Printed Canvas Tote

The past two summers, I've been working with a great group of first generation college-bound high school students. Our goal was to introduce them to engineering and science through a whole bunch of projects, design competitions, and lab tours. We had originally wanted to give them tshirt gifts on the last day as a way to remember us, but several days before, we had run into some administrative problems that left us with nothing! Feeling a little bummed out, I tried to look for printing companies that would be willing to help us on short notice. Some rude phone calls later, I reluctantly decided that it was a lost cause.

Maybe it's some sort of problem of mine, but a few restless hours later, I realized I could not just give up there.  I searched ways to print my own tshirts and stumbled upon iron on transfer papers. Worried that the ink will just fade after several trips to the washing machine, I ended up settling on the idea of making canvas tote bags. But settling ended up turning into something even better! 

              

With a new craft project on hand, I found that Walmart sold the cheapest transfer paper and blank canvas tote bags. I never knew it had such a large craft section! I suppose Walmart doesn't stock its products as frequently, because only after visiting three different Walmarts, I was finally able to get my hands on 6 packs of Avery Light Fabric Transfer paper (each having 6 sheets) and 11 packs of black canvas tote bags (each containing 3 totes). Five hours later, I ironed out 33 tote bags!

Materials
Avery Light Fabric Transfer paper
Inkjet printer
Iron
Cardboard
Scissors
Blank canvas tote bag



Directions
1. Design your image on Photoshop. Ensure your design will fit within an 8.5x11 inch size area or within the constraints of your printer.
2. Test print your image on a piece of regular printer paper. Once satisfied with the color choice and sizing, print your image onto a piece of transfer paper. Let the ink dry for 5-10 minutes to prevent smearing.
3. Using a pair of scissors, neatly trim your image to its edge.

4. Turn on the iron to the highest cotton temperature setting with no steam. Steam will ruin your image. Remove all of the water from your iron as a precaution. Let the iron heat up for several minutes.
5. Insert the cardboard inside your tote bag. On a hard surface, pre-iron the tote bag to remove any wrinkles or folds. Do not use an ironing board.

6. Place your image face down and in your desired location on top of the tote bag. Pass the iron firmly across the transfer paper to keep the image in place. Then, with both hands on the iron, use your body weight to help you apply more pressure onto the transfer paper. Slowly move your iron across the transfer paper in different directions, focusing extra attention on the edges. Continue for about 2-3 minutes, depending on the size of your image.


7. After ironing, remove the tote bag from the heating area and allow it to cool for 2 minutes. Carefully peel the paper backing from the corner of the transfer. If some of the ink did not transfer or starts lifting, stop peeling and place the paper back onto the tote bag and continue ironing the area.

I printed out a bunch of different colors only because I didn't want to run out of one color in my cartridge. But I think that made things more interesting. In the end, I think it was worth those 5 hours to see the students (and my professor) all rushing over to choose their favorite colors.