First Look: Lumi Photo Printing Kit

Reported by Maria del Pinto

Lumi Photo Printing Kit

The Lumi Photo Printing Kit was created by Jesse Genet and Stephan Ango, and it got its funding through a quarter million dollar Kickstarter campaign in 2012. They promised a revolutionary textile printing process, and came through for their investors - and for fabric crafters!

Lumi Photo Printed on Leather

The Lumi Photo Printing Kit is really easy to use. You take a photo and get a black and white negative made with it. Then you just apply the special Inkodye onto the fabric. Then you just lay the negative onto the dye-covered fabric and lay it out in the sun.

The Lumi dyes are water-based and work best on natural fabrics like cottons and silks. There are neither harsh chemicals, nor expensive equipment necessary.   The process uses the power of sunlight to print photos onto fabric. Once the process is complete, you wash the fabric with Inkowash to remove any excess Inkodye left on the fabric.  The print is permanent and machine washable.

The Fabric Printing Kits sell at about $35 and make about 4 prints.  There is a Blue Kit, an Orange Kit, and a Red Kit. Each kits contains:

  • Inkodye
  • Inkowash
  • Inkocap Roller
  • A Test Negative
  • Blank Fabric Swatches
  • Instruction guide

Note: The kit does not contain the transparency film, which can easily be purchased at your local office supply store.

What is really interesting is how easy the process is to make photographic negative.  According to the Lumi website and other review sites, the negatives for the process can be made using a Lumi App to have negatives printed and shipped to the end user.  I like using my phone for taking pictures and videos.  To me this is a time saver.  Also, you can create your own digital negative using their ink jet film (Inkofilm is sold separately), and a inkjet printer to make a photo negative print.

Lumi Inkodye

Lumi also has a Shadow Printing Kit.  This kit uses the shadows cast by objects which have been placed upon the fabric to create a unique print.  This is a great alternative for people who do not want to use a negative to print.

Lumi Shadow Printing Kit

Have you tried Lumi products? What did you think? What did you make?

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