Paper image transfers: plain & photo paper
Technique Tuesday!
Yesterday I showed you a collage piece from one of my art journals that used a ghostly-looking image transfer of a young woman. Some people ask why anyone would want to use a transfer rather than simply collage the actual picture or a copy of it into the work. The usual reason is because the artist is looking for that transparent, irregular quality which simple cut and paste cannot achieve. Look at the image again and notice how you can see right through the woman:
The finished piece
This piece was made with an inkjet printout on plain copy paper…nothing fancy, not coated paper or even particularly heavy. This type of transfer will give you the most irregular and ghostly results. In fact, the results are almost always a surprise!
This transfer method reverses the image, so if you might want to reverse it in an image editing program if direction is important, especially if there is text involved!
Prepare your receiving paper by painting it and adding any other images that you might want to be underneath your transfer, showing through.
Apply a thin layer of polymer gloss medium to the receiving paper. Quickly position your image, print side down, and burnish it well.- Peal up the image paper before it begins to stick too badly. It takes practice to know exactly how long this will take, but don’t worry…irregular is GOOD! If some of the white paper sticks, it can be easily rubbed off with moistened fingers after the polymer medium dries.
Top your piece with matte medium after it dries if you don’t want a shiny surface.
Photo paper is another alternative for paper image transfers. You will generally get a transfer with much more saturated and even color than with plain paper. This method also reverses the image, so keep that in mind before you print out your picture. There are only a few differences in method from the steps listed above:
Print out your image on gloss or soft gloss photo paper.
Apply polymer gloss medium in a thin layer to both the image and to the receiving paper. Position and burnish as explained before.
Peel off the image paper and clean it up as explained before. Top with matte medium to cut the shine if desired
The finished piece
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POSTED IN: Book Arts, Collage, Digital Art, Journals, Mixed Media, Paper, Photography, Technique Tuesday, Tutorials & Techniques
23 opinions for Paper image transfers: plain & photo paper
kahleen
Mar 7, 2007 at 6:13 pm
OK, how did you do the words?? without them coming out backwords?
this is a great tutorial … thank you for doing this
Cyndi
Mar 7, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Ah, in this piece, the words were printed on the page first…they’re not part of the transfer. Only the woman’s face is transfered. If you want to transfer words using this method, you’ll need to reverse them in an image software package first, or have a copy shop reverse them for you.
Karen
Mar 8, 2007 at 11:21 pm
The second transfer u did with photo paper, what did the original image look like? i can’t make out how much of the image looks like the original or was it distorted.
could u send me a private email because I may not see your response posted on your site.
Thanks,
Karen
Cyndi
Mar 9, 2007 at 8:10 am
The original image is right there in Step #1. There is no distortion with this method, but the image does not necessarily transfer perfectly uniformly. It’s more transparent or translucent, and sometimes there are spots that don’t transfer at all. If I’m looking for a “perfect” transfer, I don’t use these methods…I like them for their imperfections.
Cyndi
Mar 9, 2007 at 8:12 am
Mary asked me in a private email the following question that I thought I’d share with you all:
“I find that if I use pictures I have made on the printer it works great…..however it won’t work with magazine, catalogue pictures etc. Am I doing something wrong or will it only work with pictures done on the printer?”
My answer:
The glossy paper takes a bit more time for the inks and dyes to absorb and transfer than the inkjets do. There’s a better method for transfering them that I taught last week. The image in I used was from a catalog. Check out this link and let me know how it goes :-)
Transfer Film Technique
zoom!
Mar 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm
How long approximately do you leave it on there? Mine gets stuck almost immediately: within seconds.
Cyndi
Mar 16, 2007 at 8:15 am
Yeah, mine too LOL!! The plain paper ones seem to take about 10 seconds for me. The photo paper ones transfer faster, but can stay on longer, if that makes any sense. I think the glossy paper keeps them from sticking as badly. Anyway, I choose which paper to use based on how fully I want the image to transfer. Plain paper ones never transfer as “well” for me, so I use them when I want a really spotty image.
If the paper sticks, you can sort of work in some more medium with a small brush to get it to release. Or you can wait till it dries and then just wet it and rub the white stickies off gently.
Gina
Aug 5, 2007 at 2:26 am
That was SO cool and so easy to understand! Thank you for sharing not only the technique and photos but the times needed to make it happen. (sidebar :) I dont live in a very arty place so what exactly is a gel medium? I have Mod Podge,Royal coat decopage finish, but they all have foreign lables on them so I cannot determine the compound. If it is the Golden in the jar, what does it do? Thanks again.)
Cyndi
Aug 5, 2007 at 8:30 am
Hi Gina! Gel medium is the basic element in acrylic paints. I have never tried transfering with the glues that you mentioned, but you can certainly use them to do a different style of transfer. Visit this link:
film transfers
I still use acrylic medium for these too, but I’ve been told that Mod Podge will work.
The other thing you could try is ordering online. Golden’s and other brands are available through Mr Art and Dick Blick.
If you try the Mod Podge transfer, please let me know how it turns out! You can email me directly at cyndi @ b5media.com (remove the spaces) if you’d like :)
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Jan 16, 2008 at 10:48 am
[…] Layers Upon Layers - Paper image transfers: plain & photo paper […]
Patti Koosed
Mar 22, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I am trying to do a transfer with no luck.
I prepared my receiving paper with gesso let dry and then I painted it and put matte medium and applied the photo and rubbed with a popcicle stick. It stuck but did not transfer. Does the medium have to be gloss? Maybe that is my problem. I so wanted to do this for Easter. Any suggestions?
Patti
Patti Koosed
Mar 23, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I tried a few more times and it kind of worked. I think it is going to take a lot of practice. I love this look so much I will keep trying. Last I printed out a black and white butterfly and put the medium on the receiving paper and I didn;t use as much medium this time.
Cyndi
Mar 24, 2008 at 9:44 am
Yeah, I hate to have to say it, but it just takes a lot of experimenting to figure out how much gel to use, and what formula seems best for you. I like the soft gel in the gloss formula, but others prefer other types. If your paper sticks too much, let it dry completely and then try gently rubbing it off with babywipes. Many folks have good luck with that tactic!
Image transfer by Patti Koosed
Mar 25, 2008 at 12:25 pm
[…] thoughts about the piece on her blog, Treasure Barn. The original post with instructions for image transfers using acrylic medium is here. Tags: Collage, image-transfers, Mixed MediaRelated StoriesCaulk image transfersImage Transfer […]
lorraine finke
Apr 1, 2008 at 8:58 am
for great transfer paper try talbot1.com i use golden polymer gloss medium several coats . soak in water and rub off paper to reveal a great transfer.
Cyndi
Apr 1, 2008 at 9:13 am
Jonathan Talbot is definitely one of the masters of collage! The technique you’ve mentioned here is a different one from the one in this post. I’ve got a post on the polymer transfer film method here:
Leatha Robinson
Apr 26, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Tried this with Mode Podge..didn’t work. Didn’t even start to transfer. I put it on my picture (glossy Epson) and on painted canvas. Burnished it, waited..waited…took a peak…nothing..just sticky glue. Now I will have to wait for my olden to come, Michaels doesn’t have it…grrrr
Has anyone tried Lazertran?
Cyndi
Apr 26, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Leatha, my local Michael’s has Golden’s mediums, but they’re in the fine arts section, not the crafting section. I’ve never tried ModPodge for transfers, but that’s because I don’t like it. Period. It’s my personal quirk, but I can’t stand the stuff.
Leatha Robinson
Apr 26, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I’ve never used ModPodge, but I bought a small bottle to try. The Michaels here (Florida) has another brand. I looked and looked. I got a medium with varnish…which I probably shouldn’t have done. That is the one I tried with the hand made paper and it was a mess. Maybe I didn’t let it dry enough.
Cyndi
Apr 26, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I don’t know…each medium is different. You could try this: let it dry completely, overnight. Then wet the back of the paper and rub it off. See if the image stays embedded in the ModPodge or your other medium. That’s the way caulk transfers are done.
Leatha Robinson
Apr 26, 2008 at 7:06 pm
That is exactly what I was going to do!..lol
Ramona
Jun 4, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Has anyone tried this plain paper method on t-shirts?
Cyndi
Jun 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
You can definitely make a transfer to fabric this way, but the image will not hold up well if it’s soft t-shirt material that’s going to be worn. I’d recommend this method instead:
http://www.layersuponlayers.com/fabric-image-transfers-t-shirt-transparencies/
:-)
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