Country: USA

Message: Hi.  I have consulted your site on batiking more than once, and have found it helpful.  I am now wondering about something else.  I have been doing transfer disperse dye on polyester for a few years.  I have made and sold polyester neckties and have also begun to work on large pieces - eight feet by six feet (using my 16" x 20" hot press!). Some of my male clients want me to print the neckties on silk, and some interior designers are interested in my large pieces, but have told me that their clients would prefer silk, not polyester.

My problem is that I cannot work on paper and then transfer these paintings (with the dye and fabric crayon work) on to silk, as I do with the polyester.  I know that you can paint directly on silk, but that is an entirely different process.  I have been wondering if I could do my disperse dye work as usual, take a giclee photograph of the work, and then use the giclee print/photo and get that transferred (somehow) on to silk.  Do you know if this would be possible, or if there are dyes and crayons that would work on silk, doing a similar transfer process?  Or, should I just accept that I can't work in a similar way on silk, and readjust?  Any ideas?  Also, this may or may not be relevant, but I would be printing only on vegan or peace silk.

There are several ways to print on silk. You'll need to do a fair amount of testing to see how well they work for you, and which you prefer.

1. The oldest method is to use the disperse transfer dyes, such as you have already been using on polyester, to temporarily transfer a design to silk, then paint over the image with silk dyes or fabric paints, or draw with good fabric markers, on top of the transfer. Disperse dyes have long been used for temporary transfers onto natural fibers; for example, embroidery transfers are made in this way. In some cases, some of the disperse dye will produce fairly long-lasting stains, so it's important to completely hide the transferred guidelines.

2. Another method is to buy pre-treated fabric, and print on it with an ordinary inkjet printer, such as you probably use right now for printing your letters and photos. (Inkjet printers are available in wider widths than standard inkjet printers, if needed). The fabric is treated to hold on to the inkjet pigments. Formerly, inkjet inks contained disperse dyes, but the trend among inkjet printer manufacturers for some years has been to substitute insoluble pigments for dyes. The newer pigment inks produce better lightfastness, but the washfastness is said to not be as good. I don't know how well they do in dry-cleaning.

One example of this pre-treated silk fabric is Jacquard Products' Print On Silk. It is available in rolls of 8.5 inches wide by 120 inches long. You will need to test to see whether it is adequately colorfast for your purposes, when used with your methods.

3. A third method is to prepare your own fabric in the same way, including ironing-on freezer paper (the Jacquard fabric already has this attached) to serve as a backing while printing your fabric in an inkjet printer. The product used for this purpose is called Bubble Jet Set. Quilt artist Caryl Bryer Fallert is one source who sells this and other products for printing on fabric; see her FAQ. This method would allow you to use your choice of silk fabrics.

4. A fourth method is to use inkjet iron-on transfers, which are intended for use only on natural fibers. These involve pigments, which are bound to the fabric using a heat-sensitive sort of glue. There are two basic types: one which is transparent and allows the color of the fabric to show through, and another intended for use on dark fabrics, in which an opaque white backing is included in the transfer. These will alter the hand of the fabric somewhat, and they tend to wear off with repeated machine washings, but they're an easy method which allows the transfer of photographic prints on a very small scale, without a large investment. Dharma Trading Company sells more than one type of inkjet transfer paper, as do most office supply stores.

5. Finally, the most expensive method, but possibly the most satisfactory one, is to send a photograph of your work to a custom fabric printing service, to have it printed onto fabric. It is possible for this process to be done using true silk dyes, rather than pigments which may affect the hand of the fabric, but I'm not sure how common this is; you will want to ask to find whether a custom printing service uses pigments or dyes, though either may meet your needs. I can't recommend a particular service for you. Try a web search for the words "custom digital fabric printing silk" (not in quotes). A drawback to this method is that it is unlikely that you will be able to select Peace Silk as an option.

I would like to know what method(s) you end up using, and how satisfactory you find them to be.

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