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Wood Transfers Photo Project
Ok so I want to try and transfer pictures to wood for the 1st time. I am using wood from the late 1800s. I was planning on using a laser print, Medium matte gel, Hod podge. So have any of you done this? any tips or tricks? Dos or Don'ts? I have very limited pieces of this wood and do not want to screw it up. Thanks you in advance for any advice.  Sep 02 14 01:22 pm Link practice on other wood first. Sep 02 14 01:33 pm Link L A U B E N H E I M E R wrote: Do you know how hard it is to find good wood from the 1800s. Sep 02 14 01:45 pm Link Caitin Bre wrote: *other* as in... not from the 1800s Sep 02 14 01:47 pm Link there is a custom painter here in Aussie that is using a picture transfer to any medium be it timber or metal then clearing it over then passing it off as Airbrushing. looks good but a scam for airbrush. think its a translucent print on a translucent paper. is how he is doing it but if your looking to direct print? that would take a very special printer good luck. Sep 02 14 01:53 pm Link If you're wanting photo quality, you're going to need to find some sort of white coating to act as a receiving layer to handle the ink. Otherwise it's not going to look very good. Sep 02 14 01:55 pm Link cloudnine9 wrote: No Sep 02 14 02:01 pm Link Christopher Hartman wrote: I want to keep the aged wood color. I know I will lose some of the quality but that will match the wood. Its a wedding gift for a customer. (from engagement shoot I did) She has horses and I got an old horse shoe that is going to be nailed to the old wood to go with the photo. I always like to give a gift when someone chooses me to shoot their engagement and wedding. Sep 02 14 02:07 pm Link Caitin Bre wrote: check out www.woodsnap.com Sep 02 14 02:20 pm Link Fascinating. You have a pieces of wood, and already you have decided on a process to stick a picture on it. This is so anti-creative, but ok, here is an idea, you decide if you can do it. Now in your port you say you are a model/photographer so I don’t realy need to waste time explaining the how of copy process. You will need to make your image on Polaroid 600 film, though you can put it on pack film as well. Old images, no problem it will work just fine. The only necessary point is that you need to let the Polaroid image age. I general advise a week to three. For either type of image you will need to trim away the white envelope edge or the white paper edge. Use simple decent scissors, nothing special. IF the 600 film sticks to the clear front, don’t mess with it, let it cling. Now, the process has invasive materials in the Polaroids so do yourself a favor and don’t ‘steal’ your cooking utensils from the kitchen. The best container is a two pound coffee can, the metal type, or a large product can (stewed tomatoes come in these size cans). Heat enough water to fill the can to about 4/5 and then I put the can on a hot plate in the studio. Big hint, if you put a lid on the can the water will stay hot. You will bring the water to a boil, then cut it back so it is just not boiling or just barley on the boil. This is NOT critical, just keeps from making a mess. Now using you noggin and NOT putting you fingers in boiling water (DAH!) put the image (even several) into the water. Time this step…5 minutes in the water. Sing a happy tune, watch a u-tube vid, type a nice thought to a blog…what ever. You realy can’t over do this, unless we are talking about hours, it is just five minutes is a good minimum. Now, with pliers (like channel locks) pick up the can of water and pour the water out using the strainer to catch the image blobs and all the rest of the parts that come out. Look in the can to see that you got it all. You can save the water by pouring it into another can and back on the burner for more. This is a type of Polaroid Transfer. It is THE COOLIST and yes Polaroid and the Impossible people are all drones and have no creativity what so ever so they know nothing about this process. Now what you got is a lovely permanent image that is waded up. Transfer the wet waded up image to an ‘old school’ container like a 35mm plastic film can. It will stay indefinitely* in a water tight container. To manipulate the image use a fine delicate sable brush and don’t try to force the image, as long as it is wet it will respond to water and a light touch. What you now have is a photo decal. You can warm the water of the storage, 85 to 100F is good, the image becomes more flexible and easer to work. You can apply to the skin, but shave the skin first as the hair follicles will be seen below. After the image dries, vary rapid drying, it will be semi transparent. The image can be dried on a de-greased sheet of glass or ferro-typing plate. Once dried it can then be removed, it will be more ephemeral than the clear wing of a fly, dragon fly or that sort of thinness. Now, back to the person posting, the Polaroid image will be so thin and transparent/translucent that you will not only be able to ‘see’ the surface below, but the woods texture will be seen as the image surface. I think this is what you wanted. *Indefinitely in storage: In a water tight film can I stopped test storing images after FIVE YEARS with no change. P.S. These images make great ‘tats’ for kids and adults, Make them water proof and they will last a vary long time on the skin. Sep 02 14 02:31 pm Link Caitin Bre wrote: Source: Jane Dunwall, clothing artist. She has several books out on these processes. She teaches at her own school, does workshops allover then world in which image transfers are used to decorate clothing. It would be well to Google her and look into her work if you want to do these types of processes. Sep 02 14 02:35 pm Link I've never done this myself Caitlin, but I do own a few examples of this process, and I have some experience with finishing wood. The thing to remember is that the process is about absorption, and wood(any wood, old or new) is going to have knots, grain, dry spots, and other things that lead to uneven absorption. This is why woodworkers usually apply at least two coats of stain or finish, instead of one. With untreated, old wood, there's no saying how the image will transfer. If it was kept outside, it might be blurry due to too much moisture in the wood. If it was in a shed, it might act like paper. If it was kept indoors where there might be a humidifier, maybe it acts like new wood. As I said, I'm no expert. But if I were doing this, I would start by sanding the wood down until I had a smooth, 400 grit or so finish. Then I would rub some sealer into the wood, and after that had a few days to cure I'd go over it with extra fine steel wool. Then I'd wipe it all down with a rag that was damp with paint thinner(or water, if you used a water-based sealer), and let it sit for another couple days in a garage or spare room before you tried the transfer. I can't promise you that will give you the results you want. But I can promise you that's as close to an untreated, but still consistent surface as you can get. Just try not to put anybody's face where there's a knot  Sep 02 14 10:38 pm Link Caitin Bre wrote: I've done this with less than satisfactory results. Laser print ... Printed backwards and rubbed off after. You loose vibrance and clarity. My next attempts will be using a bees wax combination with a hardner to adhere a print and coat it ... You can use wax for a smooth or textured look. I would search YouTube for many options and choices. And others have said ...practice on other wood ... Save your good stuff for your final attempt. Sep 03 14 03:21 am Link I found this DIY online about printing on wood using regular kitchen wax paper. Sounds interesting and may depend on the printer and ink too, pigment may be better perhaps? http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-t … -transfer/ I would have thought the most common would be using a method similar to Chromalux and printing on metal plates like Bay Photo, but that requires a special ink dye-transfer printer and release paper, and a heat press to make the transfer from the paper to the substrate (metal or wood). I believe the Chromalux plates Bay Photo uses are sold in an untreated aluminum or one that comes with a white finish. Some of the films appear to be super glossy and a matte too so they have 4 combinations on metal. Don't know about wood though and if Chromalux works on it. Sep 03 14 07:28 am Link While I have not done what you are suggesting, I have printed traditionally on a variety of substances, including wood, by first coating with an emulsion. You can use an alt process, like platinum printing, or you can buy Liquid Light, which is basically a silver emulsion in a bottle. Coat the wood, expose under an enlarger, develop in chemistry. Let the wood dry out and coat. You could also first seal the wood, coat, expose develop and then coat again. You can do this under an enlarger or make digital negatives to size for contact printing if you would prefer. Sep 03 14 10:25 am Link I have used acrylic gel medium (Golden's soft gel matte) for this process. You will need to remember to reverse the image before you print it onto paper as the transfer process results in a mirror image of the original. Anything white in the photo will be transparent in the transfer so the receiving substrate will show through there. Rubbing too hard to remove the paper backing can damage the transfer so it is a good idea to practice on another surface if your supply is limited. For a final coating, I use Dorlands Wax as a sealer. Good luck. Sep 03 14 10:45 am Link Caitin Bre wrote: That's exactly why, you need to try on a piece of wood that aint no not as rare as the one you got. Sep 04 14 08:21 am Link |
