You may recall I played with this a bit last month. I didn’t have huge success with magazine transfers and I was anxious to try the laser prints because I was pretty sure that was going to give me a better result, and a more consistent one. I shared my play as one of my first Instagram posts and on one of the Gel printing FB groups. I was interested to see that image transfer with white paint showed up on YouTube just the other day. She got a much better magazine pull than any of mine LOL! One of my early attempts looked like this – I think you see what I meant – it’s OK but perhaps the wrong magazine (Elle, UK)
My idea had been to do a bunch of magazine text to then use as additions to my art journal. But what WAS a success was pulling the print on that rough packing paper that I get in a LOT of Amazon deliveries. It seems to have just the right tooth to really grab the white paint! That sent me down a whole other rabbit hole. I think I mentioned I had amped up the toner application on my laser printer but I had a better idea. I printed it twice. My printer (A Canon I-sensys LBP 663C, if you care) has both a try for normal paper and a flap for other sorts of things, so I can print on deli paper or tissue paper or transparency film. I tried printing normally from the tray then inserting that into the flap but I got a slightly off-register print. When I printed from the flap then re-inserted the paper in the flap and printed again it was spot on.
For me, this works a lot better – plus if there is a fab magazine image that I love, I can scan it and use it over and over again. The white paint shows up so much better on the rough brownish packing paper than it does on white paper, and the range of paints you can use is wider. This is transparent rather than opaque paint and it’s very clear.
Neat, hum? So I get that having a laser printer is key here, but the technique is so much fun, I couldn’t not share. Staples in the USA and maybe a standard copy shop in the UK probably will print a PDF of whatever as a laser copy for not a lot so if you like the idea that is an option. I wanted to go back to the first idea, of making the transfer more of a collage by adding to the transfer, so I had a go with some handmade stamps and stamped circles using caps
What is important is pretty much what is important for any image transfer:
- the initial coverage of the white paint need to be just enough and not too much. Good cover but not THICK cover
- the pressure should be gentle but firm enough for the toner to resist the paint and the paper to grab it
- let the white paint dry
- the paint layer to pull off the final print should be thin enough you can see the image thru it – this is, as I said, transparent paint, but the same applies for opaque paint, a thin layer
Love it.
I have about a million other ideas for this, but I am really trying to be better about not just sharing the technique but getting to an actual project or page in the end. I still am keen on the idea that I began with, creating word blocks for adding to my art journal pages, so that is likely what I will end up playing with over the weekend. I need to drag out my larger format plate for that, I think. I am hoping to do a class I signed up for that was delayed and also catch up on my WOYWW visits, as the last few days have been all about sorting the Hubster and Darling Daughter our for a short trip to a folk festival for a camp-out. I am really glad I make no attempt to snag the top spot, given I have a horrible track record on the day in the past month or more.
scrappystickyinkymess 