For my exhibition ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ at Schoolhouse Gallery I exhibited four large handmade prints. What I found was a repeated question was “what is the method you used”.
I’ve used image transfer for some years now, starting with my first series “Between my sheets” which is a series of black and white images I shot and transferred onto bedsheets. The reason why I love this method is that you get to do something physical with your images after you’ve shot them, every image is unique and there will never be another image that looks exactly like the one you just made.
Image transfer is a time-consuming process, especially so if you are making large sized prints. The image has to dry for over 24 hours, scrubbing off the paper with your hands needs to be done carefully and you might end up without a fingerprint if you choose to go with a 1.7m x 2.4m image like I did. Another factor which I have experienced many times is when you are close to completing a print then some of the more fragile pieces flakes off, this is fine if it happens on the boarder or less important parts of the image, but say you scrub off the eye of a person you would have to start all over again, and you might have already worked on this print for a week or so by this point.
The method step by step
Get a laser print of your image. Make sure you print on thin paper. I used ink jet prints for the two big pieces in my exhibition and it was a thousand times harder to scrub off (not to mention that they printed it on the wrong paper).
Cut the fabric to the desired dimensions, I usually leave a bit more length around the print as you don’t always get it perfect, this gives you a bit of leeway incase you fuck it up (which is easy to do if your print is on the larger side).
Apply an even thin layer of Medium Gel, I prefer the Matt Medium Gel as I think the glossier Medium Gels are a bit too shiny for my taste (you can use a varnish at the end to give it some shine/oomf if you like).
Put the print with the medium gel applied face down onto the fabric. Use your hands to get rid of any air bubbles with smooth movements.
Let the print dry for 24-72 hours.
Get a cloth and a water bottle, put water on the cloth and dampen the paper side of the print. With your cloth slowly rub off the paper. If you’ve printed laser prints and used the correct paper the first layer should come off fairly easy. If you’ve printed on slightly thicker paper you can use a sponge for the first layer, but be careful not to put too much pressure when you scrub away, you don’t want to damage the print. This takes a lot of time, I usually spend a few days/weeks on this, depending on the print size of course. I like to start at the outer edges of the print and work my way towards the centre of the image, leaving the most important parts of the image to the end as you have to be more careful. It is also easier to see what parts of the image you need to be more careful with if the rest of the image has come through. I usually use my fingers for the final layer of paper left on the print.
You have now scrubbed off all the paper and you have a full image transferred onto fabric.
If you’d like a more polished look you can varnish your print. I’ve tried a few different varnishes and find most of them too glossy for my taste ( thought the varnish does bring out the colours of the image if you think it’s looking too faded). My favourite varnish is PVH glue which I mix with water. Only apply a thin layer of varnish and let it dry for 24 hours.
Congratulations, you have successfully made an image transfer! You can call yourself an artist now!