Photo transfer on canvas board

image transfer mixed media canvas lisa fulmer

I'm playing with the Designer Crafts Connection this month - we're celebrating "National Mod Podge Day" on May 19th with Plaid! Boy, any excuse for a holiday, eh?

Each of us received different kinds of Mod Podge - I got their Photo Transfer Medium, so I snapped lots of pictures in my mother's yard this past weekend. I decided to play with this shot of her mock orange bush.

mock orange blossoms

I went to the office supply store and make some copies of my photo on their laser printer (can't use inkjet with this medium) then I stained an 8x10' canvas board with a sea sponge. I was curious to see if the sepia tone underneath might soften the image, even though I had read that this medium is opaque.


Following the tips I read on the Mod Podge Rocks blog, I brushed the medium on my image, flipped it over to the canvas board, smoothed it out with a brayer and let it dry overnight.



The next day, I spritzed the canvas board with water and carefully rubbed off all the paper with my fingers. This is the tricky part - I realized that I was working on a cheap canvas board that wasn't really canvas fabric - I think it's actually thick paper embossed with a canvas pattern. It was primed, but I had to be careful with the water - wet enough to peel off the paper from the laser copy, but not so wet that I might tear the canvas.


I actually did rub a bit too hard in one place and the medium "skin" that actually holds the image started to come off the edge. But I was planning a distressed look for this project anyway, so no harm, no foul. I just used my sanding block to further distress the edges all the way around. Then I re-stained the edges with the sepia ink.


I added sand medium on the green areas and highlighted the blooms with iridescent paint.

Visit the DCC blog to see Mod Podge projects from more designers and enter to win some great prizes!