Image Transfer with Inkjet Transparencies

Do you want to try Image Transfer techniques with your artwork or collages but feel kind of confused about all the varied information on the web?

I know the feeling. It’s hard to keep it all straight–when to use caulk or gel medium or just water, and then what kinds of prints to use with what transfer technique–black and white copiers vs. laser machines vs. inkjet.

A lot of information online is contradictory as well, and it seems rare that the products dedicated to image transfer actually do what they say they will.

A Good Place To Start

If you’ve never tried, or just never had any luck with image transfers, try an inkjet transparency transfer.

Like all image transfer, it’s hard to get a truly consistent result from piece to piece, but one could argue that’s part of the fun. (In fact, if you want to use image transfer as a technique, you pretty much have to decide it’s part of the fun, or you’ll get frustrated.)

One thing I can promise is that almost all of the ink will transfer to your substrate. Easily (if it’s POROUS that is–meaning something like paper, wood, fabric, etc.)

Yes, easily. Not true of many image transfer techniques.

But you must print on the BACKSIDE of the transparency sheet. Not the correct side according to the manufacturer. The backside won’t dry, which is why it’s so easy to transfer the image.

(Or you can just use a plain piece of acetate, if you have one. You’ll just need a strip of paper on the leading edge of the sheet that allows the printer to “see” the clear plastic piece so it will feed properly.)

The ink on the transparency is so wet that you don’t really need to use any kind of burnisher for the transfer–forget about a bone folder or a coin. In fact, if you do use one, it could ruin the transfer. I just bunched up a soft cloth and used it to rub the back gently and smoothly. A baren might also work well.

Consistency Difficulties

Even though the ink will almost always completely transfer, the end result will still look different depending on the surface you’re working on.

I was working on wood, and was thrilled with my first attempt with the transparency transfer on my test piece, but less excited by my subsequent attempts on a different piece of the same material. That was frustrating–it was the same material!

So the one that looked best (where all the blacks looked black and deep) was done on my “test” piece (which immediately turned into my “real” piece once I was happy with my transfer.)

But before that, when it was still my test piece, I had tried many times, unsuccessfully, to transfer inkjet images from paper onto the wood using Transfer Ink, a Ranger product. (I like a lot of products from that company, but not this one.)

When I tried to repeat that same look, the ink still transferred well, but the effect was not quite as pleasing. More accurate actually, but not as pleasing somehow–the blacks weren’t as deep and dark, and the overall image was less interesting–looking. And the grain of the wood was now competing with the image.

Theories

I wondered if my multiple attempts on the first one had built up some ink and made the surface slightly less porous (but still porous enough to accept the ink), so the color didn’t sink in quite as deeply and fade into the wood. Or maybe the wood was very dry and drank up the ink. Or perhaps the combination of layers of ink with layers of the Transfer Ink “stuff” created the right surface. I don’t know yet.

I’ll keep working on it and let you know. I’d like to provide you with a more fool-proof way to create consistent results with this particular Image Transfer technique.

In the meantime, however, it’s a great starting point if you’ve never tried image transfer, and you should dive right in. Let’s take notes of our efforts and pool our discoveries.

Do you use Image Transfer in your projects? What are your favorite techniques? Would you like to learn more about different kinds of image transfer? Leave a comment and let me know!
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