How do you transfer a design to......

[Chef Mama]

I'm wondering how to transfer a design, whether it's stamped, or a picture my kids draw, to various surfaces. We just did a project at our homeschool co-op called Square One Art---kids draw a picture, then you can buy different things w/ the picture on it, like mugs, t-shirts, etc. It was a fundraiser, so it was really pricey & I only picked out a couple of things for each child.

I'm wondering how you would transfer a design to a flat Christmas Ornament (Michaels has porcelain ornaments on sale) or other hard surface. For fabric, I guess I would get an iron on transfer? I suppose for stamped images, you can just stamp on the surface---duh! But if you wanted to shrink the image (that's what they did w/ the art project---the kids drew a full size picture so it's easier to add details), then put it on something, how would I do that?

THanks!

Lori

[jen9853]

I would imagine you could scan the image and re-size it, and then print it on transfer paper (they sell it at office supply stores). To do the ornaments, if you need to resize it, do the same thing, but print it on regular paper and decupage it. That's what I'd do anyhow. Mod Podge is pretty easy to use.

HTH! Good luck with your projects!

[AmandaMay]

I agree, the easiest and cheapest way to do that you be resizing it on the computer and then deco it. I imagine that the companies that do this have very expensive equiptment and special ways to do it.

[dcworth]

Gel medium with toner copies works well, but it's fairly time intensive. I'm doing some on tiles right now. Basically, print out the image (it needs toner NOT ink jet/water soluble inks). Paint the image with the gel medium, place on tile, use brayer to get rid of any bubbles and let dry overnight. Once dry, wet the paper and carefully remove it. If you're too agressive, you'll remove the gel medium from the tile.

You should also try two peas in a bucket. On their stamping board, there is an awesome thread on image transfers. Just search for "image transfers."