Creative print projects using a PC

Sunday, July 29, 2012

HAVING a computer and the services of even the most modest printer, is like having the keys to the greatest design libraries in the world on a lifetime pass.

DIY POSTER PRINTS:

Using your PC’s printer you can reproduce just about any digital image for your private use. Keep in mind that ink intended for paperwork is not archive quality and in strong light will eventually fade, so we’re talking fun artwork not heirloom masterpieces.

Using a standard machine you can print out a much larger poster-sized banner to mount and put on the wall using multiple sheets. Handy design tools, such as the Kodak Big App, make it easy to split screen all sorts of images to then assemble into one picture. Type this address into your PCs browser to upload the application and then either choose from the Kodak image bank or upload your images to tailor a PDF to print the correct number and configuration of pages. www.kodak.com/global/mul/consumer/ print/thebigapp. Keep in mind that the larger you scale up a picture the lower the resolution or dots of colour making up the image become, potentially blurring your image. Think about where it will be hung.

STICK UP:

You can also use most standard domestic PC printers to create decal transfers to apply to materials including wood, ceramic, tile and fabric. You simply print the image on specialist paper with a water-slide style transfer included, let it dry, cut it to size and having wet it, slide if off the paper and onto your receiving surface. Technologies vary, especially with laser printers. A very hot process can melt the plastic-sided backing-sheet into the machine. Go to the manufacture’s website to ensure your printer is compatible. These products are easily found on Amazon, Ebay and at most good craft shops online and cost around 3-€5 per sheet. www.lazertran.com.

CLIP-ART:

Decoupage is the art of cutting out, assembling and sticking down paper pieces to cover objects from small boxes, lampshades and photo frames to full pieces of furniture. Because the major ingredient is bog standard paper, reinforced after application with clear lacquer, decoupage is an ideal and very cheap craft using your PC and printer. The paper colour and grade is wide and varied and if it will feed through a printer you’re in business. There are thousands of free clip-art sites online, which include every imaginable subject from Gothic beasties to flora, fauna and comic book characters. Two of my favourites sites offering free clip art suited to traditional decoupage projects are Missmary.com and Vintageprintable.com - wonderful for unearthing 17th century tulips and choleric cheeked cherubs. Hunt with a simple Google search, then save the images and print to your required size. Using larger clips you can paste images directly to the wall to fashion a Georgian-style print room. Monochrome and modestly coloured period prints, newspaper illustrations and botanical and historical subjects work well for these projects.

PHOTO-PLAY:

Where your printer is simply not enough to manage the size or complexity of the project, collaborate with a specialist print company to take your ideas to an even greater scale using permanent photo quality inks and searing resolutions. Printing on textiles from canvas to soft furnishings is now commonplace, quick to turn around from design to delivery, and well priced. Using your chosen imagery, cropped, enhanced, and the convenience of email, you supply the artwork and the print supplier does the rest.

Prints straight from your PC to your door include decorative posters and fully framed canvases. Use a royalty free picture of just about anything. Inspired by the advertising banners used by retailers, prints on acrylic and aluminium have a sleek contemporary finish and polished edges. Photobox.ie offer these stunners from €32.99 for a 30x20cm print ready to hang. Ensure your originals are worthy contenders, sharply in focus, well composed and with richly saturated colours to enhance the depth of the prints.

Go beyond a traditional canvas box print and take a look at the contemporary pop art products now available. A simple family headshot can morph’ into Andy Warhol cool. Try Photobox.ie, Pop Art Multi-shot, for frameless multiple versions of the one image within one picture in kitsch irresistible colours. Sitting out nicely from the wall, they really make a feature. Choose a photo where the face occupies most of the picture. If there a two people, their heads should just about touching each other. The picture should be bright and well lit with a resolution of at least 600X800 pixels.

DIGITAL DESIGN:

If you want a panel large enough to perform as wallpaper, try a UK specialist such as Lucy Art, who deliver here and provide paper panels in 61cm strips to your photo design. Minimum order £100. www.lucyart.co.uk. For other non-photo images, Concept Coverings in the UK have prices from £95 per roll of traditional paper printed to your design (delivery extra) for bespoke orders. They offer conventional wallpaper stock in 150 gsm (grams per square metre, standard paper density measurement). Always ask for a posted sample before finalising an order of bespoke digitally printed paper as computer rendered colours are not always true. Use a digital image to create a theme, with a repeated detail for soft fabric using iron-on transfers. Zoom into one area of a free digital image and reproduce it through various scales and colours to re-imagine it as decorative wall panels, printed cushions and curtain detailing, pulling a whole room together. Most inkjet printers (not lasers) can cope with iron-on transfer paper products. some will even feature a ‘Transfer Paper’ or ‘Reverse Image’ setting, but check the manual.

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved