Printed Surfaces

I've spent the last few weeks experimenting on different printing surfaces. I've focused mostly on fabrics because their flexible, thin materiality is ideal for going through the printer. There were some interesting discoveries, and I plan to continue this exploration.

These are some of the results I've gotten so far:

Unprimed* eyelet fabric

Detail of eyelet fabric print

Print on unprimed fabric with rubber dots. 

Detail of rubber dot texture

Simultaneous print on unprimed white muslin and sheer gauze

Detail of simultaneous print of sheer gauze and muslin

Detail of print with sheer gauze pulled back

Simultaneous print on two pieces of fabric: unprimed plain white muslin with white netted fabric 

Detail on simultaneous print with two fabrics

Detail of white muslin without netting layer

Additional detail of white muslin without netting layer

Dry-brush coat of primer on faux silk fabric

*Note: unprimed in this post means I did not coat the fabric with Golden Digital Ground, which I've used in the past. This product helps absorb ink to achieve more accurate colors. Since accuracy is not my primary motive, this step seems unnecessary at the moment.

I will get better photographs of this work once I've accumulated more, perhaps towards the end of the month.

Some of the things I found very exciting was how when printing on multiple pieces of fabric, the fabrics actually move at two different speeds because of how the runners are set up on the printer. The top piece moves much faster.  In the details of the print with the netting, you can see how the pattern of the netting gets more and less distinct on the muslin. This is because the netting continued to move through the printer, but the muslin didn't so the printer head made multiple passes over the same spot. Something else I love, so much, is what happened with the fabric with the rubber dots. In the full length shot, you can see an additional 6 inches or so of fabric above where the images ends. The original digital image size is actually the full length of the fabric (with a small border) but the rubber dots caused the fabric to move through the printer slowly and therefore it didn't print the full length. I actually had to pull on the fabric while it move through the printer to prevent it from jamming and stop printing altogether. The dark bands in the print show where the print moved particularly slow, where my tension was less (I tried to only pull enough to keep the fabric moving, but not to stop the slowing down effect).

I am considering how to present this work, and currently think I'll stretch them like a canvas. I also am considering less traditional forms too, for example hung like a clothes line or pinned to a board.

Additionally, I currently plan moving into less concrete images. During our last conversation, Cameron mention the actual image seems less important to my process, and while I am choosing images that reference time and transitional spaces, I think there is truth to that statement.

I am making some digital pinhole images that might work nicely for this.