Altered Playing Cards, Week 10: Image transfers outside the box

I'm joining Claudine at Claudine's Art Corner for Week 10 of the Altered Playing Card Challenge.  I got all excited when I saw Claudine's theme was image transfers.  I simply adore making image transfers.  But, I don't make mine like Claudine made hers.  Since she said to think outside the box, I'm going to make my image transfers the way I'm used to making them.  So, I suspect that could be was not Claudine's idea of thinking outside the box.  At least I hope she doesn't kick me out of the challenge for doing this (GRIN).

Here are my two cards for this week.

For my first card, I decided to paint the background.  I used the last of my Kelly green acrylic paint, so it didn't cover the gesso very well.

To that I added the Sunflower glaze.  Then I set the card aside to dry.

For my second card, I started with a piece of vintage sheet music.  

I purposely created it in the portrait position, thinking I would use the Lollipop image for this card.  As it turned out, I used the other image I planned to use, and was a bit upset with myself that I hadn't thought ahead to add the music in the landscape position.

It's time to take a step backward and see how I created the transparencies.  If you took my altered book class in 2012, this is old hat to you.  If not, this is how I make these.  BTW, I am NOT going to apologize for the horrible photos.  I'm sure you can see I now take better photos, but I needed a better camera in order to do so!  If you want to see other ways I made transfers, feel free to click on Lesson 18 of the AB lessons on my right sidebar.

I grabbed some magazine images and cut them out.  The ones on the left in the photo were small enough I could use packing tape.  The ones on the right, I used clear contact paper.  The technique is exactly the same.

I placed lengths of packing tape sticky side UP on my craft sheet.  Then I placed the image down on the packing tape.  I found there was less static electricity when I placed the image over the tape than when I placed the tape over the image.  I was also able to line the image up better on the tape.

Now that the images are adhered to the tape, cut as much of the tape away as possible.  It doesn't need to be fussy cut, but it needs to be close.

What you see in this photo is the back side of the image I'm trying to transfer.  Using a plastic spoon, I burnished until my hand about fell off.  OK, that's an exaggeration, but only slightly.  Burnish in one direction, then at a 90 degree angle, then on both diagonals.  Press hard.  How well you burnish is directly proportional to how well the image transfers. 

This is the same image above, now face up, after I burnished it.

Next, drop the images into a bucket of warm water.  Watch as they begin to curl.  Walk away.   Seriously!  Don't get impatient.  Wait about 15 minutes for the water to soak into the paper.

Begin removing the paper.  Remove from the center outward.  One thing I should point out is white paper is the absence of color, so any time you see white, it will show up as clear in your transfer.  I often remove the bits of paper and place them back in the water bucket.

I need to remind you please, never, ever throw the water that is in your bucket into a sink or toilet.  It will clog up your pipes quicker than you can say heart attack.  I don't want you calling me saying I didn't warn you when it happens to you!  If it's too cold to throw the water in your garden, or you live in an apartment, empty the water into a house plant.

Now that we are on the same page, let's return to much better photos and the two APCs that are now dry!

For some reason, I thought this paper would release the transfers.  Imagine my horror and surprise when I learned I had left some of the image on the paper and taken some of the paper with the transfer.

There was nothing I could do about it now, though.  Normally the packing tape will stick to the background and you don't need any glue to hold it down.  That was definitely not the case here.  It was obvious I was going to have to use some glue to hold the packing tape in place.

For my painted card, I used the same stamp I used last week.  I got decent coverage again, even though I didn't use my mouse pad underneath the card.  As I was about to show the Lollipop, my camera batteries died, so I knew I would have to rely on my scanner to finish showing my cards.

Thankfully, the Lollipop didn't stick to the paper, so it transferred well.  The two stamps also transferred and only the California stamp stuck on one end.  I was actually quite pleased with how this turned out.


I was less pleased with this one, but it was all my fault for not "taping" these to release paper.

One thing I would like to say to Claudine is, when Claudine Hellmuth's paint first came out, she showed how to use it as a transfer.  I tried several times to make it work, but always got poor transfers.  In fact, when I used that paint technique, my transfers were far worse than our host Claudine's.   You can see one of my failed attempts here.

But for now, I'm calling these finished.  And I didn't even bother with a sentiment, although I'm calling the left one "Lollipop road trip," and the right one "RPM," because nothing else comes to mind.


This is Day 13 of

AEDM, and I altered two playing cards today.