Tutorial – Polymer Gel Transfers

For unique and stunning effects with photos, text and vintage images, you can’t go past polymer gel transfers.

You’ll need:

A good quality paintbrush – for smooth transfers you’ll need a good quality brush, but don’t feel like you have to run out and buy one straight away. Cheap and chunky brushes will work, but leave more brushmarks on the finished piece. If you like the artistic look this creates, then go ahead with what you’ve got.

Images to transfer that are laser printed or photocopied.
Some ink-jet printers that use durabrite inks can also be used,  but we don’t promise they’ll work. As with any new technique, experiment with different types of images, printers and papers and see what works for you.

Polymer gel medium.  Other gel mediums work in the same way, but you have to wait longer for them to dry (usually overnight or at least a few hours – polymer gel works almost instantly!)

Base card – We’ve used this technique on all kinds of cardstocks and been happy with the results. Start with a flat card or watercolour paper for your first few transfers, then experiment with textured stocks like bazzill and zsa zsa.

Glass or small bowl of water.

Instructions:

1) Coat your base card with a thin coating of the polymer gel medium and let it dry. You don’t always need to do this step, but it can help to protect your card in the later ‘rubbing’ stage.

2) Paint the gel medium directly onto the image you want to transfer (right side up).

3) Without delay, lay this image down onto your pre-coated cardstock (gel-coated-image side down). Burnish the back with a popstick, spoon, brayer or bone scorer for around 30 seconds…. The amount of time required will vary depending on how much gel medium you have applied… try and find out which works best for you – less gel medium or more gel medium.

4) Once you have gone over the entire image with the burnisher, start at a corner of the image and begin to peel away the backing paper. Some of it will be stuck down, but that’s okay, you should be able to see the image left behind with a thin layer of paper pulp over the top of it.

5) Dip your fingers into the water (just so they’re damp, not dripping) and slowly rub in circles over the transfered image to remove the excess paper pulp. Once you have done this and the image dries, you may see more white paper fibres – again dip your finger and gently rub them off. You can also use babywipes for this step, but be very gentle.

6) When you are happy with the look, you can then apply a coat or two of the sealer/varnish of your choice. This can be the same gel you’ve just used for the transfer, or another depending on the level of shine you want. ‘Glaze Paste’ is Lorri’s favourite for sealing, as it finds it’s own level and generally doesn’t leave brushstroke marks. You could try a high gloss varnish, a matte varnish, ‘Brushstrokes’ (a thick paste you use with a brush to mimic the look of a painting) a spray varnish or whatever you have on hand.

7) When the sealer you choose (glaze paste/gel medium/varnish etc) has dried you can sit back and admire your work.

Tips:

Get ready for some serious finger rubbing. Don’t try to do lots of transfers in one sitting or you’ll end up with raw fingertips.
You can minimise this by covering your finger with a baby wipe when you’re rubbing off the paper – but be careful that you don’t rub too hard and remove the image.

If you prefer a grungey look, you can rub extra hard in areas of your image to remove some of the transfer. Alternately you can leave some blank spaces when applying the gel medium to the image for an incomplete transfer.

Remember that any text you use will be reversed, so use the mirror or ‘tshirt transfer’ function in your software or printer to make sure it’ll read correctly when transferred.

ATC by Lorri – you can see more of her work on her personal Flickr page