Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Image Transfer

                                                Every Other Being That Strides the Earth

This is a photo transfer using that miracle medium 'mod-podge'. This one is done on board, although you could use canvas. First, I painted the board black, then collaged torn book pages, exposing an outer border of black. Since I have wording within the print, I thought the wording of the background needed to become just that - background; so I painted over it with watered-down, white acrylic. I then rubbed that finish off over two phrases I had intentionally placed for visibility, one becoming the title of the piece. In photoshop, I turned my image into black and white, increasing the contrast, and flipping it horizontally since the process flips your image. This was printed on regular copy paper. Next, I coated the printed surface with a thick layer of mod-podge, turned it over, and pressed it onto my prepared board, pressing gently to make certain the entire surface was in contact. I let this dry for 2 hours. When thoroughly dry, I sprayed the back of the print with water, let it soak in, and began rubbing gently to remove the paper. If the paper is too wet, or you rub too hard, you can tear the print. I purposely did that in a few negative spaces. It also "works" on the edges if you're going for the grunge border. A thin layer of paper will remain, which could be hand-tinted with watercolor if desired. Dry work was then sealed with three coats of Krylon's "Protective Finish". The possibilities are endless of the ways you can prepare the surface, so it's best to choose the print you want to transfer first and then decide on an appropriate background treatment. Have fun giving this a try.

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