Here's the problem…the prints from the downloaded collage sheets are not knife sharp and the blacks are not true black…they seemed a little blurry and washed out. I have a high resolution (as far as home inkjet printers go) HP photo printer that is supposed to give sharp quality prints so I thought that I would do a little research to see if it was something that I was doing wrong, could do better by making a few adjustments to my equipment or if I need to go shopping for another type of printer.
I first tried changing the paper. Everything that I read about HP printers said that you need to use HP paper for the best quality prints. I always believed that this was just a sales pitch to sell more HP paper but I have to say…it did make a difference!!! One down! Next, I set the print adjustments for my printer to "Best" and changed the paper type to "specialty type." That helped even more! Wow…Now I was getting somewhere! Then I tried different types of HP paper ( just so happens that I had a sample pack that came with the printer) and got the best print with the card stock which I later found out that they no longer sell….ugggh! I don't want to use card stock…it is too thick for layering. Back to square one!!!!!
I know that someone has to have a printer that is not a large format like the Epson, uses pigment inks so that I can use Mod Podge without the ink smearing and one that make knife sharp prints with the blacks printing a true black…not grey! If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment below.
The majority of the border and the top of Marilyn's dress is from the free collage sheets by Shelly Massey and Angellea (Glitterbug via Flickr). Some of the border and Marilyn's face are copies of my own art work. The arms, legs, hoop and gecko are from magazine clippings.
CAUTION! A word of caution about getting free collage sheets from the internet, especially from Pinterest…the artist may not have given permission for its use even if the Pinterest sub-title says that it is free. I always double check by going to the blog or Flickr account of the individual offering the free work to confirm that they allow their work being downloaded and used in other peoples art. Also, to see if there are any stipulations to its use such as mentioning credit. I always try to do this…it's just NICE!
Until next time.
Hugs,
Ginny
