Experimenting with Image Transfer

It's been busy here on the home front as I continue to prepare for October's Arts and Crafts Fair in Raleigh.  In an attempt to create some new pieces for the fair, I spent one weekend experimenting with image transfer.  I've always wondered how it was done, particularly when creating a mixed media collage.  I found the following video on Vimeo and was determined to learn how to do it myself:

Mixed Media / Image Transfer from Jarrod Renaud on Vimeo.
So with supplies in hand, I began to experiment.


I began with taping down a piece of water color paper and saturating it with water.  I also trimmed some images that I wanted to transfer to my paper.




Next, I began applying color to the saturated paper.


Once the color and paper were dry, I began to spread a thick coat of gel medium evenly on my images.  Once the images were coated, I plopped them face down on my paper.  To ensure even adherence to the paper, I used a brayer to flatten the images.


I allowed the images to dry completely.  Once the images were dry, I used a spray bottle of water to saturate the images.  Using my fingers and a sponge, I rubbed off the paper backing of the images.  As I rubbed the paper away, I could start to see mirror images of my... well... images.  This is what I ended up with:



The first few image transfers I created, I went back over with pen and ink to create details and faces.  Although I like the final pieces, I felt that the pen and ink work took away from the original images.


On my second round of image transfers, I tried something different.  Instead of coloring the paper first, I transferred the images first and did the water color last.  As you can see, the gel medium blocked the water color from saturating the paper.


Although I enjoyed experimenting with image transfers, I still think I need quite a bit of practice, both in patience and in technique.

"Why not go out on a limb?  Isn't that where the fruit is?"

- Frank Scully