Question for the professionals here

[mishoga]

I've been searching and can't find decent enough instructions on painting with Lumiere paint by Jacquard. Has anyone worked with them? If so, how long do you iron the garment to set it?  (cotton)
Thanks.

[pburch]

Dharma's instructions are more detailed than those on the Jacquard Products website:

"Heat Setting
When properly heat set, painted fabrics can be laundered and dry cleaned. They have excellent wash-fastness when laundered on the gentle cycle and dried on low heat without fabric softeners. Items which will not be laundered need not be heat set. When applying one product over another, always set the first before applying the next. allow the paint to dry to the touch and air cure for 24 hours. Set the paints in one of the following methods:

• For smaller surfaces, use a dry iron and protect your iron and ironing board with a press cloth. Iron both sides for a least 30 seconds on each side, with the iron set on cotton/linen setting.
  
• For large projects and yardage, approximately 3 to 5 yards, or for sensitive fabrics such as polyester, nylon and acetate, use a high temperature commercial dryer set at 180 degrees for a minimum of one hour. Painted leather does not require heat setting and can be safely cleaned through a leather cleaning process after the leather has cured for one week."

Jacquard doesn't mention the fact that home dryers may not get hot enough to do a good job of heat-setting.

Paula

[mishoga]

Thanks Paula. You're the best.
One ?? Where can I purchase that iron paper/protector?

Have you worked with these colors.

Michelle, if you're out there reading, I tried my first mandala. NO GOOD!! But still a cute design. Looks nothing like a mandala. 

[Michelle]

Michelle, if you're out there reading, I tried my first mandala. NO GOOD!! But still a cute design. Looks nothing like a mandala. 

Did you get my second PM (the really long one)? Is that the instructions you were working off of? BTW, I had to try about 5-6 times before I started getting something close to what I wanted. Oh, and I'm NOT a professional, just another newbie who happens to have started on the difficult end of things.  At some point I'm going to have to photograph the process and put it on the wiki.

[ktaltre]

A press cloth is just that - a piece of cloth that one uses between the painted surface and the iron and/or between the ironing board and the painted surface. You want to protect your iron and ironing board surface.
Any piece of cloth will do - lighter weight would be best. You can also use plain paper (not printed). A press cloth that one would get in a notions department will be a cotton, lightweight, see through scrim type of fabric.
There are also teflon sheets on the market - they are used more for fusing applications.
k. taltre

[fiberartist219]

FWIW, I don't use a press cloth when I iron my Lumiere paints. I just make sure it's dry completely. My iron is pretty cheap, so I'm not too worried about destroying the surface of it. I iron both the front and the back until it feels hot. Of course, you can only iron certain fabrics with this kind of heat. Synthetic fibers, like polyester might melt.

So far, my experience with these paints is that they are thick, so they don't leave the fabric very soft when you're done. They definately change the hand of the fabric. Of course, you can water them down, but I find that this causes a halo effect when I'm stencilling.

I suggest you get a small bottle and play on some scraps.

[pburch]

My big disappointment with Lumiere came when I watered down some copper-colored Lumiere paint, and the brown pigment separated out on the fabric from the metallic, so the metallic was no longer coppery at all, and the brown was just blah. (I washed it out immediately and got most of the brown out of the fabric.)

It would work better, in the concept I was reaching for, to use copper-colored Pearl Ex, since the color in that case is attached to the mica particles, and mix it with some fabric paint binder like Neopaque Colorless Extender to hold it to the fabric, but I've never gotten around to doing this. The Colorless Extender is not going to feel any softer on the fabric than Lumiere paint.

You're only supposed to add up to 25% water; in my disappointing project, I am sure I used a lot more than that.

Paula

[mishoga]

Michelle, if you're out there reading, I tried my first mandala. NO GOOD!! But still a cute design. Looks nothing like a mandala. 

Did you get my second PM (the really long one)? Is that the instructions you were working off of? BTW, I had to try about 5-6 times before I started getting something close to what I wanted. Oh, and I'm NOT a professional, just another newbie who happens to have started on the difficult end of things.  At some point I'm going to have to photograph the process and put it on the wiki.

Yes, I did get your second email.
OK, here is my lame mandala, but hey, it's a beginning