Craft Attitude Makeover Part One - Boho Handbag

I decided even though winter will still be on my doorstep for another two months at least, there wasn't any reason why I couldn't at least start thinking about spring!  And spring to me means a couple of things - warmer days, and the rebirth of COLOR in nature.  

I've seen lots of cool examples over at the Craft Attitude Facebook Page on how to personalize your iPhone, but I rarely use mine unless I am travelling.  So instead, I thought - why not try my hand at repurposing a rather lack-lustre handbag.  

I found this one at Winner's with a substantial discount and it was a light color.  Since I was introduced to Craft Attitude about two years ago, I always have my eye open for light colored and inexpensive 'objects' to add some "Attitude" to! 

Plain Old Inexpensive Handbag

This month I seem to be drawn to a color pallette that is half  Bolliewoodish and have Bohemian  and so once I`d layered a suitable number of images (courtesy of Iktupilli and Tumble Fish Studio) I adjusted the color pallettes to suit a brightly colored motif: 

Back of Bag  - digital collage

Front of Bag - digital collage

I used 3 sheets of Craft Attitude (you can use any type of Attitude product) - they are all the same just different packaging.....trust me on that!

And above is a photograph of the ALL of the supplies you need to make your handbag (gluestick,

scissors, x-acto knife, brayer....easy-peasy.

I really did not expect it to be this easy.  The fabric of the handbag (100% polyester) seemed to be  the perfect match for the Craft Attitude.  I am NOT shy with the glue stick, - just sayin....please do not try to skimp on the glue or you may end up with bubbles underneath.  Not pretty.  I NEVER have any bubbles.  I sometimes have globs of glue on my hands at the end of it all, but NO Bubbles EVER.

Above are photos of the front and back.  The purse was not the same size as the Craft Attitude (8.5 x 11 inches) so I did have to add extra little strips to each side so that it it was fully covered.  The pattern was very conducive to being able to do this successfully.  

Here are a few snap shots I took randomly in an effort to capture how beautifully the Craft Attitude molded to the fabric of the bag - I will be looking for more of this material!! 

 

I remain impressed at how the film becomes part of the texture...if you look closely you can see slightly raised dots on the surface of the purse.

Craft Attitude Boho Handbag - Spring 2014 coming soon!

PS - I could not stop at just the bag.....I will be back in a few days with photos of.....I bet you can you guess what I made next?   Stay tuned.

Thanks for the visit - and as always,  your comments are always appreciated...more than you know!

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Experimenting with Golden Digital Ground Clear (Gloss) Inkjet Transfer Method

Good Morning!  

 If you've been following my blog for awhile,  you will already know I have recently been experimenting with various methods and products used for inkjet transfers.   You may recall a previous post, discussing my results with Lesley Riley's TAP (Transfer Artist Paper). If not, here is the link to that post.

If you are at all like me, I often come across a new product through a blog post or a video that looks like the next best thing to sliced bread.  I get excited and enthused and   purchase the product, convinced it will be 'the answer'!   By the time the product arrives, I have 'moved on' and it sits. 

 This is the scenario that occurred which lead  me to  shelving a 16 fl. oz bottle of Golden's Digital Ground Clear (Gloss) in my studio for over a year.

But,  I found the right amount of time last week to experiment.  I dusted off the bottle, and armed with a wide household paint brush proceeded to throw caution to the wind ! 

Please keep in mind, I am not AT ALL professing this is the BEST or most efficient method for using this product.  On the contrary.  What I am sharing with you is my own personal method gleaned from a variety of different sources I've accumulated via word of mouth and research combined with   my own experiences.     My purpose is to provide an 'at-home' experiment with the goal of informing you so that you may perhaps benefit from my trials and ERRORS which may ultimately save you time and money and GRIEF!

Step 1 - Prepare your fabric by cutting it into sheets close to 8.5 x 11 inches.  Take regular freezer paper and do the same.  Iron the paper (shiny side facing the fabric) and the fabric together.  Optional - to increase the stability of the two layers,  I also opted to  adhere a strip of packing tape onto the top edges of each to create a straight stable edge.  I don't know whether this was necessary, but with both sheets I experimented with, the printer accepted them without incident. 

Step 2 - (and photo above) Apply  2 coats of the digital ground.     In all, I probably applied about an ounce of the fluid.  Although the product is "gloss" my experience was that it did not appear to be glossy when applied to the muslin.  The muslin readily absorbed the fluid.  The product also hardened the surface of the fabric slightly.  NOTE:  This product  is NOT odor free and for your health and safety, READ the label on the back of the bottle and avoid contact with your skin.

Step 3 - Let it Be.  I left these to dry for 2-3 days.  Not that they needed that much time.  The information on the bottle advises the ground must be left to dry between coats.  It doesn't say how long to wait until you feed it through your printer. 

Note:  (not photographed)  Before feeding these into the printer, I trimmed the edges  so that the freezer paper and the muslin were even. 

Step 3 - Choose the image you want to transfer. Above is a digital illustration directly from the computer.

Because I wanted to maximize the size of this image, I printed it out and photographed it (below)

Above - photograph of  the printed digital illustration - can you see the difference between the 100% digital and the photograph? 

 

Above - Cropped portion of the photograph of the digital illustration

Above  is the result of my first print.  Also - WOOPS Lesson #1 - remember the packing tape I adhered to the top of the prepared fabric?  The top part of my image printed directly onto the packing tape instead of the fabric.  On the PLUS side, and as I eluded to above, it did allow the material to feed easily into the printer.

Above - result of second inkjet transfer - knowing  from my WOOPS above that I had to 'clear' the top edge with the tape, I digitally shifted the top edge of this image down so that it would transfer on to the fabric and 'miss' the tape. 

The images successfully  illustrate that with each subsequent  transfer eg) from  original digital to photograph to crop of photo and finally  to transfer onto the cloth substrate,  it's easy to see the details of the image deteriorate along with variations in the intensity of the colors.    

Follow Up: 

• One of my favorite expressions is "Take my advice - I'm not using it!"  In other words, I invite and  encourage you to please add your own experiments and lessons learned using  this inkjet transfer method in the comments section along with links to any of your own results!    It will  help me to improve and refine this technique as well as other artists searching for answers. 

•  I am also curious to know suggestions on what products to use to UV protect these transfers.
•  Have you done the math?  One of my goals is to create a cost comparison based on 'price per page' for each of the various transfer techniques, but perhaps it already exists somewhere? 

Thanks for reading!

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