Textile/nature

This week while doing my nature project I took a trip down to textiles to learn how to do a new technique called heat transfer printing. For this process I would be using a hot press to transfer my image onto a piece of cotton material.

Hot press

The hot press I would be using gets really warm and so we had to be aware when near it for health and safety. We could not touch the underside of the press as that is the bit that gets hot and we had to have our hair tied back.

Transfer image and cotton sheet

 First for this process I had to photocopy one of my visual sheets onto some transfer paper and get a sheet of cotton to transfer it onto. After that I put the cotton onto the press bed of the hot press and laid the transfer sheet with my design on face down on top of the cotton sheet.

Hot press starting transfer

Next you put a heat sheet on top of your transfer sheet and swing the press around with the side handle until it's over the press bed.

Heat transfer

 Then at the side of the big handle there is a safety catch that you have to pull to be able to put the handle down which will then put the press on top of your work. After that you have to wait for about 8 seconds and then pull the safety catch and lift the handle back up which will also lift the press. Then you swing the press back around and away from your work and then if it's not too hot you can take off the heat sheet. After this quickly peal the transfer sheet off of the cotton and it will leave your design on the cotton sheet. Then if you wish you can work back into it I will be doing this next week.

My transfer

This is my transfer that I produced and I rather like it. The only problem I had was that I couldn't take the transfer sheet off straight away as it was too hot and when I did start to take off the transfer it got stuck and took a bit off the print off. I had to re-heat it to finish pulling the transfer off and thankfully it doesn't look too bad. I will be working back into the sheet and hopefully it will look great once it's finished.