Gel Printing on Fabric Tips

Sheelagh asked in the comments about gel printing on fabric, and there are various ways to do it, there are probably more ways to do it than I have listed here, such is the versatility and beauty of gel printing.

First, it depends on what you want to do with the fabric you are printing on. If you are printing on clothing to wear, it will need to be washed, and therefore your prints will need to be well bonded to the fabric. If you are printing on fabric to use in collage, or for making fabric sketchbooks, or using in doll making, or any craft use, and the end result won’t need washing, you have less rules to follow.

My first experiments printing on denim involved acrylic paint either stencilled or stamped on the plate, and then pulled using matt medium. If the paint is still wet, you can just place your fabric on and pull, no fuss. I wouldn’t get those pieces wet, tho.

The other method I have used, and the one I used today, was mixing fabric medium with my acrylic paint, and then printing in the usual ways. The fabric medium bonds the acrylic to the fabric, and it’s all good.

I used Liquitex Fabric Medium, and the mix is one part medium to one part paint, and I just eyeball it on the plate and mix them on the plate. With the Liquitex fabric medium you don’t need to heat-set the paint, which makes the process nice and simple.

Golden have a fabric medium called GAC 900 that I have heard good things about, but I haven’t tried it. You do need to heat-set your piece with that, so that’s something to consider.

Another method for gel printing on fabric would be using fabric paints. I haven’t tried this, but I imagine it’s just as simple as using acrylics, and the brands would each have their own instructions for setting.

I think cotton fabrics give the best results, but you can gel print on t-shirts, so some stretch fabrics will work.

I did a quick session today and covered some more pages for the denim sketchbook I am making, and I even got a ghost print. These are pieces I am going to use for embroidery and fabric collage, so there was no perfectionism required. You can see one of the stencils shifted while I was pressing the thick denim through the stencil, but it worked well enough for what I am doing. If you take more time and care, you should get nice results. The pinkish piece above that was a much more intricate stencil, and it came out beautifully.

I have yet to find a limit to what can be done with a gel plate. Yay.

Til the morn,

Suzanne

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