Soft fabric book with high resolution images and method of making same

Abstract

The invention encompasses a fabric book with high resolution sublimation printed images and a method of making such a fabric book. The fabric book of the invention has a plurality of fabric pages. The fabric pages are made of a synthetic material with an original softness corresponding to the synthetic material. At least one fabric page has a high resolution sublimation printed image imprinted using the method of the invention. The fabric page with the high resolution image substantially retains the original softness, even after printing. The preferred method of creating the high resolution images in the fabric books begins with selecting an appropriate original object. A digital rendition of the original object is created. The digital rendition is edited to create an edited image with optimum print resolution. A color separation is performed on the edited image to create a color separated image. Optimal sublimation inks are prepared and suitable sublimation paper is selected. Using the optimal sublimation inks, the color separated image is printed onto film or directly onto a plate. The image is then offset printed onto the suitable sublimation paper. The image is sublimated from the sublimation paper to a fabric sheet creating a fabric sheet with a high resolution image. To create the high resolution on the fabric sheet, the imprinted portion of the fabric sheet may be polyester, nylon, and polyester/cotton blend fabrics (no more than 5% cotton), and the like, but not cotton or other naturally occurring fabrics. The fabric sheet with the high resolution image may then be combined with other fabric sheets (with or without high resolution images) to form a fabric book.