2018 #12 Transfers: The Courage of Your Dreams {by Alison Bomber}

2018 Topic 12: Transfers

PaperArtsy HQ intro to the post / and the blogger... 

Hi everyone, it's Alison from Words and Pictures here with you today, with something in a slightly different style from my usual textures and layers.  I've been playing with my Gelli plate and some magazine images, following a great tutorial on YouTube from Birgit Koopsen.

I thought it looked fun, and I had a lovely time experimenting with a variety of paints and various book pages and magazine photos.  The cards that I'm sharing here today - a pair and a trio - are the tip of the iceberg of a pile of trials... some successful, others less so.  And although they're not in my usual style, I ended up loving the atmospheric look.

I found it was best to have a strong colour contrast between the transfer layer and the pick-up layer and I was happiest when I played with simple neutrals, rather than lots of bold colour (no big surprises there!), so I stuck mostly to a dark Payne's Grey for the transfer layer and a soft Titanium Buff for the pick-up (both Amsterdam Acrylics).  And I used two separate brayers just to make sure that, even if the paint hadn't quite dried on the brayer, I wouldn't be contaminating things with completely the wrong colour!

I followed Birgit's suggestion to keep my paint layers nice and thin.  You need a good coating of the Gelli plate for the transfer layer, but it mustn't be thickly applied.  Then just burnish on the image you want to use, face down onto the paint.  When you've made good contact across the whole area, then peel the page away.  The image will be visible on the plate.

You need to let that layer dry thoroughly before applying the pick-up layer.  As you can see, I'm using a really pale colour to contrast with the dark transfer layer.  And again, apply it thinly.  You should be able to see the original image hovering behind.  (Sorry about the huge shadow across the photos - it's my inconvenient window frame.)

Then immediately press your chosen paper/cardstock onto the Gelli plate while that top layer is still wet, and burnish firmly across the whole plate.  For these, I was working directly onto some 7 x 7 inch pre-folded cards.

A couple of things to bear in mind... if there's really nothing showing after you've pressed the image onto your painted plate, then you should probably give up.  Different print qualities and inks mean not all images will play nicely.  But what you see is pretty much what you'll get - so if you've got a good image showing, you'll probably get a good "pull" with your pick-up layer.

Before I started printing my cards, I positioned one directly underneath the Gelli plate.  That means I can use it to line up each print to create a border around the edge.  It also means you have a white surface underneath the Gelli plate so you can see what's going on nice and clearly, and get a good sense of how thick your top layer is when you apply it.

Regulars at Words and Pictures will know I've been playing with the Gelli plate quite a lot recently (often with natural elements from my garden) and I've fallen in love with the textured look which you get from printing with paint.

There was one particular photo shoot which caught my eye in the magazine I was using for these cards.  I loved the slender tree branches they'd hidden the model amongst.

They create a fabulous textured look all of their own in the subtle printed versions - almost a creased or crackled look (and you all know how much I love my crackle!).

For this trio, I gradually decreased the amount of buff paint and increased the amount of Seth Apter's Glacier Ice (from his recent Set 4 Limited Edition) I was using as I printed them, so that there's an ombre shift from card to card.

I really like how the ombre works when you see them as a set with, of course, their added words.

For the trio, I used quotes from EAB07 Dreaming & Doing.  She has such a dreamy look about her.

I stamped the words in Jet Black Archival on a separate piece card, and edged them in black before gluing them in position.  

And for the pair of faces, with the strong simplicity of their expressions...

... I chose quotes from EAB08 Strength & Courage.

These I stamped directly onto the prints and embossed them.  Over the dark background of the first card I used pale embossing powder...

... and over the pale edge of the second card I stamped in black again, and then clear-embossed.  I'm embracing the imperfection of the words hovering in and out of the shadows where the image gets darker!

So, you see, it's a really different look for me... practically CAS, wouldn't you say?  Though not quite single layer, I guess, given that there are two layers on the Gelli plate to start with.

In any case, I had a fascinating time stepping outside my comfort zone.  I enjoyed playing with the dramatic photos, but it's not something I'll probably do very often.  I'm not really a glossy magazine reader, so I don't tend to have these kinds of images lying around, but for those who do, I really recommend keeping pictures which appeal to you and trying this out.  But I also had good results with text and old music manuscript, and I can definitely see those becoming a more regular part of my crafting "language".  

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll be tempted to try out this technique.  Be patient, and be ready to experiment with different paints and different magazines, and you could end up with some really exciting results.

Blog: Words and Pictures
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