Tutorial Tuesdays - Transfer Tile easy artsy DIY

Are you like me, pinning the heck out of that to do list - just waiting for the day you win the lotto or find "just a few extra minutes" in your hectic day to do something new for you? 

I've decided to add a new DIY's feature: Tutorial Tuesdays. On especially busy weeks, other folks' tutorials will be highlighted. Other weeks I will put some of those famous "foolproof" Pinterest lessons to the test. And once a month I'll create an original tutorial to share with you; it will probably be an eclectic mix of misc. experiments, projects created over the last few years for the C&T Publishing design team... and who knows what else.

Today I am sharing this Tile & Tape tutorial I made back in 2009 for the Melange Transfer Challenge. This one is super easy! People have told me that "they don't have a creative bone in their body" and have been happily surprised with their final creation:

There are many ways to transfer an existing image from one place to another. Anything goes in this challenge - use printers, glass, fabric, paper, magazines, whatever. Here is the original Melange Challenge post listing the (non) rules.

I decided to try something easy & went with a packing tape transfer. I used the contact paper transfer listed in Claudine Hellmuth's book Collage Discovery Workshop as a guide. I recommend this book, by the way - I have yet to try most of the techniques. But it is very easy to follow with great pictures and clear directions.

So here's what happened. Please note, I used the products I had on hand. Similar products by other brands should do the trick too.

I started with an original image that was laser printed onto basic copy paper over 2 years ago. (Yeah, I have some pack-rat issues). I popped the image a bit with colored pencils.

I taped over the image with clear packing tape & burnished with a bone folder.

More rubbing to make sure there are no air bubbles.

Soaked in water for several minutes.

Immediately, the piece curled up & kept sticking out of the water. I added more water & poked it a few times until it stayed submerged.

After 5-10 minutes I started gently rubbing off the wet paper. The ink stayed on the tape.

Still rubbing. Took a while to remove the last furry bits of paper that were only visible once dry. I just kept wetting & rubbing.

Here is the tape sticky side up. I was surprised it was still sticky after all the soaking.

Claudine Hellmuth adheres her transparent transfer to an altered playing card. I decided while my tranfer dried to use a white marble tile. Stamped the tile with this cool architectural stamp from Judikins. Pigment inks were used so that the line would soften a bit when sprayed with Krylon before the ink was completely dry (Figured this out while working on my last box)

Then I went in with a touch of color pencils & sprayed the tile with a Krylon Clear glossy finish.

After trimming the tape's edges, I glued it down with Liquitex gloss medium & varnish. I scraped across the tape's surface with the edge of my glue brush to remove air bubbles. An old credit card would work well too.

The contrasting finish was awkward (tape was too shiny), so I went over the whole piece with the gloss medium which I dry brushed again before it set. The faint texture of the brush strokes seems to bring it all together. You only see the strokes at certain angles. Viewed from the front, it has a uniform glossy finish. Now all is needs is some hanging hardware glued to the back.

Overall, this was a quick and easy process. A lot of fun too. If you give it a try, I'd love to see what you make. I have to stress that you must start with a laser print or photocopy. Not an inkjet print, as the water will make the ink run.

The other projects inspired by this Image Transfer Techniques Challenge can be found in the comment section of this Melange post . It is worth checking out. Not only are there some cool, easy to follow tutorials, but many of the participants have since become regular contributors to mainstream craft magazines. I will warn you thought that some of the links are dead after 5 years. Some blogs are gone. Others are now published authors and in-demand workshop teachers who have moved their sites.

On the aside, I know there must be blog hops based on this Tut- Tuesday idea (and hope to find them soon). If you have any favorites, please share!