Contact paper transfers
Technique Tuesday!
Contact paper transfers, aka packing tape transfers, are a very handy method to have in your repertoire. They are very easy to do and use cheap materials. As if that weren’t enough, this is the one method that does not reverse your image!!
Toner copies from a copy machine or text and images from magazines work the best. Inkjet prints will be very faint, so you’ll want to print out your text in bold face. Experiment and see what you like best, but my experience leads me to take my inkjet printouts to a copy machine before using them!
Place clear contact paper or a strip of clear packing tape over your text/image.
Smooth it out and burnish it well. Cut it out to whatever final shape you will desire.- Soak the tape in warm water, and rub the back gently but thoroughly. The paper backing will rub off, leaving the pigment behind on the tape. You will probably have to rub and re-rub several times to get all the paper fibers.
You can store these transfers for later use by sticking them onto a piece of freezer paper (the shiny side). When you are ready to use one, simply stick it down onto your work.- Top the transfer with matte medium if you don’t like the shiny finish of the tape.
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POSTED IN: Assemblage, Book Arts, Mixed Media, Paper, Technique Tuesday, Tutorials & Techniques
9 opinions for Contact paper transfers
Heather
Mar 20, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Hi Cindi ,
Great tut , only thing missing is that you can ues a heat gun on the transfer after it is adhered to your final surface. The heat gun will remove the plastic (plastic will curl up and away from the image and can be removed completely leaving only the glue with the words or image attached . Then coat with final coat of transfer liquid or gel .
Cyndi
Mar 20, 2007 at 7:25 pm
You know, I haven’t found that to work too well if I’m using inkjets, since the image is already so faint. But great technique with toner prints… thanks for adding the info :-)
Jen
Mar 21, 2007 at 3:51 pm
fwiw, the heat gun will only work on cellophane tapes NOT plastic ones. Though it DOES give a very cool mottled affect to contact paper and the heavier packing tape. :)
Cyndi
Mar 21, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Which may also explain my “spotty” results with the technique! My preference is just to cover the tape with matte medium and leave it alone. But experimentation is always worthwhile! Thanks Jen!
BTW, look for an artist profile of Jen coming up in early April :)
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Vera Lucia
Sep 26, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Great tutorial, cindi. I will try it. It is not easy to make a good transfer. Thank you for the explanation and great photos.
hugs
Vera
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