Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tutorial for Trick or Treat banner

Here's a quick reminder of the Trick or Treat banner that I made earlier this week.

 
Now to explain exactly how I did it.
 
Creating the actual banner was easy. I started by cutting triangles out of some burlap fabric that I had.
 

Once I had all of the triangles cut out I used them to help determine the font size that I wanted for the letters that I added to each one.
 
 
Here's how to get the letters on to your fabric (I reccommend gloves as I got ink all over my hands doing this project).
 
 
  1. Use a word processing program on your computer to create the letters that you want to print ( I used Microsoft Word).
  2. Load sheets of wax paper rather then regular paper in your printer. I just tore sheets off of the roll making sure they were the same size or a bit smaller than a regular sheet of paper so they wouldn't get jammed. This was probably the trickiest part because my printer didn't recognize the wax paper and thought that it was out of paper. It took some patience and me guiding the wax paper into the printer very carefully, but once I got the hang of it, it went a lot quicker.
  3. In your printer settings, switch to mirror image so that the letters print backwards.
  4. Print your letters onto the wax paper. The ink doesn't absorb into the wax and stays very wet.
  5. Place the wax paper (ink side down) right onto the fabric excatly where you want the letter to be and rub gently with your fingers.
  6. Remve wax paper and your transfer is complete.
NOTE: Since I used regular printer ink, this fabric will not be washable. If I wash it, all of the ink will come out. I am alright with it for this project but I wouldn't want to use this method to transfer onto clothing or something that needs frequent washing.

After I had the letters transfered onto each burlap triangle, I sewed them (zig-zag stich) onto a piece of twine to attach them in a line. I taped each end of the twine to the back of the mirror in my front hall and that was it!
 
 

13 comments:

  1. This is so cool! And I didn't know there was a mirror option when printing letters. Genius. Thank you!

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  2. I wonder if transferring these by pressing the back of wax paper with a warm iron would help set the ink on the fabric. Brilliant idea...can't wait to try it!

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    1. I'm thinking heat transfer could work if the ink is sealed in the wax.

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  3. could you spray your burlap with an acrylic sealer to keep it from running or fading?

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  4. Awesome I have some burlap pendants already cut out for a 4th of July project but having been hessitant to try putting through the printer and didn't really want to buy or use plan boring font stencils. So excited will probably be trying this tonight! I wonder if I could layer designs, like a graphic with a different colored letter on top?

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  5. A suggestion use the "removable" type of double-stick tape to attache the wax paper to a piece of regular copy paper to feed easier into the printer. I have done this with ribbon for custom printed ribbon. Print it on paper first then tape over top to make sure it all limes up correctly on your ribbon or wax paper. -Julia M.

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    1. If the burlap is not too thick maybe you could actually tape the burlap pieces to the paper as I noted in my post above.
      I didn't see this in the directions above, but if you do the wax paper transfer make sure to print the letters out backwards, so they're the right direct when transfered to the burlap. -Julia M.

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    2. Thanks for the info on the ribbon I am going to try this

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    3. I didn't think about that. Gonna have to try it.

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  6. Just tried this! ... ink wasn't quit thick enough for transfer onto burlap... any other suggestions?? And I also taped the wax paperto printer paper and it worked wonderfully!!

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  7. Iron on transfer paper. That's what I use on my Christmas stockings. 8 sheets to a pkg I believe.

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  8. What type of ink would I use if I printed on fabric that needs to be washed ofter

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