'FREE TUTORIAL: Image Transfer using Contact Paper!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Here is another free tutorial. This tutorial I wrote describing my process for an IMAGE TRANSFER. There are many, many different image transfer processes out there in cyber space. This is one of the processes that worked well for me.

 
Note: Soft Gel medium (gloss) was not used for the image transfer - but soft gel medium (gloss) was used to adhere the contact paper to the artwork after the image was transferred.

SUPPLIES LIST:

• clear contact paper (I got mine either at Target or Menards - don't recall which)
• inkjet image to take to copy shop (I prefer to use copyright free artwork - for example, antique images, my own artwork or my own photos)
• toner copy of above image from copy shop (reversed, if it has text you want to preserve as readable in final art piece)
• shallow container of hot water, larger than image
• soft gel medium (gloss) or other 'plastic-to-paper' glue, like '3-in-1' (Beacon)
• clear gesso or soft gel medium (matte) - optional
• palette knife, old credit card, or sponge brush to apply soft gel medium
• paper towels (dry and slightly damp)
• wet wipes (optional)
• workable fixative  (optional)

Note: Skip the copy shop steps if you print a toner copy of your image on your home laser printer.

Note: You can also skip the copy shop step if you 'fix' your inkjet image by spraying  it outdoors with 'WORKABLE FIXATIVE' (Krylon). The disadvantage of using WORKABLE FIXATIVE spray is that it can only be used with ventilation in specific temperatures and specific humidity's. I live in Chicago. So I'm limited to spraying  WORKABLE FIXATIVE outdoors in 5-7 months a year. But I can take my inkjet image to the copy shop all year... 

Important: The reason we do not use an inkjet printed image directly in our wet artwork is that the ink will smear. Inkjet printer ink is water-soluble, therefore it will smear with moisture. However, if you WANT your artwork to have smeared images then you do not need to use WORKABLE FIXATIVE or a toner copy...

PROCESS [over several days]

My clear contact paper transfer process follows, which I accomplished over several days: 

1. scan antique color image into computer and reverse image using image editing software (I scanned it first because I want to keep this image on my computer)
2. print reversed color copy on home inkjet printer
3. take color inkjet image to local copy center and have them make a 'toner' color copy (also the copy shop can reverse the image if you prefer them to reverse it)
4. 'fussy cut' toner image out of paper leaving small margin all around the image (leave about .25 inch)
5. cut contact paper a little larger than the image
6. apply clear contact paper to toner image and burnish contact paper (I let image set overnight after burnishing)
7. fill a shallow plastic 'Tupperware style' container with very hot water
8. plunge image to soak for a minute or two, until paper is saturated
9. remove image from pan and lay it onto a paper towel -  paper side up to absorb excess water on bottom.
10. rub off wet paper with finger, gently - rub and rub. Moisten paper with drips of water if it dries in this step. Don't rub too hard! WHen all the paper is rubbed off there will be a slight white film.
11. dry overnight [or longer] after all paper is removed. (I made a whole batch of image transfers on one day. When they were all dry, I stored them in a drawer labled 'Image Transfers: READY'...)

TO USE IMAGE TRANSFER

• When you want to use the transfer apply a very thin layer of soft gel medium (gloss)  on your artwork and on the back of your contact paper image with old credit card or foam brush.
• Lay the contact paper image, dry side up / wet side down, into the medium on your artwork. And, starting in the center of image, gently press out any air bubbles with your fingers towards the outer edges [several time]. Before each pass, with a wet wipe, remove any medium from your fingers. Carefully blot up any excess medium if it squishes out the sides with slightly damp paper towel. Dry overnight.
• Because the contact paper is slick, you'll have a glossy image on your artwork. If you don't want glossy, apply a thin layer of clear gesso or a thin layer of soft gel medium (matte) to the transfer, or to your whole art piece, as you like.

TEST, TEST, TEST!

  

I tested this transfer process (and many other image transfer processes) before using it on my 'good' artwork.

CONTACT PAPER VS. PACKING TAPE? WHICH PRODUCT TO USE?

Packing tape and Contact paper made identical image transfers in my tests. So you might ask, why use clear contact paper instead of using clear packing tape? Which product you choose to use depends on the size of the image that you want to transfer. 

• clear packing tape is useful for small images
• clear contact paper is useful for larger images.

My test results of various image transfer techniques, including inkjet print on deli paper, showed that the contact paper and packing tape images came out the best (clearer and crisper).

LET US SEE YOUR IMAGE TRANSFERS!

Would love to see your results if you try my Image Transfer Contact Paper process. In the comments of this post, please send me a link to the post on your blog.

Would love for you to comment on this post.

Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu
http://www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com/

'Freebie Collage for Scrapbooking, Art Journals, ATCs - plus Retreat Info!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Greetings!

I found a sponsor for the meetup.com groups that I founded for scrapbooking and crafting.
Did not have to close down our 'Scrap-A-Holics of Chicagoland' groups, thanks to new sponsor 'HP Dance Fitness'!

FREEBIE

Freebie (vintage ephemera)
ok to use - with permission from LuLu Haynes 2014

RETREAT INFO

• 2014 Crafting and Scrapbooking Retreat - Nov 28 - 30, 2014, near Chicago, IL, USA
• 3-day weekend retreat, $50 through Nov 21, 2014. Lodging extra.
• Late Registration fee is $70 USD processing fee) after.
• Details at www.scrap-a-thon.com
• 2015 Retreat scheduled for Oct 30 - Nov 1, 2015.
• Early Bird registration for 2015 retreat coming soon!
• Mark your calendars now.

YOUR WASHI TAPE STASH?

What's your washi tape collection count/inventory to date? How do you organize/store your tape stash?

Thanks for visiting! Come back again soon!
LuLu
www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com

'WOYWW - 2014/09/02 - New Project, A Mess, New Website, Plants & Freebies coming Soon!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes



Howdy and Welcome,

This week for WOYWW, my worktable is a mess.

But in my defense, I'm in transition to a new project. I just got another commission to create another art/journal/scrapbook/fatbook for a new client! She found my shop on eTSY.com!

So this is how my creative space looks just before the big cleanup.

I also just launched my jewelry website. I've been paying for the url address for years - and finally finished all the pages. Included is a Calendar page with my new jewelry classes listed.

I taught a DIY Washi Tape class this past July to an AJ group I joined on Facebook. In 2015, I will be teaching another DIY Washi Tape class in my studio. If you happen to be in the Chicago, IL area, I would love for your to take a class with me. www.nuvoclassic.com

 

LuLu's DIY Washi Tape Class - Samples

 

Before summer wanes, have a look at the lovely coleus that I planted this Spring. They have really grown bushy - isn't their foliage gorgeous? Nothing survives in this shady spot except the coleus. It's a kitchen garden designed by previous owners of our house. But the sun only shines here for a few hours. So it's not sunny long enough to support herbs, flowers or veggies.

YOUR TURN
How do you transition between art projects? Do you do a massive cleanup, to start with a clean and tidy table?

Here are more artists studios from Julia's blog WOYWW - click here to go visit.

Thanks for stopping by. Please become a follower, leave a comment and come back soon. Some FREEBIES are coming later this month to celebrate my birthday!

Peace,
LuLu
www.nuvoclassic.com

'Technical difficulties..and youtube video!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

I'm having technical difficulties for while with google. Will start publishing great posts again when issues are resolved.

Meanwhile I would love for you to visit my youtube.com video - LIKE it and comment! Many thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBhmKB4OtRU

Peace,
LuLu

'Art Journal Pix - and The GIVEAWAY Winner Is!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and welcome,

I just found some great pix today of an art journal I made a while back. These are really great close-up shots. What do you think?

Also, stop by my YouTube channel to see the Paris Art Journal I completed for a commission last winter! And there's more info about components and supplies at my eTSY shop...

Front Cover

Top

 

Front fan

And now the winner of my 4th Blogoversary GIVEAWAY is....

Sara UT!!!

Congrats, Sara!

To receive this  spectacular prize package, send me your postal mailing address - click Contact page. Thanks to every one who participated.

Fun Prize Package for 4th Blogoversary Giveaway!

 

Thanks for stopping by - and please join my blog as a Follower. Would love for you to leave a comment, too.

Peace,
LuLu

'WOYWW - 01/30/2013 - A Peek at Pretties in Smash Book / Scrapbook / Art Journal!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and welcome,

This week for WOYWW, take a peek at my current commission on the work table. It's a smash book/scrapbook/art journal of my client's Paris 2012 vacation!  These pix show the progression of assembling the front cover - and a glimpse of the back cover. All photos were taken under 2 Ottlites, except where indicated.

When I first visited Paris, way back in the mid 1990's, it was wintertime. The weather was cold and dreary. So I didn't get to see Paris in all her glory. But I DID manage to have lunch in the Eiffel Tower - delicious food, but tres expensive! Next time I will go to Paris with my hubby - hopefully for our wedding anniversary celebration some June, when it's nice and warm.

I was thrilled to get this commission - and because of my previous visit, I was able to coach my client in advance and give her lots of tips on what ephemera and other goodies to bring back for her book.

Five handmade paper flowers (whick took FOREVER)

 stuck to a piece of freezer paper. (The flower in top right is not used).

Flowers made with many layers of different brands of

dies cuts using textured Bazzill paper.

After assembling and gluing the flowers I 'painted' them with

various Stickles using a tiny brush and toothpicks.

I learned how to make paper flowers by watching a

slew of youtube.com videos.

 

Smaller flowers (store bought) in center right that I hand

painted red, spray painted gold (Heidi Swapp spray shines) and added Stickles.

Center left is a painted black mesh ribbon that I added MANY dots of Stickles

(this took FOREVER too)

The 'Stickled' mesh ribbon attached to front cover

over a piece of patterned scrapbook cardstock.

 That's a tiny castle on far right. It's game token that

I painted and added glitter glaze - very sparkly -

in homage to Disney Paris.

Dotted black tulle is floating over front cover -
tulle is adhered adjacent to the spiral binding
 under the 'Stikled mesh ribbon

Glimpse of back cover on right,
ruffly ribbons in center spiral binding,
tulle of front cover on far right

 

Front cover,  with temporary
placement of my handmade paper flowers

 

Front cover (right),  and another temporary
placement of my handmade paper flowers
+
titles and a sparkly round mirror top right

 

Front cover (right)
+
strand of faux pearls placed temporarily on left with
glass cabochons cascading from left to right and top to bottom

  

Same as above except with Ottlites off

Front cover with flotaing black dotted tulle

Front cover with 'sandwich'

(gold glitter netting + holiday wired ribbon + scrap of red netting to cover castle token)

floating OVER black dotted tulle

 

Vice Versa:

Front cover with 'sandwich'

(gold glitter netting + holiday wired ribbon + scrap of red netting to cover castle token)

floating UNDER black dotted tulle

Everything is glued down, or will be glued down with heavy gel medium (Golden) or soft gel medium (Golden). I'll publish the final version of the completed cover soon.

QUICKIE POLL
I'm not sure wich I like best - the black dotted tulle OVER or UNDER the netting 'sandwich'. I'm using the tulle and the netting sandwich to 'hide' the cover. The 'sandwich' has a little arrow on it so the viewer knows where it opens. These are interactive elements added  to make exploring the book more mysterious!

I'm leaning towards the black dotted tulle floating UNDER the 'sandwich' Which do YOU like floating on top?
1) Black dotted tulle?
2) Netting 'sandwich'?

Fyi, I made the sandwich, by ironing the gold glitter tulle with the scrap of red netting inside. I used my dedicated craft iron (my old beat up iron that I never used to iron clothes anyway) with a sheet of parchment paper under the iron and the sandwich on top of my heat resistant craft sheet (Ranger). The sandwich was a work-around, because I didn't have any MistyFuse or Angelina fibers on hand. Waa-aa-ah!

YOUR TURN
Have you ever been to Paris France? What did you like most about your trip? Least?  If you haven't been to Paris, do you want to go? What are the 3 attractions you most want to visit?

Thanks for stopping by and check out the Giveaway in the side bar!

Visit more artist studios here at Julia's WOYWW.

Peace,
LuLu

'My Top Ten Pix of Twenty Twelve! Art Journals, Tips and More!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

Happy New Year!

Here's a peek at my fave pix of the past year, plus a few tips - enjoy!

 'Top Twelve + 1 and

Timely Tips of Twenty Twelve Review!'

Full Frontal Fan

Interesting composition I created for this background spread -

light, glowing middle within dark borders around the edge.

 

I practiced doodle 'stacking' on left page

using a gray pigment chisel tip marker

(writes over everything  just like a Copic alcohol marker,

but no stinky fumes)

 

Just love the color gradation (spray ink), stencil,
 and gold (my acrylic paint concoction) that I painted on the back
cover of  father's day brag book / altered book / art journal!

P.S. Spray ink and paint are VERY messy.
I use a store bought spray box to protect my studio somewhat -
but it splatters everywhere if I'm not careful...

Reminder to myself!
This image is also layered behind the lovely lass
on my blog banner above.

 

Top view Fan

 

 Printed pattern tissue paper!

 

Makes a great blotter on the art table.

This is Tim Holtz - comes on a roll like wax paper - various patterns.

Clean your bushes and test paints, medium, tapes etc.

When it's filled up and all grungy, tear it up and use in collage,

 backgrounds, art journal pages, altered books.

Makes a geat layer because it's translucent when glued down

with wet ashesive. Also use it with dry adhesive 

(run it through my 5" Xyron to take in travel supplies).

Easy peasy!



First prize I won in 2012 -
1st Place in a scrapbook LO contest!

Backgound page laying on a grid blotter.

This huge grid desk blotter was a gift last year.
That's more grid blotter in photo below.
When I used up all the blotter pages I switched to the
Tim Holtz tissue paper now on my table.

 

  Cheap 'watercolor' brushes.

 

The best travel tool for details with watercolor paint I found

are  kids watercolor brushes by Crayola.

They are refillable with your own watercolor paint recipes,

diluted arylics, paint glazes, India ink - or even diluted medium!

I found a cheap set of these brushes at Michaels.

Cheap plastic 'putty knife' from the hardware store!

Best tool for applying Yes! Paste -
I slightly trimmed the right and left sides of the putty knife
with Tim Holtz Tonic scissors so that the
 putty knife would fit down into the paste jar.
Putty knife is also great for spreading gesso and other texture medium.
Same concept as the plastic hotel key / old credit card - but
 I wanted a tool with a handle....

P.S. I use Yes!Paste mostly for laminating/gluing 2 facing book pages together -
Yes!Paste is acid-free/archival and makes the paper very stiff and
no wrinkling of paper. Buy Yes!Paste at Michaels.

 

 Lots of layers.

 

Tim Hotltz tissue paper, deli paper,

metal tape (from hardware store) that I embosed a painted with acrylics -

 over lined pages of a small, store bought diary/journal.

 

Great dimension - wow!

My first assemblage for a journal cover.
Collections of game tokens, dice, watch parts, 
foreign and vintage coins, keys,
calculator guts - all adhered with
soft gel medium - gloss (by Golden).

Outstanding tool! Papermate EAGLE ballpoint pen.
Great for writing over gook on art journal pages.
When ink is gone, this makes a great stylus for
scratching textures into wet gesso, too!

What are your fave pix on your blog? 

I would love to see your faves! Please leave a comment including a link back to your blog.

And if you're a mixed-media artist or art journaler, check out my Giveaway in sidebar!

Thanks for visiting - please come back soon!

Have a great art-filled New Year!

Peace,

LuLu

'EXTREME Close Ups: Steampunk Smash Book / Art Journal / Scrapbook!'

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes


Howdy and Welcome,

You asked for it!

These are Extreme Close Ups of the book I posted yesterday. I'm making this book for Daddy for this Sunday Father's day!

Back Cover ECU

Front Cover ECU 1

Front Cover ECU 2

Front Cover ECU 3

Have you ever used hardware in your art work? What about chains? Have you ever tried to make a charm out of a wooden game piece?

Thanks for stopping by - and please leave a comment. Come back soon.

Peace,
LuLu

'First prize of 2012!

by Mary Lou 'LuLu' Haynes

Howdy and Welcome,

As promised, here's the scrapbook layout that won me my very first prize of this year - Best Layout on New Year's day at Archivers!

There were a few constraints for this contest, we were required to use: 6 red buttons,  piece of cardstock provided, transparency provided. I had fun designing this page within the constraints.

Can you see the little areas of sparkle? Did you notice the vellum? I love using vellum in my scrapbook layouts. And I love mulberry paper, too! I used a ton of mulberry paper in my wedding album - which I've been working on for 7 years....I hope I'll finish the wedding album before our 40th anniversary in 2016 - HA!

Would love for you to comment on this post, or any of my posts - and become a Follower while your here.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you can visit often.

Peace,
LuLu

Coeur d'Or - Heart of Gold

A contest submission.

'Coeur d'Or'

 Before

Ingredients: scrapbook paper, mixed media on watercolor paper

'Coeur d'Or'

Apres...

 Same submission - after being tweaked with Photoshop PSE.

Fyi, the music notation was re-written by me on watercolor paper. The music is from one of my original songs that I recorded with my rock band (a million years ago!)

Which version do you llike best? The BEFORE version? Or the AFTER version?

While you're here, I'd love for you to sign up as a follower!

Peace,
LuLu