Mixed Media Painting Class: Although I have yet to do a transfer that actually transfers properly I am now going to attempt to describe the process.
- Paint or stain your background with acrylic paint and let dry.
- Images should be ‘high contrast’ as in mostly ‘black’ or ‘white’ Most of the ones I initially brought in had tons of gray in them which doesn’t transfer well.
![high-contrast and reversed image high-contrast and reversed image](https://blogs.ubc.ca/albatz/files/2011/07/10Ind5671greenChannelAccEw-233x300.jpg)
image is now high-contrast and reversed so that lettering & hand positions will be correct after transferring
- Reverse any images with text on them so they will read correctly when transferred. This means all ‘text’ including Arabic script, Chinese characters, etc. plus any non-verbal communications such as my holyman’s blessing.
- We used a fancy-dancy photo copier for this but you can also do it in Photoshop or Gimp if you don’t have access to such a thing. The key is to print it on a LASER printer, not an ink-jet. I think colour laser also transfers and will try this later.
- Trim off excess white paper; otherwise you will have to rub it off and that’s a lot of extra work
- Apply a medium amount of gel both to the canvas and to the PRINTED side of the photocopy, and lay face down on your painting.
- Squeegee carefully; air bubbles cause unattractive ‘holes’ in the final image, and if you get gel onto the back of the paper you will never get the paper off.
- Peel the first layer of paper off about two minutes after applying.
- Once it dries through you can rub the rest of the paper off with warm water and a fairly rough cloth, revealing your image
There does appear to be some sort of ‘knack’ to it that I have yet to acquire. However, in a slide-show of some well-known artist’s pieces, Jeanne pointed out lots of broken transfers. Apparently the eye fills in the missing bits, e.g. even though my hand is broken, it stills reads as a hand.
The original photo of my holyman is on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/albatz/4918700937/
Our super instructor’s site: http://jeannekrabbendam.com/ On her site she has her work and offers lots of different workshops and courses.