Realize your creative vision in fabric How to select and use an online fabric-printing service by Kris Sazaki and Deb Cashatt he sheer variety of artwork your project. We are highlighting six your images at 300 ppi. We have Tcreated using digitally printed companies in this article. The fol- tested resolution extensively using fabric attests to the appeal of custom- lowing businesses provided us with a our reactive-dye process and have not designed fabric to help artists execute sample fabric print. We will use the noticed a difference in quality using their vision. Digital printing technol- following acronyms in the remainder resolutions higher than 200 ppi. We ogy has advanced so much in the of the article when referring to these submitted our 18” x 20” sample with last several years, artists have been companies: a resolution of 200 ppi. incorporating their own designs DP Decor Print PPI versus DPI: Technically, your into fabric with more frequency and (www.decor-print.com) digital images are made of pixels, and greater success. DYF Design Your Fabric resolution is specified in pixels per Like some other artists, we print (www.designyourfabric.com) inch (ppi). Pixels are square. Printers our own designs in small quantities DPI Dpi (www.dpi-sf.com) print round dots, and the quality is FOD Fabric on Demand in our studio. As the Pixeladies, we determined by dots per inch, or dpi. (www.fabricondemand.com) started printing on fabric with fiber- Unfortunately, many people, even MY Modern Yardage reactive dye more than 12 years ago. the printing companies, tend to use (www.modernyardage.com) While we enjoy the control we have RDE Red Dog Enterprises these terms interchangeably. We use over the printing process, equipment (www.red-dogenterprises.com) the terminology pixels per inch when maintenance and the cost of fabric referring to the resolution of the (Spoonflower did not respond to our and ink/dyes do not always make this request for a sample. Ed) digital file. a viable alternative for many artists. Therefore, we always recommend File Requirements Printing Process people use an online fabric-printing File requirements differed slightly Different printing processes yield dif- service. There weren’t any around among the businesses we profiled. ferent results. While these differences when we started, but now there are Make sure your file complies with can sometimes be quite striking, they several good companies, making their specifications. may just be what you need for a par- online fabric-printing services more Color Process: Do they want the file ticular project. The printing process cost effective and convenient to use. in RGB, CMYK, or LAB color mode? can also affect washability. Check For this article we initially set out to We submitted all of our images in each company’s website for informa- review online fabric-printing services RGB, but other businesses may have tion if you intend to wash the fabric. with the goal of recommending the other requirements. It is good to con- Synthetic fibers require a different “best” company. We expected to find firm this with the printing firm. printing process (dye sublimation or a clear-cut winner or process type, but File Type: Most companies accept pigment) but may produce results there wasn’t one. There are too many various file types, but .tiff is the most more suitable for your particular proj- variables that influence the final prod- popular. It retains the highest image ect. Each company’s printing process uct, including the image you have quality. Our sample image was a .jpg is detailed in a separate chart. If it has printed and the fabric you choose. image. two checks, it offers both processes. Instead, we want to guide you Resolution: While the minimum/ through the process of ordering maximum resolution varies between Fabric custom fabric online so you can 72-600 ppi among our profiled busi- Fabric selection is an important achieve the best possible print for nesses, you can play it safe by saving variable in the finished product. The 12 • SAQA Journal • 2016 | No. 3 This image was submitted to all six companies for printing. Printed samples show variety of results. SAQA Journal • 2016 | No. 3 • 13 most decisive factor is the amount of nubby dupioni. We were unable to individually, almost all the blacks fabric fuzziness. In general, fabric is get the sample printed on the exact were good, meaning we could believe fuzzier than paper, especially pho- same fabric from all the companies, that all of the darkest colors in each tographic paper. The ink dots tend but tried to get a lightweight cotton. print were black. It’s only when com- to spread, and the resulting print is All the fabrics were of good quality. pared to each other, or a true black less defined. One way of overcoming Some companies offer an inexpensive elsewhere in your finished artwork, this occurrence is to sharpen your sample print, which is a good way to that you will notice the difference. image. We were able to improve the test fabrics for your particular needs. DP produced an amazingly rich, definition in the photo of the deer MY will also print a swatch, charging luscious black. While DYF’s black is by sharpening the image in photo- by the inch instead of yard. not as dark as some of the others, the editing software. Over-sharpening grayscale is nice and smooth. The the image of the deer created better Black only company whose black was too contrast, making the details more Achieving a deep, rich black is critical light for us was RDE. There are ways defined. when your image contains a lot of to influence the appearance of the Fuzz from the fabric can also black or dark colors. If the black is black. You can improve the contrast block the ink from reaching the not black enough, your image has less of a particular printed image by add- fabric, creating white “spots” on the contrast and tends to look muddy. ing black post-printing: paint, fabric, fabric. This is especially noticeable The term for this is metamerism. It thread. Remember, black increases when printing dark pieces on highly is a perceived matching of colors contrast, which makes color pop. textured fabrics such as flannel or a that do not actually match. Viewed Fabrics Custom Company Swatch? Available Fabrics Cotton: twill, canvas, broadcloth, sateen, lawn/voile, corduroy, flannel, knit Silk: charmeuse, dupioni DP No Polyester: microfiber, charmeuse, satin, micro velvet, twill, linen, upholstery Misc: Heavy Linen/Cotton Cotton: light and heavy canvas, EZ twill, French twill, gauze, lawn, poplin, sateen, sheet, voile, quilting Silk: crepe de chine, charmeuse, charmeuse/spandex blend, georgette, twill DYF 8” x 8” Misc: hemp, linen/cotton, linen, modal (rayon), organic muslin, upholstery cotton, viscose/spandex blend Cotton: sheeting, kona, duck, twill, sateen, voile, lawn Silk: chiffon, charmeuse (12mm, 19mm), habotai, crepe de chine, twill, silk/wool blend DPI No Polyester: poplin, duck, chiffon, sateen, polyester/cotton blend, performance fabric Linen: Belgian, bleached, flax, cotton/linen blend Misc: spandex, rayon/spandex knit Cotton: 4 oz., 6 oz., duck Polyester: fleece, microsuede, poplin, jersey knit, satin, pongee, diamond knit, polyester/spandex jersey FOD 8” x 8” knit, lining, duck Misc.: Spandex MY Yes Cotton: 4 and 10 oz., voile Cotton: broadcloth, sateen, 10 oz. artist canvas RDE ¼ yd. Silk: 12mm habotai 14 • SAQA Journal • 2016 | No. 3 Color Balance Skin Tones: Realistic skin tones are adjusting the hue of your image using Using different dyes, inks, fabric, pro- very difficult to recreate. For one, photo editing software, you can influ- cesses, or printer settings will result in they range from a very light peach ence the outcome of your image. different colors. This is exactly what to almost ebony and everything in Color Grid: We had no expectations we experienced with our samples. For between. They are also nuanced by that our color grid would have any one, you are creating your image on light and shadow. The girl in the accuracy. Since the color grid was your particular monitor, and moni- pool came out differently in all the divided by black, the samples with a tors do not display colors in the same samples. What differentiated the good black made the color chips seem way. (Just go to your local big box samples was the general undertone brighter. The samples had striking dif- store and take a look at all the televi- described above. Compared with one ferences in the color grid, especially sions on display!) Once you send your another, MY’s appeared too green, the teal. However, instead of relying image off, your final print may go DPI’s sample too red (see photo), but on a standard color grid, we recom- through yet another finishing process once we examined them in isolation, mend you make a test image that after printing. We included specific they all looked good. samples the colors you will be using. elements in our sample image to see It is helpful here to remember the Newsprint: Newsprint has very how various colors were printed. important role context plays. In Josef subtle color changes, and since we Quilt Detail: Our SAQA friend, Jenny Albers’ groundbreaking color blocks, print so much newsprint, we wanted Lyon, sent us an image of one of her he demonstrated how color is almost to see how the different companies white-on-white quilts. The detail we never seen as it really is, and that its performed. Of course, the basic printed exposed very interesting dif- relation to the other colors around undertones discussed above bore ferences in each sample’s undertones.