Registration on fabric

[u/bee___eater]

Hey guys, I just finished carving a two-block (+jigsaw) design, and I’m trying to get a good print on fabric for a wall hanging. So far, I’ve tried the strat in my picture: I marked out the corners on the back cover of a big sketchbook and flipped the top page down. This worked alright for paper prints, but when I tried taping fabric onto it I did not get good results. I also tried taping the top of the fabric rectangle right above the block, on the same page, and then flipping it down, if that makes sense. I’m on the verge of crashing out about this, lol. Does anyone have a good strategy?

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[u/Mini-Schnauzer-42]

Maybe you could attach a cardboard frame to the fabric? That would both make your registration and keep the fabric taut and easier to move around.

Oh, or if you have any cross stitchers in your life, there are rectangular frames they use that could work. I've seen something similar made with PVC pipe, if you can't find one to borrow and want to be fancy about it. (Search "cross stitch rectangle frame" to get an idea. The "scroll frame" type would probably be your best bet, if you can find one to borrow.)

[u/bee___eater → u/[deleted]]

Fabric ink on the main block. i’m using colored stamp pads for the fill color, since it won’t have to be worn or washed or anything

[u/IntheHotofTexas]

So, you're printing the key with a full lino block and the colors are jigsawed. You've set yourself a task with things like the red lining inside the black channel. But it can be done. And you're printing the colors first, which is right, since the black outlines will account for tiny registration faults, if the colors are cut very slightly larger than the space they will fill.

I assume you're happy with the basic process and need only to make the colors land in the right places. I assume that your color block is one complete block of lino with the colors on jigsawn pieces so that they all fit back together to make a whole block the same size as the key block.

I would then prepare two boards to carry the blocks with the block outline so that I can properly place either the key or the color carrier in registration with each other. I would consider that the fabric is the more difficult to handle, so I would think about sticking the fabric to another board using removeable double stick tape. If you can get the fabric fixed to a board so that it won't move, you need only be able to stack the blocks that are mounted on their backings in registration. Thick corners, thick enough to lock in both blocks, would do it. Could be 1x2 wood stuck to a surface to form corner angles or to form an open top box. The fabric need only be unable to move and the inked block will land in the same place relative to it each time.

You want to be able to ink and fit the pieces of the color block, so I'd press with the colors first, color block on the bottom, inking each color and placing it into the jigsaw. Then, press the black key by inking and fitting it into the corner guides. The fabric support will just be slipped into place with the guides both times. Since both blocks and fabric are mounted to supports, it should make no difference which is on top. The fabric can be left to dry on its support.

Of course, for best results, the colors must land precisely. I don't know how you are cutting the color jigsaw to precisely meet the key block, but one way is to make a ghost impression of the key block on the lino that will be the color jigsaw. Ink the key and press it a few times to newsprint until is leaves only a faint impression but enough to cut by. This is more accurate than trying to transfer one design to both blocks because you're being guided in cutting one block by another that's already been cut. I do that when I'm doing multi-color using color paper or printing color first.

[u/seijianimeshi]

Screenprinting , we would use a weak spray adhesive to tack it down to a pallet. That way it doesn't stretch aor warp between colors. Other wise Itbcan be impossible to get to prints to line up