IMAGE TRANSFERS: JUST WAY TOO MUCH FUN!

Have you ever tried doing an image transfer? It's easy-peasy, I swear, and just waaaaay too much fun! An artist neighbor of mine, Martha Gibson, did a demo for the Muses a while back, but I didn't have the supplies at the time, wasn't sure if I had the right kind of printer, and somehow just never got around to trying it. Recently, however, I watched a video about it in my little online class, and realized it doesn't really matter what kind of printer you have. You don't absolutely need a printer at all!

All you really need is a background, something sticky (glue, mod podge, gel medium, gesso, paint or even sticky back canvas) and a picture. Yeah, it probably works better if you photocopy that picture on the right kind of printer (is it laser or ink jet? never can remember) and then transfer the copied image. But hey, art journals aren't really about perfection, are they?

So, for the one above --  my first, but not my last -- I just tore a page of watercolor paper out of my little 5x8 Strathmore tablet, gessoed it and let that dry. Then I scribbled several different colors of watercolor pencil on it, misted the page lightly with water, used a brush to smear all the colors around, and let that dry thoroughly too (if you have one of those little crafter's heat guns, which I don't, that helps speed things along). There's your background.

For the image, I just tore a picture of a coffee cup out of a magazine ad, and used it as is!

Now you paint your sticky stuff (I used gel medium, just because I had some around) onto the background wherever you want the image to go, put the picture face down in the stickiness, carefully smooth out all the bubbles and ridges, and just walk away.

Once you are certain it is absolutely dry you come back, mist the paper image with water (don't be afraid to get it good and wet), then get to rubbin' with your fingers or a little sponge until every bit of that paper and glue have been rubbed off. The ink from your image will have magically transferred itself onto your background. I don't know how it works, it just does. It's like a miracle!

Now, remember where I said to carefully smooth out all the bubbles and ridges. Well, to tell you the truth, that's almost impossible to do. Wherever you have a bubble, that means the ink isn't actually touching the canvas, so of course, it's not going to transfer, and you will end up with empty splotches in the image, where the background shows through. But you know what? That's totally ok. In fact, I kinda like it that way! It just gives your image more of an antique feel, don't you think?

So what are you waiting for? Go try it for yourself. I don't want to be the only one havin' this much fun!