Let's try to transfer the photo to the tree? This type of creativity has been known for quite a long time, and there are plenty of master classes showing how it is done. I also decided to try my hand at this process, and today I invite you to see how I did it (I still hide my faces under the “veil” 😉).
I will show 2 options for translating the picture (why two? More on that below ...) and talk about the mistakes made during their execution. And at the end of the master class, we will compare the results.
How to quickly transfer a photo to a tree
So, in order to transfer a photo to a tree, we need:
- suitable base (I have these pieces of board)
- grinder or sandpaper
- soft brush
- rubber roller
- depending on the option chosen - PVA glue or acrylic varnish
First you need to prepare a wooden base. The surface of the board must be clean and even. That is why we need a grinder. The role of the latter is played by an electric drill and a special emery nozzle. After sanding the board and smoothing the corners, we will get a suitable form for transferring the photo with our own hands.
Keep in mind that the wood surface has its own texture that will show through your photo. Be prepared for this.
Now let's prepare a photo. The selected picture must be printed, and always on a laser printer, and always in a mirror image. In size, my photo is slightly smaller than the board, I deliberately left small margins so that the texture of the wood was more noticeable.
We transfer the photo to a wooden surface using PVA
In the first version, I used PVA glue to transfer the photo to the tree. And not clerical, but construction. I do not know if they differ in composition, but it seems to me that with the help of glue bought in a building supermarket, the picture is imprinted better, and the paper is removed more easily.
We cover only the front side of the photo with undiluted glue, i.e. the one we are going to translate.
We put the photo on the board and press it well. It is better not to move the picture (the paper may tear or wrinkle). We leave to dry.
My photo on the board dried up for a day. And as soon as it dried, I immediately noticed an error ... See?
Yes, these are either areas not smeared with glue, or poorly pressed with a roller. Well, there is nothing to do, we continue ... We remove the paper, and for this we use a spray gun.
Do not wet the paper too much, just lightly sprinkle the surface. We only need to wet the top layer in order for the transfer of the photo to the wood to be successful. Let the paper get wet a little (2-3 minutes) and begin to roll it off the surface with your fingers.
Attention! Never use force to remove as much of the paper layer as possible at one time. The picture will come along with the paper.
Look at the photo - all the mistakes made are clearly visible. Lack of glue in the first step and excessive pressure when rolling the paper resulted in holes in the translated photo.
Well, let's start all over again...
Transferring a photo to a board with varnish
Having polished the board again, we proceed to the second version of the transfer of the picture to the tree, in which we will try to take into account all the mistakes made.
In this method, I used a colorless acrylic gloss varnish to transfer the photo. Lacquer is often used to fix the image on the base, and we also used it in the craft to preserve the appearance of the product. First of all, I pasted over the inside of the print with a photo with adhesive tape, cutting it off along the edge of the picture.
We glue the photo on the board and again with a roller, very carefully smooth the picture. All air bubbles must be expelled. Let it dry like this. With natural drying, it takes two days.
And now we take the edge of the adhesive tape and tear off the top layer of paper.
Then we repeat all the procedures that we did in the first version - we moisten with water from a spray bottle and wait until the paper is saturated with moisture.
And now, lightly and gently, we begin to roll paper balls from the surface of the picture. Once again I remind you - you can’t make an effort! If you feel that the paper has already dried under your fingers, you can still sprinkle with water. But! With an excess of the latter, it can saturate the top layer of the board along with the print of the photo, and then the drawing will be erased.
Taught by previous bad experience, I stretched the paper rolling into 3 stages. That is, when my fingers began to slide over the paper surface without rolling it, I stopped the process of transferring the photo to the tree and put the board to dry. After the surface was completely dry, I repeated all the steps.
At the last stage, I had to remove a few paper remnants from the base. And voila! The picture was transferred to the board without any defects at all!
Now, in order to smooth the border between the photo and the wooden surface, I went over the outline of the picture with fine sandpaper. Yes, the photo on the board will look a little faded, but that's okay.
And now we cover the entire surface of the board with the same acrylic varnish. Do not forget that the brush must be drawn along the fibers. I applied three coats of polish.
Conclusions and comparison of options for translating a picture into a tree
So, what conclusions can be drawn when transferring a photo to a tree with different options? I'll give my opinion here based on my experience.
- when printing a photo, you need to slightly increase the contrast (then the picture will turn out brighter)
- to transfer pictures to wood, it is better to use acrylic varnish
- varnish must be applied to both surfaces
- when drying the product, you must wait until the photo is completely dry
- roll paper ONLY with light finger movements, without pressure
- it is better to break the process into several stages with intermediate drying
Here, under these conditions, the result will surely be successful. Here, of course, there remains a large field for activity and a flight of fancy in terms of the decor of the resulting image. You can think of something to frame a picture or even a frame around a photo, make some kind of background, come up with fasteners. Here, for example, you can see how we did it, maybe some idea will come to mind ... 😉
You can transfer a photo to a tree using the method described above and get an interesting picture. It is quite suitable as a present for any occasion or just as a small gift surprise for friends.
PS. I have an addition to the article here, with a refutation... 😉 I decided to test the theory that only those printed on a laser printer can be transferred to wood. And here's what happened...
How to translate an image printed on an inkjet printer
Prepared the board as described above. Printed a photo on glossy photo paper for the jet.
All stages of the transfer are similar to the previous method. The only thing is that I cropped the photo along the border of the board.
After everything dries well (I also used a hair dryer to speed up the process), we begin to separate the paper from the surface of the tree. And - oh, a miracle! The photo paper came off very easily, but the image itself remained on the board! Didn't even have to wet it with water.
It only remains to correct a little - carefully using a sharp knife, pry off the remaining pieces of paper and separate them from the image itself. All!
So - experiment, and always check in practice all available methods. Good luck!
All photos from the article
A distinctive feature of the age of high technology is the ease with which beauty is replicated and originality is put on stream. But if not everyone can become an artist and paint great canvases, then many can create unique images using simple technologies.
Wood is one of the suitable materials on which a photograph or favorite drawing will look great. In addition to the fact that the quality of the product will remain unchanged for many years, it will be a kind of masterpiece or piece goods, depending on how you dispose of it.
The essence of technology
Don't let buzzwords like sublimation printing technology or graverton scare you, because they are one and the same, therefore, there is less incomprehensible. The technology is based on the principle of sublimation, when a substance under the influence of high temperature “jumps” from a gaseous state immediately to a solid one, bypassing the wet stage.
Graverton technology allows you to transfer a pattern to wood, metal, glass, fabric, and the process itself takes place in a certain order:
- An image is printed on sublimation paper;
- The front side is applied to the object being processed;
- It is placed in a heat press for a certain time.
A huge number of things can be subjected to artistic processing - from shoes, dishes, fabrics to corporate symbols, puzzles and all sorts of other unexpected things.
The main disadvantage of the graverton technology is the need for special equipment and its high price:
- sublimation printer(starting from 500 thousand rubles with kopecks);
- thermal transfer press(from 9 to 30 thousand rubles).
In this tutorial, I will show you 5 different ways to print on wood. These are great methods to allow you to create custom designs such as signs, plaques, gifts, or simply brand your creations.
Step 1: Collect materials
Materials:
- pine board
- Liquitex gel medium
Step 2: Setting up
I tested 4 methods for transferring a drawing from paper to wood and one method using a technique. I used the same image on each board, which had my logo with a large block of text, an image, and normal sized text, so for each application you can see how well the wood responds to different applications.
All pictures were printed on my laser printer (not inkjet). I also mirrored the image so that it displays correctly on the tree.
Step 3: Method 1 - Acetone
The first method is to use acetone to transfer the toner to the wood. All you need is acetone, paper tissue, nitrile gloves to protect your hands, you can also use an old plastic card. When working with acetone, be careful and read the safety instructions.
I put the mirrored picture on the plywood and wrapped it around for a more secure fit. Then I dipped a tissue paper in acetone and applied it to the picture, pressing it firmly on top.
After several repetitions, the toner was transferred to the wood, and the paper lagged behind the wood.
Pros: very fast, decent image quality, clean process
Cons: Image quality is average, acetone is a strong chemical
Step 4: Method 2 - ironing
The next method is to use a regular iron. All you need to do is iron the paper. As in the previous step, I wrapped the paper around the piece of wood, and then ironed it, being careful not to move the sheet relative to the wood. I tried to press hard on the iron, and the iron itself was set to a high temperature, but it seems to me that the temperature was not high enough.
The picture came out so-so, and it seems to me that this was due to the fact that the iron did not heat the paper to a sufficient temperature. I have heard that using wax paper can improve the situation, and some craftsmen transfer the image using a soldering iron with a special tip for branding.
Pros: the cheapest method, done fairly quickly
Cons: poor image quality, the possibility of burning yourself, charring wood or paper
Step 5: Method 3 - Polyurethane Lacquer
The third method is based on the use of water-based polyurethane. I used Polycrylic (this is just the name of the manufacturing company, so you can buy any analogue). You need varnish, an acid brush, a hard toothbrush, and water.
I applied the polycrylic with a small brush, trying to create a thin film that was wet but not puddle. I then pressed the paper directly onto the wet polycril and pressed the paper from the center outwards, removing any air trapped under the paper, and then moved the piece of wood to the side, where it dried for about an hour.
After the blank was dry, I moistened it with water, and then peeled as much paper as I could remove with my hands. Next, I took a toothbrush and brushed it gently over the surface until all the remaining paper was scraped off.
The quality turned out to be excellent! Everything except a small defect on the letter "F" looked very good. I was really surprised by this way of printing on wood.
Pros: excellent image quality, safe water-based coating
Cons: Removing paper is messy, takes an hour to dry
Step 6: Method 4 - Liquitex Gel Thinner
The fourth method was the gel solvent. I used Liquitex gloss, a foam brush, an old plastic card, a toothbrush and water.
The process is similar to the one that used varnish, the only difference is that we have a gel in our hands, not a liquid. It is better to work with the gel with foam, because the brush leaves a lot of tubercles and stripes.
I pressed the picture into the gel and removed the air that got under the paper, first with my fingers, and then with a plastic card. Then I left the blank to dry for 90 minutes, and then scraped off the paper with a toothbrush.
This option also looked great, but there were a few pieces of paper left on the tree that could not be scraped off with a brush.
Pros: excellent image quality, safe water-based gel
Cons: harder to remove than polycryl, the surface becomes rough, takes a long time to dry
Step 7: Method 5 - CNC Laser
So, now let's try the technological method. I had access to a Full Spectrum Laser Hobby 20x12 device and used it to render the same image. Setting up the device is very simple.
Image quality, as expected, was good. The only problem area was the photograph, which proved difficult for the laser to copy. But the text and logo, completely black in the photo, look great.
Pros: excellent text and logo detail, set up and the machine will do everything for you
Cons: Expensive to buy, hard to find to rent, doesn't do well with photography
Step 8: Applying the Finish Coat and Final Opinion
I decided to apply a lacquer finish to the finished work to see how the appearance of the products would change, and this procedure slightly changed my opinion about each of the methods I tested.
The acetone got very dark after polishing and I liked the final look much more, so I place this result higher than the gel sample.
The option with an iron ... remained of poor quality.
Polycrilic darkened even more and began to look even better. This is a definite favorite in my ranking.
The gel also darkened, but the surface of the wood did not even out, and the pieces of paper that I could not remove were sticking out noticeably. To achieve a result similar to polycrylic, I had to spend a lot more time.
The version on the laser CNC almost did not darken, but became a little more like a scorched tree, the detailing was still excellent.
Probably, in every house where attention is paid to the interior, there are paintings or their modern counterpart - photographs. Even in most offices and offices there are paintings. Most often, these are amateur works, which depict a landscape, and you will not surprise anyone with such a design of the room. Today I want to invite you to consider interesting works of the artist, thanks to which you can bring a fresh touch to your interior.
With today's tutorial, you will learn how to transfer an image from a photo to a whiteboard. The author offers us urban scenes from the beginning of the last century, but you can use this image transfer method for any photographs.
Such works look great among modern surroundings.
For work we need:
- board;
- photo;
- laser printer;
- fine sandpaper;
- PVA glue;
- acrylic lacquer;
- sponge;
- warm water;
- acrylic paint.
The photo below shows a step-by-step and affordable way for everyone to transfer any image to a wooden surface.
1. Enlarge the selected photo to the desired size, and then print it on a laser printer so that the reverse image is obtained.
2. We sand the board on which the image will be with fine sandpaper or, if possible, grind it with a machine (the surface of the board should be smooth).
3. We cover the surface of the board with PVA glue (its use gives the best result) or acrylic varnish.
4. Gently place our printout face down, smooth the surface with a sponge, expelling air bubbles and trying not to crease (the procedure is similar to wallpapering).
5. Leave the image to dry (it will take about 12 hours).
6. With warm water and a sponge, carefully remove the paper from the board. If the paper is not removed with a sponge, it can be rolled up with your fingers - the pattern will not be damaged. Remove absolutely all paper from the image.
7. When the image dries from moisture, cover it with acrylic varnish.
8. We are waiting for the varnish to dry.
9. The image can be left as it is, or you can age it with acrylic paint. You can stamp an image with different colors - in this case, one color is superimposed on another. In order for the colors not to mix, intermediate drying is necessary. The protruding parts of the image are carefully processed with fine sandpaper.
As you can see, this method of transferring an image to a wooden surface is simple and accessible to anyone who wants to create a unique and original work of art. Thanks to imagination and the use of acrylic paints, you can create not only a series of urban scenes and portraits in retro style, but also interesting still lifes. Such an image can be not only a wonderful decoration for your home, but also an extraordinary gift to friends and relatives on the occasion of a solemn event. Try it, you will surely succeed!
It’s nice to turn ordinary things “like everyone else”, with a little effort, into your own, cozy, personalized. A good way is to decorate them with an original pattern. And even if you consistently skipped art lessons at school, and you draw a little worse than a fifth grader, it doesn’t matter. This simple method will allow at least all the textiles and wooden surfaces in the house to be decorated with funny drawings. And please your friends with original gifts.
The authors of a resource popular among designers shutterstock offer to try a simple home printing technology. It is available to every owner. laser printer. Or someone who is not too lazy to go to the nearest copy center and print the desired drawing. This method will allow you to easily transfer the image to a fabric or wooden surface.
You will need:
Acetone (or a nail polish remover based on it);
Cotton pads;
Plastic card;
Scotch;
Ruler;
T-shirt/fabric/wooden surface on which the pattern will be transferred;
desired image.
Step 1: print the picture on laser printer in a mirror version. An inkjet printer is a bad helper in this matter, because. does not guarantee even distribution of ink, which will be displayed on the final result. The darker the original image, the better.
Step 2: put down the sheet face down on a fabric or wood surface. It is advisable to fix it on one side with adhesive tape so that the picture does not “leave”. Soak a cotton pad or brush in acetone and carefully wipe the back of the pattern so that the paper becomes wet.
Step 3: take a plastic card and use it like a scraper to go all over the back of the picture. It's like you're rubbing it. First from bottom to top, then from top to bottom, repeat several times. Press the "scraper" lightly so as not to tear the print. The main rule is that all this time the paper with the image should be wet with acetone. This will help the pattern to adhere to the fabric or wood.
Step 4: gently pull the edge of the sheet with the image and evaluate how the “printing” process goes. When the drawing is completely transferred, remove the paper.
Loading...