Video Below:
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
I have just discovered that the hairspray can interfere with the adhesion. If you notice in the video that I sprayed the stencil near the tile and that caused a problem. So, make sure that you spray away from the tile or better yet don't use any adhesive if possible. Also, heat for 6-to8 minutes to get the best bond.
I need some assistance and your ideas on this project to help make this a really versatile imaging process. I have some of the most creative and clever readers/viewers and together we can make what I have started very useful and innovative. As always, this site is free and open source and meant to be a shared space! Some unfinished ideas are: can it be done on glass and can it be used with stamps? I am sure that you will have some great ideas. Thanks, Ken.
One of the most typical uses of heat set fabric inks is for the silk screen printing of fabrics like cotton T shirts or other common fabrics. But several years ago I tried screening ceramic tile and when heat set it is permanent and looks really quite interesting. One of the requirements is that a screen process is used and it is time consuming and not of interest to many people. So. I thought what about using a stencils making it easy and fun?
I have always used Speedball fabric inks which are water based, non-toxic, and easy to clean up. And while there are other brands I have no experience with them so I will show what I know to work well in the tile application in the attached video. There are several important features that make stenciling on ceramic tile very exciting. The first is that once heat set with a regular iron on high with no steam the image is not going to come off. It can be removed but you will have to use bleach to completely clean off the image. Otherwise, it is permanent! The second is that it takes very few tools to make images. Third is that until heat set the ink is readily cleaned off if you made a mistake and you can do it again.
One of the important pieces of this project is the temporary placement of the stencil. It can't move and must hold down all of the stencil but be easy to remove after applying the ink. The temporary adhesives used for this purpose are difficult to strip after use and I have never liked using them. So, I used a trick that I started using several years ago. The material is Hairspray! It holds perfectly and doesn't need to be stripped after the image is applied. I use Aqua net but any brand should work as well. I had the hairspray for other projects and it is fairly old but still works.
I use 12X12 ceramic tiles in the video but any size will work. And since the surface is heat set it can be used as a trivet or just a nice decoration. So, watch the video and as always comments are encouraged. Enjoy, Ken.
NOTE:
The information that I have shared is a "proof of Concept" which means that what I have shown is accurate and true in my experiments. However, it does not guarantee that everyone will have the same result. Some will have excellent results and others will have some failures. I did! So dig in and share both with all of our readers and viewers. Thanks, Ken.
Additional Note:
You may notice that sometimes I have an unsteady shake but please don't be concerned. I am not a professional video user and making videos are sometimes anxiety provoking. I do the best that I can to provide projects and a little shake is natural for me. I guess that I'm not ready for prime time!
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
I have just discovered that the hairspray can interfere with the adhesion. If you notice in the video that I sprayed the stencil near the tile and that caused a problem. So, make sure that you spray away from the tile or better yet don't use any adhesive if possible. Also, heat for 6-to8 minutes to get the best bond.
I need some assistance and your ideas on this project to help make this a really versatile imaging process. I have some of the most creative and clever readers/viewers and together we can make what I have started very useful and innovative. As always, this site is free and open source and meant to be a shared space! Some unfinished ideas are: can it be done on glass and can it be used with stamps? I am sure that you will have some great ideas. Thanks, Ken.
One of the most typical uses of heat set fabric inks is for the silk screen printing of fabrics like cotton T shirts or other common fabrics. But several years ago I tried screening ceramic tile and when heat set it is permanent and looks really quite interesting. One of the requirements is that a screen process is used and it is time consuming and not of interest to many people. So. I thought what about using a stencils making it easy and fun?
I have always used Speedball fabric inks which are water based, non-toxic, and easy to clean up. And while there are other brands I have no experience with them so I will show what I know to work well in the tile application in the attached video. There are several important features that make stenciling on ceramic tile very exciting. The first is that once heat set with a regular iron on high with no steam the image is not going to come off. It can be removed but you will have to use bleach to completely clean off the image. Otherwise, it is permanent! The second is that it takes very few tools to make images. Third is that until heat set the ink is readily cleaned off if you made a mistake and you can do it again.
One of the important pieces of this project is the temporary placement of the stencil. It can't move and must hold down all of the stencil but be easy to remove after applying the ink. The temporary adhesives used for this purpose are difficult to strip after use and I have never liked using them. So, I used a trick that I started using several years ago. The material is Hairspray! It holds perfectly and doesn't need to be stripped after the image is applied. I use Aqua net but any brand should work as well. I had the hairspray for other projects and it is fairly old but still works.
I use 12X12 ceramic tiles in the video but any size will work. And since the surface is heat set it can be used as a trivet or just a nice decoration. So, watch the video and as always comments are encouraged. Enjoy, Ken.
NOTE:
The information that I have shared is a "proof of Concept" which means that what I have shown is accurate and true in my experiments. However, it does not guarantee that everyone will have the same result. Some will have excellent results and others will have some failures. I did! So dig in and share both with all of our readers and viewers. Thanks, Ken.
Additional Note:
You may notice that sometimes I have an unsteady shake but please don't be concerned. I am not a professional video user and making videos are sometimes anxiety provoking. I do the best that I can to provide projects and a little shake is natural for me. I guess that I'm not ready for prime time!
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