Photo Transfer

I am looking for specific art for my master bedroom.  I want the room to be masculine and old world looking, but modern. I know, its complicated.  What I really have my heart set on are crowns and maps. While looking for the perfect images, I came across many blog sites teaching how to transfer images to canvas and wood using "gel medium".  WOW! There's no end to the things I can create with THAT technique.  So as I research it more, I discover that you can (apparently) use a multitude of products to actually do the transfer.

Not wanting to go to the store stupid uneducated I was waiting until I felt more confident before venturing off to the art store to get supplies.  But I'm impatient too.  I had a little bit of time on my hands today and I have a bottle of Mod Podge on hand and a few dollar store art canvas.  My research shows that this is a reversible project, in that, if it doesn't work, a new coat of gesso or paint, and the canvas is good as new as if it never happened.  Ha ha! Fool proof! My favourite kind of craft.

I was so excited to give it a shot, that I forgot to take some pictures, but here's how it goes:

I searched trusty old Google for Crown and found a perfect beauty over here at, of all places, a tattoo flash site.  Anyway...

I printed it on my ink jet printer, cut it to size so there wasn't a lot of extra paper because when it's dry, I have to rub off all the paper. 

I coated my canvas with a decent coat of Mod Podge. Not too much, just enough to coat the entire canvas. Even though my graphic doesn't cover the whole canvas, I want the entire canvas to have a uniform sheen. 

I placed my graphic on the canvas ink side down.  If using a text graphic, make sure to flip it to mirror image first!

Then I took my ruler and GENTLY scraped over the entire canvas starting in the center and working up, then down, then across from one side to the other.  That scrapes out any air bubbles, lumps, lines, bumps and other imperfections and it makes sure the graphic is adhered well to the canvas.

Now we wait for the mod podge to dry. Tick tock (this is where the magic of video would come in handy). So while I wait for it to dry, here's how it looks right now:

When the canvas is totally dry, you gently spray the paper backing with water and rub off the back layer of paper.  The ink part is supposed to stay adhered to the canvas.  How hard can it be right?

Well... remember before when I said this was fail proof, because if it didn't work, I could start over as if it never happened?  Good thing it's that kind of craft, because it totally didn't work!  That's what I get for being impatient!  But It wasn't clear on the interweb (as we call it around here for fun) if MP was a good medium for this.  I can now tell you emphatically, it is NOT the right product for this project.  It's great for many many things...but this is not one of them.  Let me show you what happened:

So it's been sprayed with water, and I started rubbing, and as you can see, the ink ran.







The more I rubbed to remove the paper, the more the ink ran, and eventually disappeared.

I can see the potential here, so I'm going to go find the proper medium to do this project.  It's going to be exactly what I have been looking for.  So now I know what not to do!

What I learned: 

1. While Mod Podge is a fantastic product with tons of possibilities, this is not one of them.
2. I used a stretched canvas.  With the amount of rubbing that had to be done, a flat canvas, or loose canvas will be better. 
3. Ink jet printing is not suitable for this project.  It has to be laser printing.
4. With the right medium, this is going to be a fantastic project with tons of possibilities. 

So now I'm off to the art store to find the gel medium, as soon as I send my files to Staples for printing on the laser printer!