[Bride]

A while back I posted a question in the thread "Calling All Artists - Medium Question!", and I finally have some answers I thought I would share with you, along with the project Sunset Promises that I just finished for my hubby for his birthday (shhhh! its a surprise!). I had been wondering if there was a difference between gel medium and modpodge and in post # of the aforementioned thread I discovered that yes, there was a difference because the gel medium could be used to transfer your print onto another surface such as a tile or canvas, etc. Gayle had asked if this would work with laser as well as inkjet and I have found out that it will not work with inkjet. Your print must be a toner based print onto plain copy paper. The process is pretty simple - apply the gel to your canvas then center your print face down onto the canvas. Starting at the middle smooth out your paper so there are no bubbles or wrinkles. You want your print to make solid contact with the canvas. Then you wait .... a long time .... like 10 hours or over night. It has to be thoroughly dry. The next step is to take a spray bottle of water and wet down a section and begin rubbing the paper off. Don't worry, you will not hurt the color image! This process will take a while and you will want to let it dry and come back to it. As it dries you will see where more paper needs to be removed. Once you are satisfied with it you are ready to seal and frame and/or display as you wish.

Have fun!!

[teecee]

Thanks for sharing the great info Lei! Wonderful project and I LYSL in the gallery.

[Sara Arell]

Lei, your gift for Tom is uber-beautiful and I think you really outdid yourself with this layout! Thanks for explaining your tecnique - so creative and so very beautiful - LYSL in the Gallery

[CRS]

Thanks for sharing the details! What a beautiful gift!

[MariJ]

This is just wonderful info, Lei - thanks for taking the time to post it!

[Smiles]

Thanks for the thorough explanation, Lei! I'm happy to know I can use this technique with my laser printer.

[tinkerbell11]

Glad you had good luck with it Lei, when I tried I had a horrible time, the image kept peeling off too

[Bride]

tinkerbell11, on 21 July 2012 - 08:42 PM, said:

Glad you had good luck with it Lei, when I tried I had a horrible time, the image kept peeling off too

I think the key is to really let it dry ... like I said, 10 hours or overnight. I had no image issues. The hardest part for me was smoothing out all of the bubbles and wrinkles. Just when I thought I had it set I would see another spot ... I finally had to make myself leave it alone!

[anemone1983]

Beautiful, Lei! Thanks for sharing the technique, what a great gift!

[MariJ]

Just one question, Please?
I always get confused as to which is laser and which is ink jet printing? I mean my at-home printer as opposed to when I bring something to Staples? How do I know which is which?
Thanks!

[Bride]

MariJ, on 22 July 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

Just one question, Please?
I always get confused as to which is laser and which is ink jet printing? I mean my at-home printer as opposed to when I bring something to Staples? How do I know which is which?
Thanks!

I'm not sure what you have at home, Marilyn. The only thing I can tell you is that a laser printer uses a powder called toner which is a sort of powdered ink and the printer uses heat to fuse the toner to the paper. This is the same process used in large office machines (like Staples).

An ink jet uses liquid ink that is fired through a print head in tiny droplets on the paper. When you are working on a craft project that requires adding a water base medium (glimmer mist, medium transfer gel, mod podge are some examples) your ink gets wet and can run and smear.

Having said that, I have an ink jet printer at home and I have used it for printing layouts for craft projects. What I then do is spray a light coat of acrylic sealer before moving on to a water-base technique. Since I was unfamilar how the gel medium transfer would work I took this into work to print on a toner-base printer. The gel medium basically sucks up the color off the paper and I thought that if I used a spray sealer it would put a barrier to that color.

Hope this helps!

[Sherry Lynn]

Lei what a beautiful gift you made for Tom and thank you so much for the in-depth tutorial --- I may have to give this a try!

[diannecp]

Your project turned out great and thanks so much for sharing this technique with us! looks like a fun thing to try.

[tinkerbell11]

Bride, on 21 July 2012 - 09:43 PM, said:

tinkerbell11, on 21 July 2012 - 08:42 PM, said:

Glad you had good luck with it Lei, when I tried I had a horrible time, the image kept peeling off too

I think the key is to really let it dry ... like I said, 10 hours or overnight. I had no image issues. The hardest part for me was smoothing out all of the bubbles and wrinkles. Just when I thought I had it set I would see another spot ... I finally had to make myself leave it alone!

Maybe I will give it another try ! I still have some canvases I bought a bunch on sale at Micheals!

[MariJ]

Bride, on 22 July 2012 - 09:39 AM, said:

MariJ, on 22 July 2012 - 07:09 AM, said:

Just one question, Please?
I always get confused as to which is laser and which is ink jet printing? I mean my at-home printer as opposed to when I bring something to Staples? How do I know which is which?
Thanks!

I'm not sure what you have at home, Marilyn. The only thing I can tell you is that a laser printer uses a powder called toner which is a sort of powdered ink and the printer uses heat to fuse the toner to the paper. This is the same process used in large office machines (like Staples).

An ink jet uses liquid ink that is fired through a print head in tiny droplets on the paper. When you are working on a craft project that requires adding a water base medium (glimmer mist, medium transfer gel, mod podge are some examples) your ink gets wet and can run and smear.

Having said that, I have an ink jet printer at home and I have used it for printing layouts for craft projects. What I then do is spray a light coat of acrylic sealer before moving on to a water-base technique. Since I was unfamilar how the gel medium transfer would work I took this into work to print on a toner-base printer. The gel medium basically sucks up the color off the paper and I thought that if I used a spray sealer it would put a barrier to that color.

Hope this helps!

Yes, thank you Lei it helps very much and answers my question. Great explanation - I appreciate it! Makes total sense and I must have an ink jet printer.

[SodScrap]

Thanks for sharing you explanation!!

[Amanda OutsideTheBox]

Aren't transfers fun, Lei?!!

This may also be done by printing onto a transparency- you know, the old school kind that teachers used on overhead projectors before Smart Boards came along? This allows you to see placement easily. Images with clear definition work best. The inked side goes in contact with the gel medium. Of course you want to print it in reverse if you have text or care about a specific angle.
Another cool transfer method is to carefully tape an A4 sized sheet of iron on fusible webbing- the kind you use for sewing. Be sure the fusible side is touching the paper and you print on the non fusible side. This makes a really cool texture which is especially beautiful for landscapes, panoramic images and artistic effects.

[Bride]

Amanda OutsideTheBox, on 24 July 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

Aren't transfers fun, Lei?!!

This may also be done by printing onto a transparency- you know, the old school kind that teachers used on overhead projectors before Smart Boards came along? This allows you to see placement easily. Images with clear definition work best. The inked side goes in contact with the gel medium. Of course you want to print it in reverse if you have text or care about a specific angle.
Another cool transfer method is to carefully tape an A4 sized sheet of iron on fusible webbing- the kind you use for sewing. Be sure the fusible side is touching the paper and you print on the non fusible side. This makes a really cool texture which is especially beautiful for landscapes, panoramic images and artistic effects.

Yes, Amanda - I did know about transparencies but the fusible webbing is a great idea!! Thanks for sharing that. Wouldn't that be a great method for card making?? Will have to try that!