How to Make an Acrylic Transfer

WHAT YOU NEED:

Laser printed images, mirrored if needed, they can mirror at the print shop. You cannot do this with inkjet printed images, it MUST be laser.

A piece of cardboard/hardboard to tape things too, this will get messy.

Foam Brush

Plastic bowl for Acrylic medium

Plastic bowl/cup for water

Painter's Acrylic Medium

Iridescent tint (optional)

Precut water color paper

Painters Tape with the orange writing on it, to prevent damage to the paper.

Papertowel/Blotting book

INSTRUCTIONS:

First you will need to go to your local print shop and get LASER printed images, you will want these to be mirrored from their original layout if they are photographs or have words. Illustrations can go either/or.

You will need heavy duty art paper to transfer to. I used Strathmore watercolor postcards, so they were precut to a standard size and i didn't have to worry about cutting anything down.

Next I put 2 pieces of painter tape with the orange writing (so the tape won't damage the cards when I pull it off) On the back of the card. I then flipped the card over and taped over the tape on a piece of hard board. Repeat.

Next you will need so Painters Acrylic Medium, this should be available at any art supply store, I mixed mine with an iridescent tint to make it prettier.

Put a few drops of the tint in a small bowl, add the Acrylic Medium to that and mix well. The final mix should look iridescent but not overly so.

Next you will use a Foam brush to paint the mixture onto the cards that are taped down. Once it has a generous and even coat of Medium, apply your Laser Jet print to the card face down and let dry for an hour or until paper no longer feels cool to the touch.

Once dry you will use a clean foam brush and coat the back of the card with water. You will then take your fingertips and firmly but gently start rubbing the wet paper pulp off the print. You will need to do this process a few times, definitely at least 3. Let the paper dry to see if you need to repeat, if there is still a layer of paper pulp the image will dry "cloudy".

Once the image is not longer cloudy/you can feel the texture of the acrylic, stop rubbing. Also be careful of the paper edges as you don't want to fray them. Once they are dry, you will be able to see the iridescent shine under the image. You can then mount or frame them as needed. If you want to prevent too much wave in your paper, let them dry in a blotting book or between sheets of paper towel with a heavy book on top.