Polymer Clay Image Transfers – Some Mistakes To Avoid

Vid #79: Special Feature (Plus Transcript) About the Toner Method for Transferring Photos onto Polymer Clay:

Probably one of my biggest strengths as a teacher is what a lot of people would consider to be a weakness. And that is making mistakes. I make lots of them and that is really the way that I learn and have taught myself how to do things.

You know a lot of people make mistakes and they feel bad about that and they won't continue on and learn from it.

A perfect example of how I learn from mistakes is how I learned how to do image transfers.

I had seen some beautiful work done where people had transferred photographs and drawings onto polymer clay. And I wanted to give it a shot.

I tried all kinds of different methods. There are many methods out there. Some include special papers which I had trouble finding. You had to have the right photocopier. You had to rub the paper just exactly right. And I was running into a lot of problems.

And then I found one method that seemed quite simple. And if it's done right, it is extremely simple. But I still was making mistakes.

And here's a big stack of examples of what I did wrong to prove that I had tried to give it a shot.

Anyway, some of the things that went wrong were things that the demonstrator never mentioned. Things like having the right temperature of water. If it's too hot, it will smear like in this example here.

I laid some parchment paper on top to bake them like I always do. And I ran into all kinds of funny smudges and things that I wasn't expecting.

If you rub too hard or you leave too much paper on when you do the technique, you'll get weird little splotches which the person who was demonstrating would not have done, because they knew how to do it right.

So by showing you some of the examples of how to do it wrong, I can save you a lot of trouble and show you how to transfer a photo to polymer clay the right way.

I have also the example of how to do it right. One of the things I wanted to do was to make some image transfer beads of my cousin's new baby girl so I could give her a necklace.

This will be a wonderful necklace that she can treasure and pass on down to her baby when she grows up.

You know that's the beauty of doing image transfers because you can do an exact photograph of your child's drawings or of their pictures.

I did some wedding anniversary transfers and all kinds of things.

So it's a wonderful technique to learn and I will show you how to do it – what to do and what not to do. You will really enjoy the process.

<< Slides Shown In Video >>

>> Title: Image Transfers On To Beads

>> Book Cover: Image Transfer on Clay by Paul Andrew Wandless. Book Contents: Numerous image transfer clay photos by leading contemporary artists provide inspiration. Includes decal, stencil, stamping, monoprint, silk screen, glaze, photo transfer beads and relief block techniques. This how-to book for contemporary ceramists shows you how to transfer a photo to polymer clay in your home studio. Light-sensitive emulsions to mark polymer clay transfer surfaces. Images of finished polymer clay photo transfer pieces.

>> Book Cover: Images on Clay II by Barbara McGuire. Book Contents: Polymer clay photo transfer bead projects. Image transfer clay, stamp, tint and color. Step-by-step photos and innovative polymer clay photo transfer methods. Working with polymer clay transfer motifs is fun and easy.

>> Photo: Eight polymer clay photo transfer beads showing unsightly mistakes.

>> Photo: A baby face photo transfer bead where the polymer clay image transfer onto the clay did not go so well.

>> Photo: Finished polymer clay image transfer beads on an adorable baby necklace. The picture shows 2 image transfer clay pendant beads and a gold clasp with a polymer clay pillow bead.

>> Picture: Child's drawings perfect for image transfer clay projects.

>> Photo: Children's photographs can be transferred onto polymer clay beads.

>> Photos: Anniversary keepsake ideas for polymer clay photo transfers.

>> End Screen: Click here for 3 Full Polymer Clay Tutorial Videos