Making Printed Drop Cloth Bulletin Boards
I’m so excited to share this tutorial with you. I knew it could be done, but honestly I didn’t believe it until I tried it. When I saw THIS cute project over at Home Frosting, it got my creative wheels turning.
I asked Lesa for a few clarifications and she gave me the courage to try feeding drop cloth material through my printer. {gulp}
Printing on material is fairly easy to do if you have the right materials.
Materials:
- Laser or ink jet printer (I only tried it on the laser printer, but it can be done on either.)
- Reynolds Freezer Paper
- Iron
- Ironing board
- Sheet of letter size paper
- Scissors
- 3M Duct Tape
- Cork Board
- Irwin mat knife
- Painter’s drop cloth bleached and washed until soft
Start by creating your words that you want to print in Word or any other program.
Set your iron to preheat.
Tear off a sheet of Freezer paper slightly larger than letter-size paper. Cut the freezer paper down to 8.5″ x 11″.
Lay the freezer paper shiny side down on the drop cloth.
Press firmly on the paper and move the iron around constantly for about 15 seconds. Let the freezer paper cool for a minute and test to make sure it is lightly adhered to the drop cloth. If not, iron a little longer.
Now trim the edges of the drop cloth until it is the same size as the freezer paper.
Take your freezer paper/drop cloth sandwich to the printer. If you have an individual sheet feed location on the printer, it would be best to use it. But, it can be done without. Print the document you created earlier.
Oooo, sooo pretty!!! I actually ran my “sandwich” through twice to get it darker, but it was still too faint for my liking.
If you have the same issue, you can go over the letters with a ball point pen.
Peel off the freezer paper.
Now, cut your cork board. (If you are using the these cork boards in a window, be sure to pre-measure the individual window panes first.)
I have to tell you that Irwin sent me another tool to try. The mat knife. Their claims sounded outrageous, claiming it can cut better than other mat knives. “Whatever” is what I thought. But, as usual, they proved me wrong. I used the Irwin knife to cut BOTH cork board and foam core!
Have you ever cut foam core with a mat knife cleanly? Not me, until now.
I swear to you that Irwin has not paid me to say any of this. I just like their tools. I am waiting for an Irwin tool that I don’t like and then I’ll let you know what it is. But, I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Line up the drop cloth where you want it with the cork board underneath. Fold one edge of the fabric over onto the back.
Secure it with the duct tape.
Pull the opposite side of the fabric and wrap it around the back. Continue until all the sides are taped to the back of the cork board.
And there you have it! A unique personalized cork board.
Want to see how to use the drop cloth bulletin boards in this Artist’s Inspiration Board?
Super cool idea…now I’ll try this and my printer will eat it for lunch…..but I gotta give i a try…..thanks
Unrelated to this post but congrats on your Ohdeedoh feature for the backlit bookcase. It looks awesome!
Do you ever stop?!? Too cool! I can’t wait to give this a try. Although, I need a new dropcloth 😀
you are soooo creative, it is really inspiring, i am a follower! 😀
Love those!
That is such a great idea! Another gorgeous use for drop cloth! Thanks so much for the fantastic how-tos this week (LOVE that rug!) I’ll be linking.
Awesome!!! I def want to try this!!!
Who would have thunk you can print on cloth. Awesome. Got to try this.
This is amazing. I’m such a chicken when it comes to feeding fabric through my printer. I even bought the freezer paper but still haven’t tried. I’m pinning this for when I get my courage up!! Also sharing on FB!.
This is fantastic! We just donated our printer to GoodWill (it stopped playing nice with our Macs), but when we get a new one I’m definitely trying this.
Ok, I’m going to have to try this. I’ve seen it to before but have been afraid it will tear up my printer. Did you set the printer settings to a heavy weight paper?
Very pretty and creative!
I love this!! So pretty & so creative!! Also LOVING that old window you put them in!! GORGEOUS!!
Very clever! I have done a lot with printable fabric (which is a lot like the drop cloth in color and texture) but never tried this. I am sure your way is more cost effective! 🙂
I’m looking forward to seeing the whole thing. Lisa~
Nice Job, this looks beautiful! Is it set on a ladder or an easel? Did you leave the glass in some of the windows? Take a full shot of the whole window so we can see all 6 panes together. Great tutorial!
Susan
Susan, patience my dear ;-). The full reveal and tutorial will be on Thurs. 😉