DIY Photo Transfer

http://content.photojojo.com/diy/diy-photo-transfers-on-wood/

DIY: Make Easy Photo Transfers on Wood

Well, how ’bout photo transfers on wood?

Yup, it’s possible, with the combined magical abilities of a laser printer and gel medium.

Wow your pals with our tutorial that’ll guide you through it all, no knocking on wood needed.

Transfer Your Fave Photo Onto Wood!

p.s. Our friends at Moo love photographers and are offering free shipping on their Luxe Cards!

Why Wood I Do This?

Photo transfers are a neat and pretty cheap way to get your favorite pics on the some of the coolest material around—wood! As a super-hands-on DIY, you can really make this project your own based on how you want your photo transfer to look–-distressed and textured, or supa-clean and smooth.

You can also transfer the photo love. These would make lovely gifts for friends, and they’d be fun to make with friends.

Plus, this DIY would make for an epic weekend of craftery—especially for those long, rainy ones!

Ingredients:

Lovely photos to transfer
Light-colored wood piece or panel
Simple photo-editing program
Access to a laser printer
Scissors
Bone folder (edge of a gift card works)
Matte gel medium (found in the acrylic paints section of the art store)
Mod Podge with your choice of finish (we went with matte)
2 different brushes (can be bristles or foam)
Towel rag
Scrap paper & towels to protect your work surface

STEP 1: Put It in Reverse

Open up the photo file you wanna use for this transfer in a photo-editing program and reverse it.

Why in reverse? You’re going to be laying the photo face-down on the wood surface you’re transferring it on, so you want your photo to end up facing the right way when it’s revealed on the flip side.

Check that your photo is set at 300 DPI so that it won’t print out all pixelated.

Don’t forget to also size your photo to fit on the surface of your wood piece. In our case, we made sure our photo of rad cacti will fit nicely on our oval wooden plaque.

Psst—we got our wooden plaque at Jo-Ann’s, and the small wood squares at Michaels. For bigger pieces or to get custom-cut pieces go to home improvement places like Home Depot.

STEP 2: Laser Print it Out—Pew, Pew!

Get your reversed, properly-sized, 300 DPI photo printed from a laser printer on fairly thin paper (like 24 lb paper, for you paper nerds). You want your photo printed on thinner paper because this’ll make it easier in Step 8 when you’re going to rub the paper fibers off.

We got double prints of our photos just in case our scissors go hay-wire in the next step.

STEP 3: Scissor Action

Cut out the laser-printout of your photo.

Be careful; scissors can get pretty sassy sometimes.

STEP 4: Gel It Up

First, cover your work surface with some scrap paper.

Then take one of your brushes and use it put on a thin layer of matte gel medium right on top of your photo.
STEP 5: Flatten It Out

beforeNow, very carefully lay your photo face-down on top of your wood piece.

Once you got your photo in place, use a bone folder (or the edge of a gift card) to smooth out and flatten any air bubbles underneath your photo.

Wipe off any extra gel medium that seeps out of your photo’s edges as you’re smoothing it out.

STEP 6: Let It Dry

Now it’s time to let your photo transfer sit and dry for at least 8 hours.

Depending on when you started this DIY, you may pick up on this project the next day. In any case, it’s time to take a break—go snap some more awesome photos or bake yummy dinosaur-shaped cookies.

We also think this would also be the perfect time to catch up on Photojojo’s phoneography blog or Tumblr…

STEP 7: Soak It Good

Once your photo transfer has been out to dry for 8 hours or so, it’s time to give it a good water-soaking.

First, protect your work surface with some fun towels.

Then take your towel rag and get it wet with some water.

Squeeze out excess water from your rag—you don’t want a sopping wet rag—and lay it on top of your photo transfer.

Press the wet rag on top of your photo transfer, making sure the photo in the transfer is completely soaked. You can also just let the wet rag sit on top of the transfer for a couple of minutes if you’d like.

STEP 8: Rub-A-Dub-Dub

First, put on some good jams. This part needs to take its sweet time.

Now that your transfer is soaking wet, use your rag and/or your fingers to rub off the fuzzy white paper fibers and to reveal your lovely photo underneath.

For a distressed look to your transfer, use the wet rag to rub off the paper fibers. The rag’s own fibers will also rub off a bit of your photo that’s revealed.
For a less-distressed, cleaner look, use your fancy fingers to rub off the fibers.

Let the transfer dry a bit in between paper-rubbing sessions so you can see any paper fibers that still need to be rubbed off.

In our experience, the best consistency for being able to see and peel off the fuzzy fibers is when your photo transfer is almost dry.

FYI: Depending on how large your photo transfer is, this step may take a while. Our small oval plaque took us about 30 minutes of paper peeling to get to our liking. If anything, don’t rush it, lest you ruin all your hard work up until now.

STEP 9: Dry It Some More

You’re almost done, hooray!

Let your photo transfer completely dry.

Again, if you notice as it’s drying that there are some fuzzy fibers you missed (like our photo shows), you can always go back and moisten your transfer a bit to rub the fibers off some more.

STEP 10: Mod Podge It Up

Once your photo transfer is dry and satisfactory to your creative eye, use the Mod Podge and your other brush to seal your hard work.

That’s it! Your photo transfer is done and ready to be the limelight.
Transfer it Further

Make mini photo transfers of your Instagrams like we did!
Go big, like Esther did in the pic above! Hers is 12″ by 12″ and rocks a cool photo cut-out style.
Divide your photo so it’d be transferred on more than one wood panel.
This same transfer method works on fabric, too! How About Orange has this DIY.
You can do inkjet photo transfers, too!
Blender pens are also a neat and magical option for making image transfers.

Special thanks to Esther of Wholly Kao for the original photo-to-wood transfer DIY that was the inspiration and guide for this tutorial! You rock, Esther.

http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/10/20-minute-crafter-diy-photo-canvas.html

First of all...I apologize for the quality of some of these photos. I was full expecting this NOT to work so I didn't even bother getting out my real camera until the end. It looks too easy, but I promise that it IS easy and quick. And the result is darling.
Want to save several dozen dollars and make your OWN photo canvas?
Do you have a printer? Do you have a canvas? Well let's get on it.
First, I trimmed down regular tissue paper to standard paper size (8 1/2in by 11in).
Then, I did my best to iron it flat. High heat with no steam.
I then ran the tissue paper through the printer like regular paper. I manually loaded it to make sure it was in there right. It worked perfectly. I was stunned. And still not using anything to document it other than my phone because I was sure this would all fall apart at any moment. I gathered my mod podge and a foam brush.
Then I put a thin coat of mod podge on the canvas...
...gently laid my tissue paper over the canvas and quickly centered it...then working from the inside out...ever so gently pressed the tissue down and pushed the bubbles out towards the sides. Work QUICKLY but carefully. All the bubbles and wrinkles will come out.
Keep working until you get them all out...when you are done trim the edges. The tissue paper will allow the lovely canvas texture to peek through.
When that is done...gently add a light layer of mod podge on top. BE GENTLE.
Allow to dry. And you are done!!! Wasn't that easy?
The result is a wonderful photo canvas that is pennies on the dollar...I'm thinking the total cost is around $1.50 or so (I bought a dozen 8 by 10in canvases from Michaels for around $10 with a coupon).

I can't wait to try this again with a black and white photo...or for Christmas gifts!

I'd love to see if you try this! Have fun!

P.S. I have an InkJet printer.

http://hookedondecorating.com/how-to-guide-transfer-photos-to-canvas/

It is so easy to transfer photos to canvas.

This transfer technique can also be used on wood, watercolor paper, clay, fabric, or any other porous surface. The possibilities are endless.

Here is the method that I use:

What you’ll need

a mounted canvas board or whatever medium you would like to transfer to. I used an 8X10 pre-primed canvas board from the dollar store
Golden Soft Gel Gloss Medium or any brand gloss gel medium
laser copied photo in black & white or color (see Photo copy notes below)
2 wide foam paint brushes
a paint brayer or flat spreader
a spray bottle or sponge with plastic tray
a damp rag and a dish scrubber
a plastic drop cloth or newspapers to protect the surface that you are working on
scissors for trimming your image
acrylic paints or gesso for priming your canvas (optional)
Mod Podge or any clear acrylic sealer



Step 1: Preparing your photo

Prepare the surface of your canvas if it is not already primed. Paint the surface with the color of your choice (optional).
Neatly trim your photo to fit the canvas. Leave at least 1/4 inch border around the image if possible.

Step 2: Transferring the photo to the canvas

Coat the photo side of your photocopy with a moderately thick coat of gel medium, making sure to cover the entire image evenly. Work quickly so that the gel medium does not have a chance to dry up.
Holding the edge of your photo, carefully place it upside down on your canvas with the gel medium side down. Make sure your photo is straight before placing it on the canvas as once it is stuck down it cannot be moved.
Using the palm of your hand, smooth out the air bubbles and creases. Then use your brayer to roll across the back of the image in both horizontal and vertical directions. You want to try to remove all of the air bubbles and creases and make sure that your photo is firmly stuck down. Wipe away any excess medium on the edges of your image with your damp rag.
Leave your image to dry, preferably overnight, or at least for 3-4 hours. If you try to remove the paper layer before it is dry some of your image may come off. When dry, the paper should feel dry to the touch, not cold. You can also use a hair dryer on the low setting to speed up the drying time.

Step 3: Exposing and sealing your photo

Once your image is fully dry, use your spray bottle or sponge to wet the back of your image. You will start to see your image come through the paper. Leave it to sit for a few minutes so that the paper has time to soften.
Using the pad of your finger, lightly rub the back of the paper in one spot until the paper layer starts to roll up and come off. You’ll see your image being revealed as the paper is rolled away.
Work on one section at a time, rolling up the paper, while keeping the area you are working on moist. Try to remove as much of the paper fibers as possible without removing your image. NOTE: It is important to not rub your photo too hard as some of your image may start to rub off especially near the edges of the photo.
Once you have removed the majority of the paper fibers with your finger you can use a wet kitchen scrubber (see the type of scrubber to use in the supplies photo above) to lightly scrub your image of the remaining fibers. Again, be very gentle, especially near the edges of your image.
After your image has fully dried you will want to seal it with two coats of either Mod Podge or a clear acrylic sealer. This will not only protect your transfer but it will also make your image more vibrant and it will help to hide any residual paper fibers left over from the transfer. For my transfers I like to use Matte Mod Podge. I works like a charm!

Photo copy notes

I found my image on The Graphics Fairy website here. She has so many gorgeous images to choose from.
Transferring a photo with text? Make sure you print your photo in mirror image mode (In Photoshop go to—->Image tab—->Rotate image—->Flip canvas horizontal).
Laser copies on regular copy paper (20 lb) work the best for transferring. The cheaper the paper, the better your photo will transfer. Matte copies transfer better than glossy copies.

Other things to keep in mind

No matter how gently you remove the paper layer, some parts of your image may start to come off. Don’t panic! You may or may not be able to get a perfectly crisp image every time. I have transferred a lot of photos using this technique and some photos don’t transfer as cleanly as others. Your final transferred image is meant to look aged. You can always touch-up bare areas with acrylic paints.
Soft gloss gel medium will give you the clearest image, followed by regular gloss gel medium, then matte gel medium and finally gesso.
Photos transferred on to fabric should only be spot washed with a damp cloth. This method does not preserve the image enough to be able to run it through a washing machine. Some of your image may come off. I have sealed some of my fabric transfers with starch (this makes the fabric stiff).
You can layer many transfers over top of one another and also mix text with images to create an interesting piece of art.

Have you ever transferred photos to a canvas or any other medium before? If you haven’t, I hope you get a chance to try out this wonderful technique.

This is very inexpensive project as well. It cost me only a couple of dollars to create this transfer. The majority of supplies I already had on hand.