Image transfers

I know what you're thinking - "Goog, you can't DO image transfers. You've said so yourself, several times now. You promised us you were giving up." I did give up. For reals. But my friend Kelly is determined to prove to me that it's not ME. She thinks it's my printer. I have an HP 7360 (7460?). It's InkJet and prints gorgeous photos and scrapbook pages. I simply can't do image transfers. We all have to truly suck at some things and transfers are one of mine. Kelly doesn't believe me. Here is the proof:

This is what happened when Kelly tried to do image transfers while I was at her house. My bad mojo TOTALLY rubbed off on her.

PS If you have time to go read Kelly's blog about our movie adventures, please do. I nearly peed.

InkJet image transfers

I know, I know - I said I couldn't do it and them I tried again anyway - twice. I can't help it, I'm stubborn! Here's the original picture...
And it was the last page in my journal and I figured I'd just try it again...didn't work, obviously! For this one, I put the gel medium on the page and stuck the picture to it - it looked like it was going to work until I tried to get the paper off.

This one I put the gel medium on the picture and then stuck it on the page. It started to distort as soon as I started burnishing. I left it to dry completely (overnight) and tried wetting the paper and rubbing it, but you see where it's completely yellow again? The whole thing just rubs right off.

Failure, again.

Oh, well! Guess I'll just have to leave this particular technique out of my work, huh? Well...maybe I'll try the photocopier method...we'll see. I know I should just consider myself incapable of transfers, but I'm VERY stubborn. Determined? Yeah, I like that better. I'm very determined.

Failure IS an option

I can't do image transfers. Can't. I don't know why. At first I was convinced it was my printer - it's InkJet, everything I read said it had to be LaserJet. Then I read that my particular printer WOULD work. It's an HP with Vivera inks and apparently everyone on the planet can do image transfers except me. I've tried everything - letting the gel medium dry completely and then wetting the paper and peeling it off, burnishing then peeling while the medium is still wet. I've tried gloss gel and matte gel. I just need to stop, I know, but everyone's doing it...

Here's the page:

The spread:And after failure was apparent, I did what any self-respecting mixed-media artist would do: covered it up. First with gesso, then water soluble crayon, a little collage, some drippy paint. I might add some words, but I won't bore you with my thoughts.

One last picture. This is the ONLY successful transfer I've EVER done, but it wasn't done like you're "supposed to" do it. It's Mini Me's little face. He was only six or seven months old, just starting to pull himself up onto things (mostly the legs of my pants) to try and walk. He's got his little head on my knee and is staring at me adoringly. He was the sweetest little baby. Anyway, I did this one by applying gloss gel medium to the image, not the transfer substrate. I let it dry overnight and applied another coat, let that one dry all day (I was determined to make it work!!), and applied a third coat. The next day (or maybe even the one after) I soaked it in water and when I rubbed away the paper, the image peeled away like skin. It was actually kind of cool. But it doesn't give that shabby 'transfer" look that everyone seems to love and be able to do. Sigh...guess I have to accept my limitations!