Fun with image transfers

I don't like to see things go to waste.  So when my experiment with acrylic gel medium as a top coat didn't quite turn out like how I had hoped,  I wanted to figure out another alternative use for the material.  As I was browsing Golden Paints' website, I came across a video on how to create image transfers using acrylic gel.  Perfect!  And I knew just the drawing I wanted to use.



This drawing has been sitting in my "I don't know what I want to do with it" pile for several months now.  I was excited to finally use it in a project.  The first thing I did was make a color copy of the drawing (image was flipped horizontally), and then I trimmed the print to the size of the wood panel.  After applying the acrylic gel onto the wood panel,  the print was placed face down on top of the gel.  I left it overnight to dry.



The next morning I wet the print with a wash cloth and started rubbing off the soaked paper.  This part of the process is almost as fun as watching an image develop in the darkroom.

Once the remaining pulp was wiped up, I set the piece aside to dry fully.   For the top coat, I decided to use a varnish rather than the glossy acrylic gel medium. 



On my second image transfer piece (using another drawing from The Pile), I ended up applying the acrylic gel as a finish.  For the background, I mixed the acrylic gel with some color, but I'm not sure what I think about it yet.

Here is the video that inspired it all.  I look forward to hearing your experiments with image transfers!