I have recently been working on a commission with a large fashion brand and exploring methods of DIY digital textile design and print on demand. To print our fabric we choose Spoonflower in the US a thriving and pioneering digital print bureau aimed towards the individual who want to enjoy designing and printing small quantities of fabric at a very reasonable price with no minimum order. Spoonflower has developed an easy online system to upload your designs and create your own personal library to refer to. Using a limited range of fabrics with the focus on cottons they manage to keep the cost down to make it an affordable option. As well as providing its customers with a lively creative online community, weekly competitions and a democratic voting system. My twelve designs were turned around and back to me within 10 days making it all the more exciting.
Spoonflower is a key contributer to the new wave in digital textile crafting, power to the people!
Spoonflower
What was the quality like? The blacks were black?
ReplyDeleteThank you
Hi Luisa, they do pigment printing which keeps the cost down, so it loses some of the subtleties that reactive or acid printing achieves. The print lies more on the surface too so the cotton feels quite stiff, but this may change after washing. I didn't print black but the colours were true to the design I sent. This printing is good for graphic block colour designs, I would think blended/gradient or photographic work may not work as well. But for the cost it's a good option and great for a small print run offering a very efficient service.
ReplyDeleteHi Mel, How are you? Miss you guys at Helsea but it was great catching up with Clara this week. I will def check these guys out. Digital printing is really expensive still on Oz.
ReplyDeleteI plan to be back in June so it would be lovely to catch up with you. Jo xx
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI just discovered your blog as I'm investigating digital printing at the moment for a little project I have. Hope you don't mind me adding my comment here but I just wanted to say that I had 2 images printed onto different fabrics from Spoonflower. One was a very dark and quite contrasty photograph printed onto the cotton voile, and the blacks weren't very black, it didn't really cope with the finer colour transitions in the image but the other one was a much lighter image and printed onto the interlock knit this one worked much better. So from my limited experience, I think that if you stick to lighter colours with not too much contrast then that'll work better
Hope that helps and hope you don't think I'm sticking my nose in!
Caroline
ps. Didn't want to sound negative about spoonflower, I would definitely recommend them, just not for really dark contrasty photographic work! Hope that makes sense?
ReplyDeleteCaroline
Thanks Caroline, it's really good to hear others experience and share, I think generally the pigment print process works better with block colour and contrast, Spoonflower do a very good test swatch system. From experience this is the best solution then then you can work with the process.
ReplyDeleteThere is also a German site which offers similar service as Spoonflower: www.stoffn.de. I haven't tried them out yet. Maybe it's more convenient for people from the EU (don't have to pay customs etc). Cheers, Ana
ReplyDeleteI have used Spoonflower for about 9 months. As Melanie says, it is pigment process which means the fabric fades horribly after you wash it. Spoonflower is not suitable for anything wearable or washable in my opinion. I am currently looking for another digital printer.
ReplyDeletecan someone explain to me how they do these digital print ? Are the machines similar to LFP that they used for big poster ? Hmmm I'm interest to learn more about digital printing on fabric
ReplyDeletehi EL
ReplyDeleteyes its LFP with fabric dyes in, your'll have to buy my book for in depth info! Melanie
They do not use fabric dyes. They use fabric polymer inks, and a heat setting process to improve bonding of the inks to the fibers. A very small amount is forced through the fabric, but for the most part it all lays on the surface on one side of the fabric. Because they are not fabric dyes, you need to use something more polymer-based to protect them, like a spray-on fabric protector. SF is looking into coatings that could be applied at the time of manufacture to improve washability but as yet have not found anything suitable.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog and very informative for readers.. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful information with us. I kept it as bookmark for further reference..
ReplyDeleteHope you will provide better and better information further...
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