How to Transfer a Laser Print with your Iron

I was going to title this “How to Transfer a Laser Print with Your Home Iron and Drive Your Husband Crazy Enough To Want To Buy You An ‘Art Iron,’” but I decided to shorten it a bit =)

Basically I got to have an adventure over the long weekend last week with some paint, a spare Anyway Tray board, our “good” iron (as Dear Husband dubbed it afterwards) and an 11×17 copy of one of our new Chef phrases (this was one of mine, and I knew what I wanted to do with it as soon as I designed it!).

It was my first attempt at doing a transfer like this, so there was some “live and learn” action going on, but I took pictures as I went so I could share the experience with you. The result was a lot of fun, slightly grungy, and made Patty squeal when I brought it in to show her, so this blog post was officially a go! Read on for the details =)

SuppliesWhat You’ll Need

• Creative Expressions, Chef Edition- I had one of our local print shops (Our Office Manager Annette) print out the phrase “Love and Cook with Reckless Abandon” on an 11×17 sheet of paper, making the actual art about 14 inches tall, with a laser printer, backwards.
• DecoArt Gloss Enamel Paint – True Red
• DecoArt Gloss Enamel Paint – Napa Red
• DecoArt Gloss Enamel Paint – Dioxazine Purple
• Anyway Tray Wooden Insert
• Foam Roller, or big brush- however you like to lay down a layer of color.
• A Sponge
• A spray bottle of water
• An Iron. And there really isn’t any need to panic about your “good iron.” A little soapy water after it’s cooled off will take any stuck bits of paper right off. But getting an “art iron” is a cool bonus, and wouldn’t hurt anything if you decided to go that way.

Quick NotesStuff To Know Before We Start

On Crazy Me: Since 99.9% of you have never worked with me before, you should know that when I go into a new project, I tend to go at it with a slightly reckless, fearless attitude. If something goes wrong, like paper stuck to the iron, paint melting off the board, etc- I kind of go “oops” and my mind immediately goes into problem-solving mode. So bare with me as I share those “oopsies” as well as the successes!

On Color: I chose the reds and the purple because they go with my green/purple/red kitchen color scheme, trying to stick to shades of the same color family for my background. Feel free to pick whatever color family you like!

The Paper: We just used the basic paper stock we had in the office downstairs. It seemed to work fine.

Why Backwards Is Important: You’re going to lay the page print-side-down onto your artwork, and it will transfer reversed of however it was printed. I can’t tell you how many times in my printmaking class I forgot that fact and ended up with backwards prints! I still find myself having to make a conscious effort to remind myself! With images it’s not so bad (unless it’s of someone playing guitar- one of those printmaking oopsies- I ended up with a left-handed musician!), but with words it’s an absolute must-remember.

Why This Works: You have to get a laser print of the word/phrase/image, this won’t work with an ink jet print. Rather than using liquid inks, laser printers use toner, which is basically powdered plastic that gets melted onto the paper by the lasers in the machine. What we’re going to do here is just re-melt the plastic from the paper onto our painted board.

Let’s get messy!Enough talk, let’s make some art!

1Paint Your Board A Solid Base Color. This is where I used the brighter True Red, using a roller and a big ol’ paint brush. However you like to lay down a solid base coat of paint.

2Sponge On Some Darker Color. This is something I do on the computer all the time when I’m designing, so it was fun to do it with real paint for a change. Basically I just ripped a chunk off of a sponge and used the rough side to daub on some of the Napa Red, starting at the edge and working my way in, getting lighter in the center.

3Sponge The Edges with your Darkest Color. Same basic technique, just kind of stick to the edges for kind of a burned look.

4 Have a super groovy New Years Party. Or whatever you usually do when you’re waiting for your paint to dry Hmm. . . there appears to have been a smudge on my camera lens all this time. I blame the cute party animal on the left.

Now For the Tricky PartNow that our board is painted, let’s play with a hot iron =)

5 Get your dry board, paper *with the phrase printed backwards!*, iron, and spray bottle ready. Your iron should be medium-hot, so plug that in so it can heat up.

6 Lay your paper printed-side down on your board, and position it the way you want it. Then take your spray bottle and spritz it down until you can see the words through the paper. Smooth out any air bubbles, and wipe up any excess water.

7 Time to start ironing! I was kind of all over the place with mine, because I’d never done it before, but I found that starting with a quick sweep of the whole page was a good start. It smoothed out any extra bubbles/wrinkles, and started the melting process just enough to keep the page from shifting much. I also found not to push in with the tip of the iron, which caused the paint to melt, too.

oops.

I think the best method, after the quick sweep, was to start at the top, rub the iron in tiny circles in specific spots, and then hold it still on the paper for no more than 3-4 seconds at a time, then lift the iron straight up off the paper. Then peel the corner of the paper up slightly to see how you’re doing, without shifting the paper around. Then slowly & patiently repeat, working your way down from there. Probably a little more slowly & patiently than I did =) I had to spritz the paper a couple more times through the process, so keep your spray bottle handy! Damp is better than completely soaked at that point. Eventually you’ll be able to peel the whole sheet off and be left with a wonderfully distressed transfer!

8 Remember the melted paint oopsie? I just took a little Napa Red & filled in the hole . That was a pretty easy fix, especially since it was in the Napa-Red area. If you end up getting a nick in the lighter area just use a little true red instead.

9 You will undoubtedly end up with some paper stuck to the board when you’re done. Wait for everything to dry, and at the very end you can take a damp sponge and scrub off the little hooligans.

So that’s it!

That’s pretty much all I did to get this effect, and here is the finished piece. I’m not entirely sure whether or not I’m done with it. Patty insists that I’m there, but I might look at it in a few weeks and decide it needs something else. But it was a cool effect, with a nice “Clean Grunge” look as Patty described it. I’m also anxious to try this with other prints, the more I practice with it, the easier it’ll get, I’m sure =)

Hope you enjoyed the post, and good luck with your own artsy kitchen experiments!

-Jess

p.s. – The Wednesday after I did this piece at home, and I told her about my husband saying I needed to get an “Art Iron,” Patty & I ran to the store to buy ourselves an “Art Iron” for here at the Studio. And an “Art Ironing Board,” “Art Ironing Storage Rack,” and two “Empty Art Spray Bottles.” The check out lady thought we were entirely too excited to be doing laundry Happy painting!

About the Author

Written by Jess

Jess is a small-town artist with a BFA degree in Visual Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. She digs computer geekery, playing with words, Zentangle® doodling, and mixed media collage.