Although most printing is done onto paper, there are other materials which can be printed upon; fabric for instance, is a commonly used medium for a range of printed words and images. There are many reasons why printing is done on textiles and cloth ranging from the creation of customised t-shirts and other clothing to the modification of soft furnishings and curtains. One of the easiest ways of transferring designs to fabric is to cut a piece of cotton into an A4 size. This fabric should be then attached to a similar sized piece of freezer paper (to attach, the fabric should be ironed onto the glossy, reflective side of the freezer paper) though specific fabric printing paper can also be bought. This gives the fabric some rigidity which means that it can be more easily fed through a printer feed system.
As the fabric and backing paper is fed through the printer, ensuring that the fabric is fed through the right way thus avoiding the print being transferred onto the paper, an image or words can be transferred onto it. These A4 sheets of printed fabrics can be used to customise any item.
Both inkjet and LaserJet printers can be used for printing onto fabric and each has their own advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the heat from a LaserJet printer can heat the ink and seal any fabric printing; on the other hand, this heat can sometimes actually destroy the fabric and ruin the print. Inkjet printers are more commonly used for fabric printing since the process of spraying ink on a cooler setting allows for a sharper image but the printer cartridges can be expensive. Here at Internet Ink we have a huge range of printer cartridges and ink, which can be used to print onto paper and fabric whichever type of printer is used.