Our Fiber Junkies meeting this month was to explore the transfer of images through transparencies and the use of an acrylic medium. This was such a fun, easy technique which yielded quick and successful results. Everyone brought images they wanted to transfer onto fabric. My recent trip to Florida provided many photo opportunities.
I took this picture of seashells and pulled it up in Photoshop Elements ....
and using one of the filters, turned it into a line drawing ("find edges" under sketch)
I used transparency film I had on hand for this technique - tried many years back. If you're wanting to try this technique, it's good to use film made for an inkjet printer; you do need to print the image using an inkjet - a laser won't work. Make sure the film does NOT say "quick dry" - that won't work either as the ink won't release from the transparency. We all found the film made specifically for inkjet works better than all purpose.
This film did not have a white strip across the top like the current ones do. The white strip tricks the printer into thinking it's feeding paper through. In this case, we spray quilter's adhesive on the paper, laid the transparency on top and put tape in corners...
and it went through the printer easily. Here is the transparency with the image printed on it. When using an inkjet, images on a transparency can be saved for months and used for this process at a later time.
Next was to choose a fabric to transfer image to. If it is a line drawing, a fabric with some color movement will show through the lines and be more interesting. I picked a fabric I had dyed and rusted. The nice thing about this technique is that you can preview it first by laying the printed transparency over the fabric before transferring.
We used any acrylic matte medium found in all art stores and craft stores as well. Using a wide foam brush, we brushed it liberally over the surface of the right side of the fabric - enough to just wet it.
We laid the transparency, print side down to right side of fabric and started to burnish it. We used the back of a spoon and made little circles while applying light pressure.
It transfers pretty quickly and you can check by pulling up a corner. The ink should be on the fabric and the transparency clear.
Pulling off the transparency is the most fun part. You can see how clear it is - far left, making it a successful transfer.
Let dry and iron on wrong side. There were some wonderful results which I'll share next time.
Very cool technique!! I might have to give this a try for a current project! Thanks for the idea!! I'll let you know if it works for me...I need to print out in color, which should work as the b/w?
ReplyDeleteHi Robbie...it works beautifully with color...remember if there's any writing or something that needs to go in a specific direction, you need to reverse the image first before printing on a transparency. Gen did some old colored postcards...came out beautiful but the writing was backwards...Good luck...let me know how you do...Love that little white dog in your picture box...Judy
DeleteI have a question. Did you let the ink dry on the transparency before doing the transfer? The reason I ask is I used the same stuff you have yet when I tried to do a transfer the image bled and looked awful. I had wet my cloth then printed the image and placed it immediately on the damp cloth, I did not burnish cause the ink just bled right off. So if the ink needs to dry first maybe put that info into your above instructions to save others the mess I made.
ReplyDeleteHi Tess...I'm so sorry you had such a mess - that's a bummer. We all used the transparency right out of the printer with successful results. The transparency should be dry as it leaves the printer so I don't know what happened in your case. You also said your fabric was damp...did you brush your fabric with an acrylic medium or just use water. A medium is sticky and may hold the ink in place. I know nothing was transferred until we burnished it. I think there are a number of factors that enter into this...someone in our group brought their own transparencies with not as good results so it could have been the transparency you used.... I use a transparency specifically for ink jet (getting harder and harder to find) - not the all purpose or multi-purpose ones and not the quick dry ones...
DeleteI can't wait to try this. Thanks for posting and showing so many photos.
ReplyDeleteVery cool results!
ReplyDeleteThe timing on this idea is great! I'm currently working on something I think this would really enhance. Can't way to try it- appreciate you sharing your technique.
ReplyDeleteJudy, love this process! Have always wanted to try this. You have inspired me! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to check back in to say I tried this over the weekend and it worked great! What a wonderful tutorial, I appreciate you sharing the idea. I blogged about it at http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/2014/04/finished-cuttlefish.html if you want to check out my version. Thanks again!
ReplyDelete