Fabric Printing with Citra-Solv

Step 8 Hints

Weave matters. The tighter the weave the more detail you will have in your print.

Poke just a small hole in the top of the Citra-Solv bottle so the stuff doesn't evaporate too fast and so you have more control as you pour it into that shallow dish.

Iron your fabric before you start printing because you really need a flat smooth surface.

If you are printing on a T-shirt put something inside the shirt so you don't have ink bleeding through to the back of the shirt.

I know you will ask but no, you cannot use this technique with stuff you print out from your inkjet printer. I tried it and nothing happens, no ink transfers because no ink dissolves. Laser printers I do not know about - try it and let us know.

An Addtional Note: I tried this technique with a color laser copy (not to be confused with a color laser print, which I have not tried yet) and there was no transfer at all. The color copy (from Kinkos) was a few years old. A brand new copy may have a dfferent effect.

Remember that if you are printing an image with words on it that they (the words) will print in reverse. Actually the image will print in reverse too. You probably already knew that but just in cae you didn't, make them backwards before you make your copy so you can read them. Some really great copiers have this feature - so if yours does, use it. You will only forget one time.

Comments

[ink_mama]

I purchased Citra-Solve from a vendor on Amazon and it arrived as a Rubbermaid Orange Cleaner and Degreaser, not Citra-Solve.  Do you have any idea if this will work or does it need to be Citra-Solve?  Thanks!

[Ninzerbean]

I am sorry that I have no idea - I think you should contact the Citra-Solv folks though and tell them what happened, I am sure they will investigate, I would return it on principle and ask for my postage to be refunded as well.  

[crafthooligan111]

thanks for this, i wanted to silkscreen shirts, but it was so hard. this seems like a great idea. i am totally going to try it.

[Very Interesting]

I'm with you on that. This looks like something you could get done in a day.

[Ninzerbean]

I have to caution you - it's not the same. I silk screen a lot, this technique gives a different effect and it's not as fast, it's a softer look, kinda vintage, i just want to make sure you know that it is not a substitute, it is just different.

[crafthooligan111]

i get it, i kinda like the softer look more...

[no_fear]

If you can't use ink jet and you haven't tried laser jet, what kind were you using? Those are the only 2 that I know of.

[Ninzerbean]

Lots of times people will make up a design in photoshop that they need to print out, or maybe they want to doctor up a photo on the computer - and again they print it out. Usually people use an inkje,bubblejet or even a laser printer to do so. This 'ible is about using a COPY of what you want to print on your fabric. I only mentioned inkjet and laser and printers at all so that people won't confuse them with COPIERS - you need to make a toner based copy - like a Xerox - to be able to print with Citra-Solv. Sorry it was confusing - this is all about making an image on fabric with a copy of what you want to print - how you get to this copy is your business but it must be a copy from a copier, NOT a printer. I have tried a laser printer and it did not work. This is fun - go ahead and try it.

[macrumpton]

The printing mechanism in laser printers and modern copiers is identical, both using toner based systems so making these tranfers with laser prints should be EZ.

[Ninzerbean]

I used the wrong word here - I meant to say I have tried a color laser copy and it did not work. I don't know if a color laser print will work.

[no_fear]

Oh. Ok. That makes more sense I guess. I didn't know there was a different between a laser jet printer and a copier. The multipurpose copier at my work uses toner so I thought that would've been the same as the toner in a laser jet printer. I'll print out some stuff at work then and try it out. Thanks a lot of the Instructible.

[Llama Nerds]

There is no difference between a print from a laser printer and a copy from a copier. Both use toner (which is fixed by heat, and a powder in its unfixed state) rather than ink (which is liquid in its unfixed state and dries to fix), which is why the ironing process sets the 'ink' (actually toner) and why washing it in water won't wash out the picture. Easy way to tell which you have: When the paper is fresh out of the printer/copier, is it a little warm? If so it's a laser print.

[Ninzerbean]

Yes yes but but - it didn't work for me - I even took a photo of it not working, but it seems silly to show it. This was a color laser copy I got from Kinko's - people rarely have a color laser copier in their house, they are thousand and thousands of dollars - not to be confused with a color laser printer.

[emerson.john]

It may or may not - and is probably not - a laser print if it came from a commercial copier. Both machines use a styrene based toner, which is why the print transfer should work from a laser printer as well as from a copier. The difference is how they write an image to the drum. Both processes are different types of xerography.

[Thoth]

Also some places use wax sublimation, which would not work either with citra-solv.

[f.l.u.x]

So I guess you are implying that the copier/scanner/printer machines at my work (both color and B&W) that are toner based may OR may not work with this technique depending on how they write the image to the drum? I guess that means it'll be trial and error for most of us. I do have my fingers crossed that our color copier will allow me to transfer color images to fabrics.

[Ninzerbean]

It doesn't have to be (much) trial and error - black and white toner based COPIES work, color laser COPIES don't work. That much you know - whether or not a color laser PRINT will work I have no idea but it would only take two seconds to see - I just don't have one. Please let us all know.

[f.l.u.x]

I will let everyone know when I get a chance to try both the B&W copier and the Color copier at my work. I will also include the make and model numbers of the copiers for those who may have access to the same kind.

[no_fear]

So it pretty much sounds like there is no way to tell what will work without trying out different things. I have an inkjet printer at home, so I know that won't work, but at my work, we have one of those massive, color/B&W printer/copiers/fax/scanners. You say printers don't work, but I thought it was the same technology that is in a copier. I guess I'll just print out and copy some stuff at work and see what I can get to work.

[f.l.u.x]

Why not just print at work and transfer that to the fabric? That massive machine at your work (like mine) prints exactly the same as it copies. A copy of a document is made by scanning first, then printing (performed automatically by the machine). You will get a better quality image source if you don't copy your printout. Does that make sense?

[no_fear]

That's what I was going to do. I am almost positive that it will work if I just print from work. I know it won't work from the printer at home because it is inkjet.