PRINTING PROCESS

BEAU SCARLETT-PITT - PRINTING ONTO NEOPRENE

I had the privilege of being able to use the digital printing facilities at Ravensbourne. The process started off by printing out 4 A4 sized sheets of sublimation paper with my print on them in order to test out how well my fabric and some other testers would hold the ink. I proved that it did very well as Nick the printing technician said that he he'd never seen a bright red so vivid before. 

As the fabric took well to the dye, I then printed out the two metres of print that I needed in to different sizes; a large artery print and then the medium sized one. This is just to create a little bit of excitement within the print as opposed to being samey all the tine. 

Once the paper had printed and dried, I placed the paper face down onto the fabric and stapled one side to secure it so it dent go walkabout within the hot roller machine. I then had to carefully feed the paper and fabric through the machine to make sure that it came out perfectly. However, something had gone slightly wrong in the machine and had crinkled the paper a tiny bit. Luckily it was unnoticeable. 

Overall I would say that my printing experience was a success as i have produced the intended printed fabric for my garment and I'm very excited to use it.