Evolon cuff bracelet. Part 2: Printing and sewing

Last week I told you about the Evolon cuff bracelet I made using my blended digital photo collage. You can see the original file, and my photograph of the Evolon as it came out of the printer. 

You might be shocked at the difference, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. When you print on an untreated surface, as opposed to one treated to optimize inkjet printing, you’ll see major differences – the colors aren’t as saturated, and they may even shift, and the resolution (line sharpness) isn’t as good. Think of the difference when you print a photo on untreated computer printer paper, compared to one you print on good quality photo paper.

The untreated Evolon turned out better than I expected. The colors were definitely muted, and the lines were not as sharp as the original. In contrast though, I’ve found printing on untreated Lutradur much inferior to the results I get when I treat it with Digital Ground or inkAID. On untreated Lutradur, the colors are vastly reduced in saturation and the resolution is extremely poor. I’ve also found that the ink on untreated Lutradur remains wet for quite a while, so it will smear if you need to use the print right away.

Anyway, I thought that the way the print turned out would be fine for my purposes. I cut out one of the cuffs, and as I handled it I was happy to find that the ink didn’t smear at all. I cut out two more pieces of fabric, one for the center, a stiffish beige patterned print from a home decor book that I bought at Scrap-SF (yay upcycling!), and a piece of black velvet for the back. I decided to leave all of the edges unfinished, isn’t the shabby chic look much easier, not having to bother with seam allowances and such? I did a zigzag stitch to tack the print to the beige fabric.

From my collection of buttons (mostly courtesy of my mom and estate sales), I picked a flat mother-of-pearl, and stitched thick elastic between the fabrics to attach to the button. I used two different kinds of lace around the edges, one was flat vintage lace I found at a garage sale, and the other some newer curly lace.

I stitched two different kinds of pearls and some gold-toned beads to parts of the cuff. After I finished all of the construction and adornment, I stitched the black velvet to the back, for that rich luxurious feeling only velvet has.

I was sad to have to send the bracelet off, and now I’m really glad I printed the second piece and I’m heading down to the studio to make another one!

Stay tuned for my further experiments with Evolon, I’m really inspired by this wonderful material.

Click here to see the original post on my blog.  And click here to see my original photos and artwork on my website.