Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/713388
26 The Costume Designer Summer 2016 both do silk screening, and Print World, which specializes in sublimation printing. All three companies are easily acces- sible in downtown Los Angeles. When dealing with these printing services, expect to pay around $60 per yard of finished fabric. Most services have no minimums and allow you to purchase one yard at a time. Some have minimums and setup fees but the cost per yard may be lower. While the typical turnaround time is 3-4 weeks, it may be more if the base fabric is difficult to acquire. The beauty of designing your own textile is that it can be absolutely anything you want, and with digital and subli- mation printing, you are no longer confined by screen sizes or colors. Instead, your entire garment now functions as a large, blank canvas. As mentioned above, digital printing can use millions of colors to produce photorealistic prints. In the tropical leaf print, a personal photograph served as a motif to create an engineered collage. While engineering prints truly utilize the form of the garment, it is just one type of layout; the alternatives are allover and border patterns. Allover layouts are composed of motifs fairly close and evenly distributed. Conversely, border prints are exactly that—patterns designed to run lengthwise along (typically) the selvage of the fabric. This print above depicts the surreal, distorted urban landscape of Inception, complete with a border cleverly devised from the ubiquitous spinning top from the film. Graphics and prints once only imagined can now be realized by digital printing. Customized design can transform fabric and define silhouettes. Whether on its own or com- bined with other processes such as dyeing or ageing, there is no better way to place a personal stamp on a garment or costume. The print can be a powerful part of a costume to convey story, mood or time period, and that power of the print is at a Costume Designer's fingertips. Inception inspired print and tie by Aasha Ramdeen Photo: Warner Bros.