I've had a fair few emails about the transfer I did in the background of the lighthouse piece, so I've made another for the background of my next little 8x10" piece, and I've photographed the process, to hopefully explain things a little better.
Before I go on though, I have to mention that the old world map image that I used in the background of the lighthouse was from Suppliesl To Go on Etsy. Check it out.
Ok, so, first things first: Create your background.
Surprise! Packing tape again. At this point you can get a little tricky and scan your background into Photoshop, so that you can design your transfer on another layer so it comes out at the exact size and positioning that you like. (If you set the layer to "Multiply" it will appear just as your transfer will - being made out of ink. eg: no whites.) My background was 8x10" so I set my document size to 8x10".
I used this little damask-ish pattern that I drew for the first gocco screen that I made - I scanned it into Photoshop, repeated the pattern, added some colour, and erased a few areas to grunge it up a bit.
Don't forget to flip your image horizontally before you print it, otherwise your transfer will come out in reverse. Printed on the Avery Clear Inkjet Label, your image will look like this:
Also, don't forget to cut off any of the areas that have the Avery logo, etc, printed on it (you can see them at the bottom of the page in the last photo) because you don't want to transfer those onto your image by mistake. (Been there, done that.) Cut any excess off of your printed sheet as well, so it's easier to line it up properly once you're ready to transfer your image.
Then just make sure you have your background, spray fixative, your brayer and a small dish of water handy, and you're ready to roll:
At no point will you actually need to peel the sticker off the sheet, so don't worry about that. It's just the surface of the sticker that you are working with. Now, spray a thin layer of fixative over the whole surface of your transfer - enough to give it a bit of a sheen, but not enough for it to pool anywhere and end up shiney. There's a bit of trial and error here - you're always going to have too much/not enough in some places, but that just gives it character!
Straight away (no time for photos!), place your image face-down onto your background (you don't get any second chances to line it up so make sure it's right before it touches the surface) and press it down thoroughly with the brayer. If you don't have a brayer, you could use the back of a spoon.
Now, carefully peel your image back to see how it has transferred, but don't remove it completely - you need to keep it positioned for touchups!
You can see here that a few patches haven't transferred properly, and a few places where I had too much fixative have blurred out a bit (but I like these bits!). Being careful not to move your transfer (I was keeping mine anchored on the left all the time) you can start on your touchups. Get a tiny bit of water on your finger, and spread it over a small area on the sticker paper that hasn't transferred properly. Just swipe your finger over the area once. If you rub back and forth you'll just spread the ink around and destroy your pattern. Carefully lay this area of the transfer back down in place, and rub over the back of the sheet with your fingernail to transfer it. Repeat this part with any little areas that you want to define further. If you're not this finicky just leave this last bit out!
Now you're done. Leave your image to dry before you draw or paint over it. This only takes a couple of minutes. Your sticker sheet will be looking a little worse for wear. Not all of the ink will transfer to your page, but you still can't re-use it again.
Here's a close up, once it had tried:
Ta-daa! Hope you have fun if you give it a go.
I first read about this kind of transfer using hairspray (and minus the finicky water touch-ups bit) from Rhonna Designs - but I can't find the link to the tutorial on her website anymore so I hope these pics are useful!
