Kiana

This was inspired by Shona Cole's spread in July/Aug spread in Somerset Studio Magazine. I should also give credit to Karen Michel and her book "The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery". I love working with the plumber's metal tape. It's easy to apply and easy to scribe on.

Malia

My granddaughter Malia

Gel Medium Transfer

I forgot to post this transfer, so it's out of order. You can scroll down to the next image to see that there are several images with instructions for various methods of image transfer. This one was done on watercolor paper that first had been washed with acrylic. Then I applied regular heavy body acrylic paint and while still wet placed a magazine image face down. You must let this dry overnight. Don't get in a hurry. It has to be good and dry. Then lightly sand the back of the image, spritz with water and rub off the paper. You can also use a clear acrylic gel for this, but I wanted to try it in a color. I think the results would have been better if applied to a lighter color of acrylic paint. Perhaps the edges would not have been as visible.

Contact Paper Transfer

I took a wonderful "all you want to know" transfer class from Darlene McElroy last week. It was a very informative and fun class. I have wanted for some time to explore the various methods of making transfers. Darlene made it seem so simple I came home and played for a day or two and came up with this image and several below. This was done with clear plastic contact paper and a magazine image. You can also use clear packing tape. Simply place the contact paper or tape over the image. Then soak the piece in water for a minute or two. Then with fingers rub off the paper. It's easier if you sand it a bit before trying to rub off the paper. I left this as it was applied to the surface, so you can see the edges of the paper/tape. I would usually apply acrylic paint or water soluble crayons to hide the edges.

Lazertran Transfers

Both of these were done on masonite squares -- the above square has a layer of gesso which was scribed and then washed with acrylic. The tile below was covered with aluminum (plumber's) tape, scribed and washed with acrylic. The transfer is a photocopy done on Lazertran paper. No inkjet printer. Must be regular toner copier. Follow instructions on Lazertran package, but to give you as much as I know, soak the photocopy in water until you can start to slide it from its backing. Then remove from water and blot really well with paper towel. Then place the image face up on the surface after having slid it partially from backing. Then you can hold the top of the backing and slide the image off on to the surface. Take care when doing this as the image can tear. Also be careful when you place it on the surface because once it's down, it's pretty much down! Then dip a cheap brush in artists' turpentine and starting from the middle brush out (make an "X") and smooth out any bubbles with the brush. You may need to hold up to the light and tilt to make sure all the bubbles have been smoothed out. It's a smelly process, so those of you who are sensitive to the odors or chemicals may not want to do this process. A word of caution, this will not work with turpoid (the odorless turpentine).

Chartpak Blender Transfer

The transfer above was done using a color photocopy (not inkjet). Apply image face down and burnish with Chartpak blender (it's the only blender I know of that will do this). The surface is watercolor paper with acrylic washes. The image below is an inkjet image applied after spritzing the surface with water (see instructions below) - then burnish and voila!!!

Inkjet Transfer

The surface on this is cold press watercolor paper with acrylic wash. The white areas are where I dripped rubbing alcohol. When dry, I spritzed the surface with water and laid the inkjet image face down. Burnish with a bone folder or something similar. Because the watercolor paper has a lot of texture the image did not come out smooth, but I like the process. It's so easy to do. You can even do it on a paper towel.

Silks and Taffetas

I watercolored with watercolor brush and pan paints on a photocopy of my original sketches in my journal. I haven't gotten up the nerve to actually color the original. I don't particularly like the application on the left side -- it might be my inexperience. Then again the paper is very thin, so that probably doesn't help. The right side turned out more to my liking but the color is so light, it looks washed out. I'm still thinking about what to do on the original. Of course I could use something besides watercolor - since the paper isn't the greatest to receive watercolor. I will post when I have finished the original.