Transfer Process
Photographic Transfers–Not Just for Photography

Photographic transfer alone sounds mysterious, but add the information that it’s not just for photography and now we have some serious questions building up–I can hear minds clicking away.

Well, simply put, a photographic transfer is to take a photographic image, or copy, and using one of many different methods depending upon your receiving surface, transfer a reverse copy of your image onto your subject, be it another piece of paper, wood, ceramic, fabric, glass. You name it, and there’s likely a way to get a photograph to leave some part of itself onto another object.

Now, just what is the advantage of this over simply gluing down a photocopy of the image itself? This is the fun part. The answer is in the transparency or the transferred image–really! And if you’ve not seen this applied, especially if you’re doing art now, then you should investigate this subject because it will lend itself to many different multimedia possibilities. It’s even useful for cross-stitching! Transfer your stencil or pattern onto your fabric and get to work. In general, when the transparent image is applied to an object such as another photograph, you get a layered effect where you can insert a subject of an image, say a person into a scene you want to create. As for the fine details of image transfers, I went to see Danielle Dean, a San Juan Island photographer who has given workshops on the subject, to learn about methods she uses. I have to say I’ve learned quite a lot from her, more than we’ll cover in this introduction. She pointed out that a person can get carried away with fancy equipment to create Polaroid transfers, and we looked at a slide printer with a base that was going for $330 on a photographic supplies web site. Methods I was most interested in are those using simple tools and methods under $10, and there are plenty of them to choose from.

Photographic Transfers–Not Just for Photography
Danielle discussed methods she covers in her workshop: xylene transfer; Polaroid transfers; emulsion and chemical transfers; and lazertran transfer. Other transfers, to name just a few, are heat transfers by using a heat gun on glass or wood objects, and caulking transfers where once the caulking is dried the paper is dissolved in water while rubbing the excess paper away.

A simplified version of image transfer using xylene is to take a photocopy of your original image, done in reverse of the original especially if you have text to transfer, which goes for all transfers in general. Apply the photocopy to your receiving material and using a rag soaked in xylene apply a single coat over the back of your photocopy, without saturating the paper. Burnish the back of the image and next peel away the paper. Your image should be transferred to your other surface. In the image titled “Shell” Danielle used xylene. Xylene is a toxic chemical, so thoroughly read your warning labels prior to use.

The Polaroid transfers require an exposed and processed Polaroid image that has dried thoroughly. Danielle suggests looking at garage sales for good buys on old Polaroid cameras and film. She specifies using film type 669 for color and 667 for black and white.

The emulsion transfer on Polaroid is actually just using water that activates and releases the Polaroid emulsion/chemicals onto an intermediate or receiving surface, then applying the intermediary to your receiving surface. As easy as the emulsion transfer sounds for Polaroid transfers, the chemical transfer is quite similar but seems to me a little trickier and requires the use of chemical packets rather than just water. In the image titled “Orchid” Danielle used a Polaroid chemical transfer.

The lazertran method is by far the most interesting to me and requires no special camera or chemical to transfer the image, but does require a special transfer paper, which requires a color copier with a specific heat and ink transfer. Danielle offered the insight of going to Printonyx if you’re on San Juan Island where there is a color copier that will accept lazertran paper.

The lazertran paper works by soaking it in water, briefly allowing the paper backing to separate from the plastic film where your image is copied. Once your transparent film is released from the backing you apply it to your surface.

There are other numerous ways in which to apply lazertran paper to various textured objects: baking onto ceramic, glass, and metal, turpentine method to paper, waxes, stone, plaster, leather, PVC and other difficult surfaces. With heavier fabrics the ordinary lazertran can be ironed on. And for paper and canvas the method for transferring lazertran is by using water. In all, lazertran is a very versatile method of image transferring. Two resources Danielle suggested are Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth, and Photographic Possibilities by Hirsch and Valentino. The latter being more craft oriented than the former.

If you want to take an image transfer workshop for hands-on time with supplies, Danielle say’s she’d be interested in providing one on San Juan Island this winter, after the new year. You can look at her web site to view her work using photographic transfers and contact her directly: www.danielledean.com. Look for her mixed media section to find samples of image transfers.