We are proud to announce that the Lomography shop now stocks Lumi products, which allow you to print your favorite analogue photos and all manner of other fantastic things on fabric using the power of light! In this article, we want to tell you a bit more about Lumi and the way this special printing process works.

Introducing Lumi to Lomography

Do you love displaying the awesome analogue photos you shoot? Well, now we stock a way for you to display your wonderful works of art on fabric! Lumi products allow you to print a design onto cotton, linen, silk, rayon, canvas, or any other natural and absorbent material. So that means you can print designs on T-shirts, dresses, jumpers, bags, purses, cushions, curtains and all kinds of other objects. And the best news? We have a ton of Lumi products available in the Online Shop and Lomography Gallery Stores* for you to enjoy!

Inkodye and How the Magic Happens

So how the hell does Lumi work? It all starts with a special liquid called Inkodye. Inkodye is a photosensitive dye which is activated by light or UV. You can then use negatives or objects to block light from activating inkodye, leaving you with cool designs. The entire process is really easy and fun:

1. Apply Inkodye – Coat your shirt or fabric with sunlight-activated Inkodye in a dim environment.
2. Pin Negative – The negative selectively blocks light from activating the dye. Make your own printing pattern either by using your 120 or large format b&w negatives, or by printing your photo onto your Inkofilm from your digital scans (by inverting the image, making it b&w and with a high contrast) or just draw directly on the Inkofilm with a black matte marker to express your artistic self!
3. Expose – Inkodye develops its color in sunlight or bright UV, about 10 to 20 minutes on a bright day.
4. Peel – Remove the negative in a dim environment to reveal your print.
5. Wash – Remove the unexposed dye using Inkowash to make your print permanent.
6. Wear – You’re done! The print is now permanent and can be washed without special care.

A Huge Range To Pick From

We have all kinds of different Lumi goodies to choose between to start your printing fun:

1. Kits: Printing kits allow you to print using Inkodye and sunlight using different techniques.
   • The Photo Printing Kit is perfect for printing your analogue photos
   • The Sunfold Printing Kit offers an alternative to tie-dye so you can print elegant patterns on fabric
   • The Shadow Printing Kit you can print by placing objects on a surface.
2. Accessories:
   • Inkowash – a detergent for cleaning your fabric after they have been Inkodyed
   • Inkofilm – a film to print your photos you want to have shown on your fabric
   • A roller to help spread Inkodye onto your fabric.
3. Inkodye: In case you run out of your printing supply. We have snap packs or bottles in 9 colors

You can find the full stock available in the Online Shop in our new dedicated Lumi section.

Note: Please check with your local Lomography Gallery Store regarding whether they already have Lumi products in stock

written by tomas_bates on 2014-11-06 #news #people #videos #printing #fabric #lumi