Do-it-yourself transfer of an image onto any surface. The easiest way to transfer any image to fabric or wood

With a minimum amount of material and time spent, you can make a memorable gift or retro-style decoration for your interior with your own hands. The tree will give the photo a special inner glow, and you will also get beautiful matte shades in the transferred frame. This is a step-by-step illustrated master class on creating real works of art with your own hands.

You learn:
- Select color images to transfer to wood;
- Work with gel medium (gel medium transfer - transfer gel, gel for transferring images; freely sold on the RuNet);
- Transfer any image to the surface;
- Competently complete the work of transferring the image to the surface.

1. Select suitable source materials.

The wooden base can be of any shape, but its surface must be perfectly smooth so that the image lies flat and without breaks in all senses. It is also preferable to use light wood, since it is this that gives that “inner glow”. A particularly light base is important for portraits so that the skin tone does not change for the worse.

As for the photograph, it must be printed on a laser printer and from the very beginning in a size equal to the size of the wooden base for transfer. Therefore, after printing, it is good to trim off the excess white paper from the frame to make it easier to work with later. The photo should normally be high-contrast (you can process the image in a graphics editor on your PC if this is not the case). But pictures that are slightly out of focus and with very soft shades of color give an excellent retro effect on wood. For examples of suitable shots, see below - from bottom to top and from right to left: a contrast shot, but out of focus; the photo is out of focus and has soft tones; contrast shot in perfect focus. Wood will enhance color rendering in any case.

Any transfer medium gel can be used, but the best image is produced by a gel with a matte effect (marked “matt” on the package) and the most dense/thick consistency (marked “heavy” on the package).

Also to you will come in handy:
- unnecessary plastic roller,
- (or) a wide wooden stick (purchased at a pharmacy),
- a pair of medium-sized flat brushes for applying the composition (glue brushes),
- soft sponge or dish sponge (new),
- water in a small bowl or low glass,
- paper towels/napkins/handkerchiefs/toilet paper or thin ones kitchen towels,
- a small amount of oil (any liquid from the kitchen).

2. Right before you begin, wipe your wood base several times with a clean, dry towel to remove any crumbs or dust.

3. Apply transfer gel to the surface of the wood good layer: definitely not thin (a lot of wood shouldn’t be visible through the gel), but not very thick (the gel layer shouldn’t look like impenetrable icing on a cake either). Just squeeze the gel out of the tube or spoon the gel out of the container onto the wood, and then spread it in a more or less even layer with a brush (or wooden stick, or a plastic card - whichever is more convenient for you). Don't forget to make sure that the layer on the edges of the wooden base is no thinner than in the middle.

4. While the gel is still wet, place the print side down on the gel. The photo can be cropped to a size slightly smaller (or much smaller) than the wooden base, then you will end up with a thin or wide wooden frame around the image. Using your fingers carefully (so as not to move the photograph even a millimeter, hold it with one hand and gently smooth it in all directions with the other), smooth out the superimposed photograph, slightly pressing it to the surface and removing air between the photograph and the gel on the wood. It is important not to press so hard that the gel begins to squeeze out on the sides!

5. Smooth it with your fingers, take a plastic card (it’s more convenient to use than a stick, since the first edge gives more uniform pressure) and, again holding the photo with one hand, continue to smooth the white surface of the photo with the second edge of the card.

6. After this, set your workpiece aside until the gel dries COMPLETELY overnight. Resist the temptation to hold up the photo and see what happens: you will probably ruin the work. If you work in the summer, you can also put the workpiece in the sun for a couple of hours (but not on the radiator!!) and then check the degree of drying, and this may(!) be enough.

7. After the gel has COMPLETELY dried, take a sponge, dampen its edge a little in water (do not saturate it with water, just wet it) and start applying water directly to the back white surface of the photo on the tree. Do this carefully in several passes (wetting the sponge several times), first blotting the image with a sponge, and then, when there is already a lot of water on the paper, continuing to move in gentle circular movements. That is why - so that the material does not immediately begin to wear off with pellets of water - it is necessary to print the photograph initially on special paper for photographs, and not on ordinary office paper. Make sure you are working exactly soft part sponges, and not with a hard layer for scrubbing. During this process, when squeezing the sponge into the glass, a whitish liquid will flow, and this is normal. The paper should be completely wet from the center to the edges without gaps.

8. Next, still continuing to wet the sponge from time to time, begin to roll away the wet paper from the image. Make sure to not only work in one central area, but equally around the edges so that the paper doesn't rub off in one area because you may start to remove your transferred image. Don’t be especially afraid of this, rub with light pressure and the paper will come off quickly, the main thing is not to rub one place with force, as if you were scrubbing a stain; in particular, do not rub those places where the paper is no longer there.

The paper should come off completely this way. If some areas do not want to be rubbed off, use your own moistened fingers, as they are smoother and you can feel the pressure and progress better with them.

Run the sponge over the picture without pressing to remove all the pellets down to the smallest ones, and then without pressing with wet fingers over the same surface to make sure by the texture that there is no more paper left, not even a thin layer.

Wipe the image with a clean, thin towel to remove paper “dust” and any remaining moisture.

At the end of this stage, wet your fingers again and walk again several times, but with almost no pressure, over the image, since the paper hairs probably still remain: while the paper is wet, it is not visible, but when it dries, it will become very noticeable if it remains in the image.

9. Dry the picture on the wood again with a thin towel. Set aside the tree with the image until it is completely dry from moisture.

10. As you can see in the picture below, even if you rubbed very carefully, after drying, some of the paper fibers will still “show up” in the image. You can use water again and then dry the picture again. But here's another one, more efficient technique completion of work.

With one finger, literally take a couple of drops of oil and carefully apply it to the picture in a circular motion. And as you work, you will see how these fibers simply disappear. Once you have achieved the desired result, take a thin towel (paper or fabric) and start wiping the oil from the picture with the tip.

11. If during work a small amount of gel spills over the edges of the image on a wooden base, just carefully remove the frozen lumps of gel with your fingers.

12. By and large, the work is finished. But now you can decorate the frame, for example, using a special ornamental adhesive tape with a pattern - washi-tape (freely sold on the RuNet). Here the frame is presented in the form of an abstraction, repeating and shading the colors of the image. It is also convenient for sealing the side edges of a wooden base. You can also use acrylic paint instead of ribbons. It is also worth painting the back side of the tree with one color.

I want to add a couple of nuances when using colorful magazines. Apparently, temperature plays a role here first rather than pressure. therefore, using denser pages increases the warm-up time. but the temperature is more uniform and the heated area lasts longer. Thinner sheets have several disadvantages. 1 this laser printer jams thin paper SOLUTION to pass a sheet of regular 80 paper together with a thin sheet
2. thin paper warms up faster and therefore, in addition to your stencil, a magazine drawing can also stick to the workpiece. SOLUTION It is necessary to control the transfer of the stencil without overheating the sheet too much or simply neglecting it if the design does end up on the workpiece. In principle, it does not interfere in my case because I use it for cutting. and then followed by sanding with sandpaper. If, however, the cleanliness of the stencil is still necessary, then experimentally select the temperature of the iron. Because the toner adhesion temperature is lower than the paint peeling temperature.

Here is an example of overheating.

Here is an example of a more precisely adjusted temperature


here is the media sheet from the top second photo. you can see how almost 100% of the stencil design has peeled off, but the magazine design has not been damaged


It’s nice to turn ordinary things “like everyone else’s,” with a little effort, into your own, cozy, personalized ones. Good way– decorate them with an original design. And even if you consistently skipped art classes at school, and even draw a little worse than a fifth grader, it doesn’t matter. This simple method will allow you to decorate all the textiles and wooden surfaces in the house with funny designs. And please your friends with original gifts.


Authors of a resource popular among designers shutterstock offer to try simple technology home printing. It is available to every owner laser printer. Or to someone who is not too lazy to go to the nearest copy center and print out the desired design. This method will allow you to easily transfer the image onto 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 design 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 reflected in the final result. The darker the original image, the better.


Step 2: put the sheet down face down onto a fabric or wooden surface. It is advisable to secure it on one side with tape so that the picture does not “run away”. Soak a cotton pad or brush in acetone and carefully wipe the back of the design until the paper becomes wet.


Step 3: take plastic card and using it like a scraper, go over the entire back side drawing. It's like you're rubbing it in. First from bottom to top, then from top to bottom, repeat several times. Do not press the “scraper” too hard so as not to tear the print. The main rule is that all this time paper with an image should be damp with acetone. This will help the design adhere to the fabric or wood.


Step 4: Gently pull back the edge of the sheet with the image and evaluate how the “imprinting” process is progressing. When the drawing is completely transferred, remove the paper.


Elements in the interior made of wood make it more elegant and attractive. This decor can be made with your own hands. The most simple option will become a wooden board with a pattern applied to the surface in accordance with a certain technique. To make a product correctly and beautifully, you need to know exactly how to transfer a design to wood in several ways.

How to decorate a tree with drawings

There are several techniques in which a design can be projected onto a wooden surface. In every situation, it’s worth knowing exactly how to transfer a drawing to wood:

  • Burning using a special device. The drawing is clear and embossed. The contours are noticeably limited; you can create a shadow or shadow transition effect.
  • Decoupage is the most popular and simple technique creating a drawing. As a result, the image can be colored or black and white, the drawing can be of any complexity.
  • Wood carving requires a sketch that is projected onto the surface using several methods: using carbon paper, redrawing, relief copying using sharp tools.

You can partially combine several techniques in one work. This is possible provided that the person has artistic talent, which will help to abstractly imagine the result of the work.

Wood surface preparation

Before transferring a design to wood at home, it is worth preparing the surface correctly. Both the work process and the result depend on the quality of the wooden base. The service life is also directly determined by the quality of wood preparation.

Wood surface preparation:

  1. Choose correct tree. It is best to work with pressed sheets of plywood, chipboard and other analogues, but also natural material quite suitable.
  2. Decide on the parameters and shape of the wooden base. Immediately get rid of excess parts and sand the edges.
  3. The surface itself should be smooth and even. For this you should use grinder, A hard to reach places process sandpaper or a file.
  4. Only then is a sketch of the image itself prepared for transfer.

Thus, preparation consists of three simple steps that even a child can do.

woodworking

In order for the burning procedure to be carried out quickly and efficiently, it is necessary that the pattern on the surface of the wood be as accurate and high-quality as possible. Several methods are used to transfer an image to a surface. The most popular option remains transfer using a carbon copy.

How to transfer a design to wood for burning using carbon paper:

  1. You need to take a sheet of carbon paper. It is advisable to use paper that has been used more than once.
  2. Place the carbon paper with the ink side facing the wooden surface. Place a sheet with a pattern on top and secure the structure with tape or tape.
  3. Use a graphite pencil to trace the lines of the image. You need to work carefully, limiting the interaction of your hands with the paper as much as possible.
  4. After completing the tracing of the lines, remove the layers of paper. The drawing for burning is ready.

This method is very reliable, but requires special care in execution. During the translation process, traces of carbon copy may remain, which are almost impossible to clean from the surface of the wood.

Drawing without carbon copy

In order to learn how to transfer a drawing to wood without a carbon copy, you can use several methods. Each one has a different set of tools and materials, but is simple in terms of implementation.

Image transfer methods:

  1. Graphite print. Take a simple pencil with a soft core and trace the contours of the drawing on paper. Turn the image onto the wooden base and quickly press without moving. In order for the graphite to be printed well, you can run it over the paper with a hard roller or a plastic strip.
  2. Thermal transfer. First you need to select an image taken on the right device. Using thermal action, a photocopy or printout made on a powder printer will be printed. Place the back side on the wooden base and heat the paper with an iron.
  3. Reprint using white spirit. The picture must be printed on a laser printer or copier. Attach the sheet with the pattern to the wood and wipe with white spirit. It is worth applying a little product to the cotton pad so that the paper does not become soggy.

There are other options, but the principle of implementation is much more complicated and requires more time and money.

Preparing wood for carving

To form an image on a board or plywood, you need to know just a few basic rules. If the work is done incorrectly, the carving process can become significantly more complicated.

How to transfer a design to wood for carving in order to comply with all the rules:

  1. Apply a grid onto the surface of transparent paper. The size of the cage will depend on the required size of the pattern.
  2. If you need to create an ornament, then apply part of the image onto tracing paper and fold the sheet in half. Trace the image onto the other half of the tracing paper with a pencil.
  3. Symmetrical design can be achieved by using carbon paper.

The method of transferring an ornament or image can be used from the options presented above. The main thing is to lay the sheet with the applied ornament so that the direction of the pattern coincides with the location of the fibers.

Decoupage technique - a simple option for transferring an image

Often not only production is required interesting jewelry for the interior with an image on wood, as well as a more practical use of technology. Knowing how to transfer a drawing to wood, you can restore old furniture, do wooden element designer.

To realize such ideas, the decoupage technique is used. The principle of such work is simple and does not require special skills or availability unusual materials or tools.

How to transfer a design to wood using PVA glue using the simplest algorithm:

  1. The prepared surface must be coated with PVA glue. The layer should not be too thick. Strokes should be made smooth and uniform.
  2. Place the design on the surface of the wood and carefully straighten the paper. It is necessary to expel the air and position the edges of the cellulose base.
  3. From above, coat the image again thin layer PVA. Wait until everything dries and duplicate the layer again.

Further processing is chosen in accordance with the preferences of the “creator”.

Additional finishing

After you have transferred the design to the wood and completed secondary surface treatment, it is worth considering your options further processing surfaces.

There are several options:

  1. Cover with varnish.
  2. Paint it.
  3. Prime.
  4. Leave the product untreated.
  5. Laminate.

TO additional decoration can include the manufacture of stands, frames, pendants for finished product. Here you can show your imagination and skills.

Probably, in every house where attention is paid to the interior, there are paintings or their modern analogue - photographs. Even most offices and offices have works of art. Most often, these are amateur works that depict a landscape, and such design of the room will not surprise anyone. Today I want to invite you to consider interesting works artist, thanks to whom you can add a fresh touch to your interior.

Thanks to today's master class, you will learn how to transfer an image from a photograph to a board. The author offers us urban scenes from the beginning of the last century, but you can use this method of image transfer for any photographs.

Such works look great among modern surroundings.

For work we will need:
- board;
- photo;
- laser printer;
- fine sandpaper;
- PVA glue;
- acrylic varnish;
- sponge;
- warm water;
- acrylic paint.

The photo below shows a step-by-step and accessible way for everyone to transfer any image onto 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. Sand the board on which the image will be with fine sandpaper or, if possible, sand it with a machine (the surface of the board should be smooth).
3. Cover the surface of the board with PVA glue (using it gives the most good result) or acrylic varnish.
4. Carefully place our printout with the image down, smooth the surface with a sponge, expelling air bubbles and trying not to make folds (the procedure is similar to gluing wallpaper).
5. Leave the image to dry (it will take about 12 hours).
6. Using warm water and a sponge, carefully remove the paper from the board. If the paper cannot be removed with a sponge, you can roll it up with your fingers - the design will not be damaged. We remove absolutely all paper from the image.
7. When the image is dry from moisture, cover it with acrylic varnish.
8. Wait for the varnish to dry.
9. The image can be left as it is, or it can be aged using acrylic paint. You can stamp an image in different colors - in this case, one color is superimposed on another. To prevent colors from mixing, 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 use acrylic paints you can create not only a series of urban scenes and portraits in a 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 special event. Try it, you will definitely succeed!