy, Ultra Snuggle, or leaving fabric untreated.

--
Sylvia Steiger RN SFNP BS
Remove "removethis" from address to reply
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SylviaRN/quilting.htm
Excitedly anticipating moving onto our own land!
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[Sylvia Steiger]

I'm coming up with more tips now that I'm actually printing what will be
my photo quilt. I did something out of laziness that is working out
quite well. I made a little cut on the fold of the white fabric and
then tore it instead of cutting, which is producing a nice
easy-to-follow grain line to cut the individual fabric pieces after
treating. I cut 9" strips selvedge-to-selvedge, treat them (Bubble Jet
Set 2000 for the color photos and Ultra Downy for the black & white
photos), then trim off the selvedge and cut the remainder into quarters,
which is almost exactly 11" long - certainly close enough to fool my
printer. However, anyone thinking of doing this, be forewarned - it
takes a LONG time! I've been printing for three days and just now
finished the 63 pictures going into this quilt. Some of the problem is
that I only have a P150 with 48 meg RAM, so everything that needs to be
done with the pictures (import into Publisher, resize and crop to fit
the 4"x6" block) takes a long time. And my printer isn't the fastest.
But cutting and preparing the fabric takes a lot of time, too.

[Dragonfly]

So....bubble jet set 2000 was marginally better, but you'd recommend washing
in either orvus or plain water, whether you went with the ultra downey or
the BJS?
--
Dragonfly
Dragonfly_quilts@ hotmail.com (take out the space after @ to email me)
http://www.geocities.com/dragonfly_quilts -- the new web site

"Sylvia Steiger" <MamaSylvia...@canada.com> wrote in message
news:3A1C7C...@canada.com...

[Maggiestevens]

Sylvia did you try washing your fabric softener prints? I tried this but
found some of it came out in the wash. Maybe I didn't rinse enough when
preparing the fabric, Maggie

"Sylvia Steiger" <MamaSylvia...@canada.com> wrote in message

news:3A21C7...@canada.com...

> I'm coming up with more tips now that I'm actually printing what will be
> my photo quilt. I did something out of laziness that is working out
> quite well. I made a little cut on the fold of the white fabric and
> then tore it instead of cutting, which is producing a nice
> easy-to-follow grain line to cut the individual fabric pieces after
> treating. I cut 9" strips selvedge-to-selvedge, treat them (Bubble Jet
> Set 2000 for the color photos and Ultra Downy for the black & white
> photos), then trim off the selvedge and cut the remainder into quarters,
> which is almost exactly 11" long - certainly close enough to fool my
> printer. However, anyone thinking of doing this, be forewarned - it
> takes a LONG time! I've been printing for three days and just now
> finished the 63 pictures going into this quilt. Some of the problem is
> that I only have a P150 with 48 meg RAM, so everything that needs to be
> done with the pictures (import into Publisher, resize and crop to fit
> the 4"x6" block) takes a long time. And my printer isn't the fastest.
> But cutting and preparing the fabric takes a lot of time, too.

[Sylvia Steiger]

> did you try washing your fabric softener prints?

Yes, that's why I stuck to BJS for color prints and only used the Downy
cloth for black-and-white. But nothing held up to much washing, these
should be considered "hang up and admire" only.

[Sylvia Steiger]

AND only wash if absolutely necessary. Using current technology, I
wouldn't do this for a quilt that was going to be used. OTOH, the one
I'm making now is coming out great, I just plan on adding a cautionary
label to treat it gently and try to not wash.