KOLA Designs

The other day I was on Pinterest and saw an idea for transfering an image onto canvas.  I was SO excited to try this project that I ran to start it before I had even repinned the project!   Usually Pinterest sucks me in an I end up thinking about all the things I could be doing instead of actually doing them so this was a nice change of pace!   After doing this myself, I wanted to share the steps with you so that you can try it too!

Supplies you’ll need:
Blank Canvas
Photo laser printed in reverse
Gel Medium
Foam Brush (or paintbrush)
Water
Fingers and/or Round Sponge

Step 1:
Find a photo and print it out in reverse on a laser printer.  You’ll need it in reverse because it will be transfered face down, creating a flipped image of whatever you have printed.   Gather your supplies!

Step 2:
“Paint” a generous amount of gel medium over the whole canvas and place your printout, image side down, onto the canvas.  Burnish the image onto the canvas.  Some of the gel will ooze out the sides, but just be careful not to let it dry on top of your paper (it just makes it a little more difficult in the next step).  Let everything dry for a few hours, or over night.

Step 3:
The fun part!!  First, double check that it’s dry… Now, my technique varies slightly from the one I saw via Pinterest.  Taking a little container of water, dip your fingers or a sponge into the water and then beginning in one corner, rub in a circular motion.  You’ll start to see the image show through and the paper peel away.  You can rub with a fair amount of force but be warned that rubbing too hard could lead to rubbing the photo right off.  This actually looks great in some instances but could be unfortunate if you accidently rub someones eye out 😉  This could be a good time to mention you may want to avoid using a photo with too much detail.

Step 4:
You’re almost done!!  Let the water dry and if you still see a slight coating of paper fibers you can do the previous step again (obviously rubbing a bit lighter this time since you’ve got a lot less paper to remove).  When this is dry and you’re happy with your results, coat it with another layer of Gel Medium or Mod Podge.  And you’re done!

I hope this inspired you to try it yourself!   Here’s the original pin that I learned from 🙂