The Great Pearl-Ex + Mediums Experiment of Ought-Nine - Part Two

So, here we go, for Round Two of the Great Pearl-Ex + Mediums Experiment of '09. This time, I'm trying out my more unusual acrylic mediums, of the gel and paste variety. For Part One, please see this post. If you'd like to know more about Pearl-Ex, please visit Jacquard's website.

The Products:

For my Pearl-Ex mica powder, I again chose Aztec Gold (Product # 658), to use throughout these experiments. It's a rich, warm yellow gold that reminds me of gold leaf.

Here are the mediums that I mixed with the Aztec Gold for this round of experiments:

• Golden's Clear Tar Gel
• Liquitex Glass Bead Gel
• Golden's Garnet Gel
• Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels
• Liquitex Blended Fibers Gel
• Golden Light Molding Paste
• Golden Crackle Paste

The Process:

Here, because of the nature of the mediums I was using, I chose a slightly different process than the first experiment. I took the same mini-scooper of Pearl-Ex powder, but used a full scoop of the powder (instead of only the 1/2 scoop in the 1st experiment), and added it to a little Dixie cup. Then, I added about a tablespoon of each medium, one per Dixie cup. It's too hard to pull out these mediums in 1/2 teaspoon quantities, so I opted to increase the amounts, while keeping the ratio of medium/Pearl-Ex about the same.

I then mixed each medium with its Pearl-Ex with a popsicle stick. Then, I painted all of the Pearl-Ex mixtures onto pre-labeled 3 inch x 4 inch black cardstock, so we could see how vibrant the Pearl-Ex would turn out. Each piece of cardstock only got one layer, although some of the layers are thicker than others, due to the nature of the medium (Light Molding Paste, Blended Fibers and the Crackle Paste). The only medium I didn't paint right away was the Clear Tar Gel - I waited about a half an hour before painting with it. Clear Tar Gel gets air bubbles in it very easily when it's stirred up, so I had to wait for some of the air bubbles to come to the surface.

After all of the mediums had dried, I taped them all together onto a larger piece of black cardstock, and photographed the results. I took two sets of pictures - one with flash, and one without. Because of the metallic nature of Pearl-Ex powders, it's easier to see their properties when you can view them in two different sets of lighting. It's kind of a virtual way of being able to "tilt the card", like you would in real life.

The Results:Here are the mediums I used, labeled 1-7, as they correspond to the pictures:

1. Golden's Clear Tar Gel
2. Liquitex Glass Bead Gel
3. Golden's Garnet Gel
4. Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels
5. Liquitex Blended Fibers Gel
6. Golden Light Molding Paste
7. Golden Crackle Paste

Here are the results, from a picture taken with my Sony DSC-F828, without flash:

(click to enlarge)

Here are the results, from a picture taken with my Sony DSC-F828, with a low flash (higher levels of flash, on my camera, tend to wash everything out):

(click to enlarge)

Conclusions:

Again, the Pearl-Ex Aztec Gold mixes beautifully with every medium I've thrown at it (no clumping or non-mixing, which has happened with some Pearl-Ex powders on me - namely "Flamingo Pink", "Brilliant Yellow" and "Turquoise").

Now I have another keyword to add to my "These Don't Do Well with Pearl-Ex" list - Opaque. So, "Matte" and "Opaque" - got it. The Crackle Paste and the Light Molding Paste are both opaque (I assume they have some Titanium or Zinc White added to them), and the vibrant metallic color of the Aztec Gold Pearl-Ex just disappeared in them. The same thing happened with the Acrylic Ground for Pastels, although, I can see what looks like a glittery-shimmer mixed into the medium (not obvious in the photo, but I can see it in real life). I think a wash of Pearl-Ex over these mediums will show up beautifully, just not mixed in them.

It's hard to tell in these photos (and I'm not sure why), but the Clear Tar Gel and Glass Bead Gel are just as vibrant as the results I got with Liquitex's Gloss Medium and Varnish (now my favorite Pearl-Ex medium paint-maker, besides Gum Arabic). I'm not really sure what to do with the Glass Bead Gel, and haven't been since I first got it, but I love the effect of the Aztec Gold in it. The Garnet Gel showed a more muted effect, but there's just enough shimmer with the Pearl-Ex to make it interesting. I can see adding one of the darker, more bronze colors of Pearl-Ex, to make this look like authentic rust.

The Blended Fibers is interesting - it looks a bit like paper on the page, and with the Pearl-Ex, it looks old and slightly shiny at the same time. There is some opacity to the Blended Fibers, so I believe a wash of Pearl-Ex would do much better than it being mixed in. I'm glad I did this experiment, as prior to this, I had no idea what to do with Blended Fibers, but now, I think I can add it to molds, and it will look like a tissue paper cast.

Next up will be the last part of this experiment, where I show you how Pearl-Ex and things like Linseed Oil, Minwax's Polycrylic, Dorland's Wax Medium and Isopropyl Alcohol look.

The Great Pearl-Ex + Mediums Experiment of Ought-Nine - Part One

We're going to take a little break from image transfers, and focus on Pearl-Ex mica powders, made by Jacquard. Pearl-ex mica powders are finely-ground metallic powders that can be used on just about any surface, in just about any medium.

If you're anything like me, the first thing you think, when you see one of the sets of 12 small pots of these metallic powders, is "What do I do with them?" Well, Jacquard's website, and Google, can answer that question better than I can, but one of the properties that drew me to them is that you can make them into a paint, using just about any paint medium out there. Well, I wanted to put that theory to the test, and try out Pearl-Ex with every paint medium I have.

Yes, you read that right; EVERY paint medium I have. And I have a ton, because I'm an art supply junkie. 95% of the mediums are for acrylics, but I'll be throwing in a watercolor and oil based medium in there, too.

This experiment is being run in 3 parts. This first part focuses on one watercolor medium (Gum Arabic) and 8 liquid and gel acrylic mediums. Part two will focus on unusual gel mediums (like Garnet Gel by Golden, and Blended Fibers by Liquitex). Part three will focus on things like Linseed Oil and Isopropyl Alcohol (I just have to see if they will blend with alcohol...how cool if these could be added to alcohol inks!), and anything else I may have left out by then.

Just as an FYI, Ranger makes a product that is similar to Pearl-Ex called "Perfect Pearls". The difference is that Perfect Pearls are mica powders with a binder already in them. All you have to do is add water to make the Perfect Pearls into a paint. But, if you Google "Perfect Pearls Techniques", you'll find a whole slew of additional techniques that you can also try with Pearl-Ex powders. Just know that you may need to add some kind of painting medium for some of those techniques to work.

The Products:

For my Pearl-Ex mica powder, I chose Aztec Gold (Product # 658), to use throughout these experiments. It's a rich, warm yellow gold that reminds me of gold leaf.

Here are the mediums that I mixed with the Aztec Gold for this round of experiments:

• Liquitex Matte Medium
• Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish
• Liquitex Glazing Medium (Gloss)
• Golden GAC 100
• Golden Soft Gel - Matte
• Golden Regular Gel - Matte
• Liquitex Gloss Gel
• Liquitex Iridescent Medium
• USArtQuest Gum Arabic (Powdered)
• Winsor & Newton Gum Arabic (Liquid)

The Process:

I took out a 10-well plastic mixing palette, and labelled each well with a Sharpie, with what medium I'd be putting in it. I took a half-scoop of the Aztec Gold Pearl-Ex, using a tiny scooper I have (see middle of palette in picture below), and placed it in each well. I then filled the rest of the well with the chosen medium (1/2 teaspoon of medium per well). I wanted the concentration of Pearl-Ex to Medium to be the same throughout, so that I truly see what difference the medium itself made, in how the Pearl-Ex then looked.

For the USArtQuest Powdered Gum Arabic, I added 1/2 scoop of Gum Arabic to the 1/2 scoop of Pearl-Ex Aztec Gold, then filled the rest of the well with tap water. This is a higher concentration of Gum Arabic than the Jacquard website calls for - they call for a 4:1 Pearl-Ex: Gum Arabic mix. I wasn't about to try to measure out 1/16 of a scoop of Gum Arabic, and I've mixed higher concentrations of Gum Arabic to Pearl-Ex before, with no ill results (in fact, it seems to bind better to the paper).

I then cut out 10 - 3" x 4" squares of black cardstock, and labelled each piece of cardstock with the medium/Pearl-Ex mixture I'd be painting on it. Metallics such as Pearl-Ex are their most vibrant over dark colors. After I'd mixed up all of the mediums, I painted on one layer of Pearl-Ex "paint" per piece of cardstock, one for each medium.

Once dry, I scanned in each piece of cardstock, and then realized I had a problem: metallics don't scan well, at all. This is something I hadn't considered when I set out to blog this experiment: metallics are very hard to capture with digital technology. So, what I'm going to show you isn't quite as vibrant as they are in real life. Here, I can tilt the metallics into the light, to see all of their properties, and I can't quite show you that. So, after the scans turned out so poorly, I took pictures of the results, both with flash and without flash, to try to approximate, as close as I can, what they look like to me. They're pretty close, I think.

The Results:

Here are the mediums I used, labeled 1-10, as they correspond to the pictures:

1. Liquitex Matte Medium
2. Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish
3. Liquitex Glazing Medium (Gloss)
4. Golden GAC 100
5. Golden Soft Gel - Matte
6. Golden Regular Gel - Matte
7. Liquitex Gloss Gel
8. Liquitex Iridescent Medium
9. USArtQuest Gum Arabic (Powdered)
10. Winsor & Newton Gum Arabic (Liquid)

Here are the results, from a picture taken with my Sony DSC-F828, without flash:

(click to enlarge)

Here are the results, from a picture taken with my Sony DSC-F828, with a low flash (higher levels of flash, on my camera, tend to wash everything out):

(click to enlarge)

Conclusions:

All of these mediums blended well with the Pearl-Ex Aztec Gold. Just an FYI, I've found that some Pearl-Ex powders don't mix well with acrylic mediums, which is an experiment to show you, down the road. But this particular one, Aztec Gold, mixed in beautifully with all these mediums. Prior to painting, I just had to re-stir up the liquid mediums, to ensure the pigment was evenly distributed.

I learned that using anything with "Matte" in its name is just not going to work with Pearl-Ex. Manufacturers add mattifying agents to their products, which is basically particles of "white stuff", to help tone down gloss. That white stuff and Pearl-Ex apparently cancel each other out. You can see how the color of the Pearl-Ex is imparted, but the metallic sheen is almost gone.

It looks like if the medium is glossy, then it and Pearl-Ex are going to get along the best. I love how vibrant and shiny the Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish, and the Liquitex Gloss Gel, came out. Those two are truest to what this Aztec Gold looks like in its jar.

The Golden GAC 100 and the Liquitex Glazing Medium (Gloss) toned down the metallic sheen just slightly. They're not supposed to have any matting agents, but something in these mediums is "hiding" some of the metallic shimmer.

Liquitex Iridescent Medium is a pearl medium, meaning, it's a white pearl color. That white almost took away the metallic of the Pearl-Ex, but because the medium itself has a metallic sheen to it, what resulted was still shiny and metallic, only much lighter. I can see using this as a way to lighten any Pearl-Ex powder, without taking away the shimmer.

And I have to say, I'm in love with Gum Arabic and this Pearl-Ex Aztec Gold. Both the powdered and the liquid versions turned out so rich and deep. I'm not sure what chemical property Gum Arabic has, that it causes Pearl-Ex to show off its darker undertones (while still retaining the metallic shimmer), but I love the effect.

That's it for this round. Stay tuned for Part Two, where I try out all kinds of unusual gel and paste mediums, and Pearl-Ex Aztec Gold.

Rub-on Transfers - Results of some experimenting

In my last post, I was prompted by Zom (from Pinch Me to See if You're Dreaming...fabulous blog, go check her out) to ask the question "Ok, how well do these rub-on transfers hold up to abuse, or being painted over?" So here is the experiment to answer that question. Because I use mostly acrylic and craft paints, the experiment is focused on how well these transfers do with acrylic mediums.

The Products:

I transferred my rub-ons onto 4 different acrylic painted surfaces, and then one set of images I transferred onto uncoated paper. These were all done on the back of a piece of Canson Acrylic Paper (my pad of paper looks like what's in the link, but Canson has changed it to look like this now).

Here are the four acrylic mediums I used:

• Delta Ceramcoat Craft Paint- Fleshtone
• Golden Heavy Body Paint - Titan Buff
• Golden Gesso - White
• Liquitex Matte Medium

The Process:

(This is lengthy, so if you want to skip it, I recommend heading to the Results section, and looking at the pictures.)

I wanted to see if transferring these rub-ons to various acrylic mediums would alter how well they stood up to abuse. So, I tried a craft paint, a high-quality acrylic paint, gesso, and matte medium. I chose to try craft paint vs. a high-quality acrylic paint, because craft paints use fillers and non-pure pigments, and I wanted to see if that made any difference in how well the transfers held up. Again, like in my previous post, I also transferred the rub-ons onto plain paper, with no medium under-coating, to see if that made a difference as well.

First, I printed out the same, highly-detailed image onto one Apollo Color Laser Printer Transparency Film (Product Number CG7070), 20 times (so I would have extra), using my Epson Workforce 500 all-in-one printer. Then, I painted three swatches of each acrylic product onto the back of a piece of Canson Acrylic Paper. Canson Acrylic paper has a canvas-like texture embedded in the paper, and the front is coated with a gelatin-like substance. I used the back of this paper, so the gelatin coating wouldn't interfere with the results. I wanted a thick, canvas-like paper that would withstand the "wetness" of acrylic mediums, to prevent any wrinkling when I painted on the mediums. Plus, I wanted to see what these transfers would look like on a rougher surface, while I was at it. :D

I cut out each individual image, and rubbed one onto each of the three acrylic-coated surfaces, as well as rubbing three transfers onto the plain, uncoated paper. So, we have a total of 15 transfers to examine.

For each acrylic medium, and the ones on plain paper, I left one of the transfers alone, so we could see what it looks like if it's not touched. I smudged the 2nd transfer on each medium with my finger, to see how much ink would come off. You should know, I rubbed VERY hard with a clean finger, because I really wanted to put these transfers to the test. I painted the 3rd transfer with matte medium, to see how well these transfers behave with a very wet acrylic medium.

Ideally, it would have been better to use one transfer, and then smudged it (and then taken before and after pictures), and then used another transfer, and then painted it with the Matte Medium (and then taken before and after pictures), but I just didn't think of it at the time I did this experiment. Just wanted to mention that. :D

This is all easier to understand when you see the pictures, I promise.

The Results:

Here is the image that I used, as it looked printed out onto the transparency film:

And here is the first set of results, on the Delta Ceramcoat Fleshtone, the Golden Heavy Body Titan Buff, and the Plain, Uncoated Canson Acrylic Paper:

(click on image to enlarge, to really see how these turned out)

And here are the second set of results, on Golden White Gesso, and on Liquitex Matte Medium:

(click on image, please)

There are two transfer results for the "Plain paper, Matte Medium Undercoat, Matte Medium Overcoat", in the first results image, because my first transfer came out so light. I just wasn't rubbing hard enough to get it transferred. So, I did a second rub-on transfer, and did the experiment on both, just to see what would happen.

As far as rubbing on the transfers, it was easier to get the ink off the transparency on the Delta Ceramcoat paint, the Golden Heavy Body Titan Buff and the Golden Gesso, with the Gesso being the easiest. I had to rub hard on all of these transfers, but it seemed I didn't have to rub as hard, or for as long, to get the ink on to those three mediums.

Here are the results for which transfers looked the best when just left alone (not smudged and not painted over with Matte Medium), ranked from best to worst:

1. Golden Gesso - White
2. Delta Ceramcoat - Fleshtone
3. Golden Heavy Body - Titan Buff
4. Plain, uncoated side of Canson Acrylic Paper
5. Liquitex Matte Medium

These results are a bit skewed, because what really mattered was how well I held the transfer still, and how hard I rubbed. Therefore, the Plain, uncoated paper looks all smudgy, but that's because the transfer moved while I was rubbing. So, take those results with a grain of salt. While I think the Golden Gesso really did outperform the rest, how hard you rub and how still you hold the image while you're rubbing, THOSE are the things that matter the most.

Here is how the transfers performed when I rubbed them with my finger, ranked from best (no smudging) to worst (look at all that smearing!):

1. On plain, uncoated side of Canson Acrylic Paper (tiny smudges)
   
2. On Golden Heavy Body - Titan Buff (tiny smudges)
   
3. On Golden Gesso - White (obvious smudging)
   
4. On Delta Ceramcoat - Fleshtone (total grey halo, lots of smudging)
   
5. On Liquitex Matte Medium (total grey halo, lots of smudging)
   

And here is how they are ranked, from best to worst, when painted over with Liquitex Matte Medium:

1. Golden Heavy Body - Titan Buff (no smudging -those greyish lines in the picture are a shadow, created by the brushstrokes, since the paint wasn't totally smooth)
   
2. Delta Ceramcoat - Fleshtone (no smudging)
   
3. Golden Gesso - White (no smudging)
   
4. Liquitex Matte Medium (some streaking)
   
5. Plain, uncoated side of Canson Acrylic Paper (wow, now there's some serious smudging)
   

Conclusions:

Personally, I was surprised with how well these transfers held up. Yes, painting matte medium over the plain transfer resulted in a smudgy, grey mess, but otherwise, overall, they did pretty good. Of my results, I was also surprised to see how poorly these transfers did over Matte Medium, in just a plain transfer, in being smudged and in being re-painted with more Matte Medium. I can't even begin to fathom why that would happen, but, ok, lesson learned. Don't do these transfers over Liquitex Matte Medium.

It looks like your/my best bet is to try these transfers over an acrylic paint or gesso, and then paint over them with matte medium (or perhaps another acrylic sealer, like gel medium or gloss medium), to ensure no smudging. I honestly don't know how well other sealers will work, but if I try a different medium, I'll let you know (I'm a Matte Medium kinda girl).

Ok, so will some of you go out, and try these rub-ons with the transparencies that you have, on your printers, to see if this works with other brands? I'm really curious if other combinations of inkjet transparency film and inkjet printers will let you do rub-ons. Heck, I'd love to see if this would work with laser transparencies and printers as well. Come Play with Me!

ETA: From some of the comments and emails I've been getting, I realized I wasn't being clear about something on these rub-on transfer experiments. I've been printing on the "right" side of the transparency, the side that's a little bit rough to the touch. This is the side that has the coating, that allows the ink to stay put on the film, without it beading right off. This is also the side that's recommended when doing Leslie Riley's technique for inkjet transfers. That's why I was so surprised that it worked - I didn't need a wet medium for me to be able to rub the print right off the transparency.

I do know that there is a technique where you can print on the "wrong" side of the transparency, the smooth side with no coating, and then immediately do a transfer onto your substrate. I've had problems with this in the past, where the ink would just bead up way too much for me. I have yet to try that technique with these printers, but I've added it to the list. But, it's another reason why I was so excited that these worked - the need to transfer immediately seemed to be taken away. Of course, I've noticed that it's easier, when it comes to the rubbing, to do it sooner than later, but it's not necessary. I was able to print off a whole slew of images onto one transparency that I can save for later.

Just wanted to make sure I'm being clear. :D

Inkjet Transfer Experiment #2 - Using an Epson Workforce 500 printer

And now I’m finally posting the results of the same inkjet transfers experiment I did before, only I used my Epson Workforce 500 inkjet printer instead of the HP PSC 1350 inkjet printer. :D The difference in the printers is that the Epson uses Durabrite inks, which are pigment-based inks, while the HP uses dye-based inks. If you compare the results of both experiments, you can see that using the Durabrite inks makes all the difference.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about the mediums, papers or printers I used, because I already did so in my 1^st inkjet experiment post (linked above). Please refer to it if you’d like to know more; there’s some good information there. If you’d like to know more about image transfers in general, I have posted several links to tutorials and information in this post.

On with the experiment!

The Papers:

• Staples Multipurpose Copy Paper (aka, plain ole printer paper)
• Jet Print’s Imaging and Photo Paper – Matte (no longer in production, but available at the link)
• HP’s Everyday Matte Photo Paper

The important thing to know is that both the Jet Print and HP Matte photo papers have a clay coating on them that is said to aid in transferring ink into various mediums.

The Transfer Products:

• Golden's Regular Gel - Matte
• Liquitex's Gloss Medium & Varnish
• Elmer's Squeeze 'N Caulk - Clear
• Omni Gel by Houston Art

The Technique:

I used the same technique for all four mediums. I just brushed on a layer of each medium, let it dry, and then did it again. I did this for a total of three layers. These have been drying for about 8 months now (:D), but of course, you don’t need to wait that long. Just let each layer dry thoroughly (an hour or so, depending on humidity) before adding a new coat, and then let the transfer sit overnight after the final coat. This is specifically for making these “skin” type transfers, and different drying times are recommended when you’re doing a direct inkjet transfer.

Once your medium is completely dry, you just soak the back of the paper with water, and peel and rub it off. I ran my transfers under running water in the kitchen sink, to help facilitate the paper coming off (just make sure a strainer is in the drain to catch the bits of paper. That's an expensive plumbing bill waiting to happen otherwise). When the paper is removed, just set your transfer aside to dry. Once it’s dry, it’s ready to be used in whatever way your imagination comes up with!

The great thing about these skin transfers is that they'll keep for years (see my June 14th post for an example). So if you have an image that you really want to use over and over again, you can make up a sheet of transfers, do all the work at once, and have some waiting for your next project. That's a great way to save on transfer papers, as well.

The Results:

Here are the scans of each transfer. The images on the Left started out on the Plain Copy Paper, the images in the Middle on the HP Everyday Matte Photo Paper and the images on the Right started out on the JetPrint Imaging & Photo Paper.

Click on each image, to see larger, clearer versions.

Wherever you see a white cast, that’s where I couldn’t get the paper all the way off of the transfer. It's the white fuzz left behind.

Here's the original image:


Golden's Regular Gel - Matte:


Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish:


Elmer's Squeeze 'N Caulk-Clear:


Omni Gel:


Conclusions:

Wow, Wow, WOW! The folks at the Inkjet Transfers Yahoo group weren’t kidding. The Epson Durabrite inks are superior in every way when it comes to inkjet transfers. I was able to run these transfers under the sink to get the paper off without losing the whole transfer, which has happened to me with my HP printer. The ink *did* run from the plain copy paper transfers, but not from the JetPrint or HP papers.

I was surprised to see how poorly the plain copy paper did. I’ve been using it for inkjet transfers in my art journal, and just assumed the ink would always run, no matter what paper I used. Not true, as you can see. No ink ran off from the transfers I did on the JetPrint and HP papers, when I was rubbing and rinsing the paper off.

I also didn’t realize just how much paper was being left behind on plain copy paper, until I did this experiment. In my art journal, I usually end up slapping some kind of medium over the whole page anyway, so the paper fuzz “disappears” somewhat. Now I know that I can have much clearer, more vibrant transfers by using either the JetPrint or HP Matte photo papers.

I was also surprised to see that the HP Everyday Photo Matte paper did slightly better than the JetPrint Imaging & Photo paper. It’s not a huge difference, as you can see, but the colors are slightly darker and the paper seemed to come off more thoroughly.

And to my complete surprise, with the Epson Durabrite inks, it doesn’t seem to matter which medium I used. They all turned out pretty much the same across the board. With my old HP PSC 1350, I had to use Golden's Gel Medium with the JetPrint paper to get a good inkjet transfer. So that was a nice surprise, to see that they all work.

My only caveat would be that if you're going to use Elmer’s Squeeze n’ Caulk, you need to know that the transfer is super-super sticky, and remains that way, even 8 months later. You would need to glue it sticky-side down, and handle the transfer carefully, so it doesn’t stick to itself. It won't unstick from itself without ripping the transfer. I had purchased the caulk based on a recommendation by Claudine Hellmuth in her book Collage Discovery Workshop, so wanted to test it, but after these experiments, I can't really recommend it. While it's cheaper at $5/8 oz. bottle, the other mediums are just easier to work with.

So, my conclusions, based on this experiment and the one I ran with the HP PSC 1350, is that it’s worth it to use an Epson printer that uses Durabrite inks, if you’re into inkjet transfers (but only with Durabrite inks. Other Epson inks won’t work as well, from what I understand). Not only will you have a clearer transfer that won’t run when you use a water-based medium, the Durabrite inks are resistant to fading from UV light. While printers are a pretty expensive art supply to go a' gettin', the Epson Stylus 88+ runs about $80-$90, and gets rave reviews from the Inkjet Transfer Yahoo group. Epson's All-in-One printers are pretty reasonable as well. The ink is more expensive, but it does last a good while, I've found.

I can also now heartily recommend HP’s Everyday Matte Photo Paper when using the Epson Durabrite inks, which is great, because it’s still in production. You can find it on Amazon.com for $10/100 sheets.

And as far as mediums go, with the Epson Durabrite inks, use whichever medium you’re going to use the most in your other art projects. It’s always great when a product is multi-purpose. :D I'm usually not a big fan of glossy, but I really like how clear the Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish's transfer came out, and will probably be using that more frequently than the Golden's Regular Matte Gel in the future.

For my next post, I’m going to show you what happened when I tried out Transfer Goop on the JetPrint Imaging & Photo Paper and the HP Everyday Matte Photo paper.

Inkjet Transfer Experiment #1 - Using an HP PSC 1350

This is the experiment that inspired me to start this blog. This is the first of many experiments to come.

Before I show you the results, I wanted to tell you a little bit about the printer I used, the technique I used, the products I used, as well as the conditions I work under. If you just want to see the results without all the "theory", just scroll down to where the pictures begin. :D

The Printer:

It's an HP PSC All-in-One 1350. This experiment is the only time I'll be using it from here on out. There's something wrong with it, where the printer's not reading that there's a color cartridge in it, and after 2 color cartridges failing, I don't want to invest any more money into it. So, after this, my experiments will be done on my new Epson Workforce 500 (It has a document feeder for scanning! But, it doesn't print on transparencies...well, not yet anyway *rubs hands with glee and laughs evilly*).

The most important thing to know is that most inkjet printers from HP, Canon, Lexmark, and others, use dye-based inks. Dye-based inks are water-soluable, and that's what makes it so hard to achieve easy, good results with inkjet transfers. That's the whole reason we need special papers, special products and lots of practice. The HP 1350 uses dye-based inks.

Epson, and now Kodak, make printers that use pigment-based inks (HP makes some, too, but for now, they're for their high-end printers. The name of the ink is Vivera, but, heh, there's Vivera dye inks for their low-end printers, and Vivera pigment inks for their high-end printers. Confused yet?). This means the inks aren't water-soluable. Using pigment inkjet prints means your options open up considerably when it comes to transfers, because you don't have to worry about the inks running from water-based media (like acrylic gels and mediums).

From what I understand, pigment-based inks also last longer when it comes to inkjet prints, and aren't subject to the considerable fading that happens with dye-based inkjet prints. If you'd like to know more about this, you can visit Wilhelm Imaging Research, where you'll find extensive tests done on numerous brands and printers.

The Papers:

I used both JetPrint's Imaging & Photo Paper and HP's Everyday Matte Photo Paper to print my images on. Both papers have clay coatings on them, and so the ink rests in the clay coating, and not so much in the fibers of the paper (from what I understand). That makes it easier to release the inks off of the paper and into your medium, without having the inks all wash away when you try to remove the paper.

Jet Print's paper is the old Great White Imaging & Photo Paper, and per rumors on the Inkjet Transfers Yahoo Group, may no longer be in production. Because I can't find the JetPrint Imaging & Photo paper in stores in a Google search (and the company's website is down), I think it really may be gone.

The Products:

Product 1: Golden's Regular Gel - Matte. Originally made for artists to extend and mattify their acrylic paints, this medium has shown a variety of different uses. It's basically heavy-body acrylic paint without any pigment, or clear acrylic paint. It's acid-free, and makes a great collage glue, too. There's not a lot of moisture in it, so it doesn't warp and wrinkle paper as other glues do. It also turns out to make a great transfer medium.

You can visit the Golden Paints website for more info on the varieties of gels & mediums they have. Also, their instructions for image transfers are here: http://www.goldenpaints.com/artist/directransfer.php.

Most places tell you to use the Glossy version of this gel for image transfers, because the colors show through much better in the glossy versions. That's true, I've found...the colors are more vibrant. That's because acrylic gels are glossy by design, and in order to make an acrylic gel matte, the manufacturer has to add "matting agents", which is basically itty-bitty specs of "white stuff". So, when you use a matte gel, it will dry more translucent than transparent, and thereby, tone down the colors in your image transfer. However, I'm not a big fan of glossy, so I got the matte version.

Product 2: Liquitex's Gloss Medium & Varnish. Basically, this is a glaze medium, thinning agent and acrylic varnish, all rolled into one. It's glossy and pretty liquidy...about the consistency of liquid starch. I tried using one of the Liquitex's gel mediums for a transfer, with horrible results (the inks just washed away), and when I read their website, I found out why. They don't recommend their gels for image transfers, but instead recommend this medium. The instructions for image transfers are here: http://www.liquitex.com/techniques/transfer.cfm

Product 3: Elmer's Squeeze 'N Caulk - Clear. Claudine Hellmuth recommended this product for laser/toner print transfers in her book, Collage Discovery Workshop. It's relatively inexpensive, at $5 for 8 oz. I've found it makes a great collage glue, too, because it's got some latex in it, so the paper remains flexible, with minimal warping. However, I can't tell you if it's archival or not, since caulk makers don't seem to worry about whether they're acid-free on paper *grin*. It dries to a glossy finish.

I can't link to the technique, because it's in Claudine's book. But, I did the exact same technique I used for the Golden Gel and Liquitex GM&V, which was to brush a coat onto my printed image, let it dry, brush another coat on, let that dry, wet the back of the transfer to remove the paper more easily, and peel and rub away. What's left is a transparent "skin" with the image embedded into it. You can then glue the image onto whatever substrate you want.

The Conditions:

I live in Colorado, which is a very dry climate. Everything here dries super quick. Just wanted you to know that, because results may vary depending on humidity.

The Results:

Here are the scans of each transfer. The images on the left started out on the HP Everyday Matte Photo Paper and the images on the right started out on the JetPrint Imaging & Photo Paper. You can click on each image, to see larger versions.

Here's the original image:

Golden's Regular Gel - Matte:

Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish:

Elmer's Squeeze 'N Caulk-Clear:

Just a little note...the transfer on the right has a whitish cast because I laid the transfer down on a page of my art journal that had gesso on it, and the caulk picked up some bits of gesso. That stuff is STICKY! So if you try the Elmer's caulk, you shouldn't have that whitish cast.

Conclusions:

I would say so far, JetPrint's Imaging & Photo Paper outperformed HP's Everyday Matte Photo Paper, in it's ability to release the ink into the medium. It was also easier to get off, since it's not as thick as HP's paper. I didn't really like how the green spread all over the transfers, but it's better than a lot of it washing away, which is what happened with HP's paper.

Sigh...too bad they seemed to have stopped making it. I encourage you to join the Inkjet_Transfers Yahoo Group, though, because people there are testing all kinds of papers, looking for a substitute. If anyone's going to find it, it's those folks. :D

It should be noted, however, that the HP paper was developed to work on HP's printers, where the main goal is for the inkjet print to stay in the inkjet paper. So, the HP paper may work better on a printer not made by HP, when it comes to inkjet transfers. Also, because the paper is thicker than the JetPrint paper, it took more water and more time to rub the paper off, which may have allowed more ink to wash away.

And among the three mediums, Golden's Regular Gel - Matte, outperformed the other two mediums, as far as its ability to retain the color in the medium. All three transfer mediums made strong skins, all were easy to apply, and they all dried at about the same rate, so all other things being equal, the ability to retain the bright colors of the original image made the Golden's Gel come out ahead.

The Liquitex GM&V did about the same as the Elmer's Caulk, as far as color retention goes, but I like the Liquitex medium itself a lot better. I like how the Elmer's caulk is stretchy and strong, but it is seriously, seriously sticky. I did this experiment about two months ago, and the Elmer's transfers still have an ultra-sticky surface (FYI, they've been sitting in my art journal, though, so it's possible they just need to be out in circulating air for a lot longer). If I wanted to use these transfers, I'd have to coat the caulk with another medium, just to tone down the dust-magnet-ness of them. Plus, I like the Liquitex medium because it's so multi-purpose (glaze, varnish, Pearl-Ex medium, thinner) and I can get it easily at Michael's.

I'll be repeating this experiment in my next post, only this time, I'll be using my Epson Workforce 500, with Durabrite pigment inks. I'm also going to add transfers from a piece of plain ole copy paper, to see if that makes a difference. Stay tuned!