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Process 1 Photo Transfer on Tumble Marble Tile I – Hot Peel Transfer Paper Process2 Photo on Tumbled Marble Tile II - Waterslip Decal By
This beautiful painting by June Anderson was given to us as a housewarming gift years ago. I love southwestern imagery, but prefer vivid colors over the commonly used pastels. It was painted with me in mind at the request of her son and our good friend, Bruce Anderson. I thought this would be the perfect specimen for this project – especially since we could use the coasters in the living room where this beautiful painting resides! J The first method yields very nicely – the photo transfers well and isn’t too glossy. However, the irregularities in the surface of the tile will interfere with the transfer and your outcome will be somewhat defective. As bad as that word sounds, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing! No, the irregularities or defects add a more rustic feel to the piece and remind you that yes, this is a piece of real marble here. The second method is the 'vanity' one - it is absolutely unflawed as far as the image goes because the image in it's entirety is placed over the tile via waterslide decal. This method could handle hot pots placed on the tile, but temporary bubbles will form when heat is applied for any length of time - again, because of the structure of the marble. They do go down. But who is going to put a hot pot on a loved one's picture? I couldn't do it. :) Supplies: •Digital Camera or
Scanner Instructions: 1. Take a picture of the painting. If you don’t use a digital camera, you will need to either scan your photograph in to your computer or have your photo developer put your photos on a CD for you. 2. Measure your tile and digitally crop your photo to ¼ inch smaller. If you have a program you’re familiar with and it’s capable, you can feather the edges of the image so that there won’t be ‘hard’ edges where the picture abruptly ends. SUGGESTION: If you aren’t real computer savvy and you feel there’s no hope for you in this regard, try printing the photograph in it’s entirety on a lightweight photo-quality paper. Crop your photo to nearly a square and use one of your fancy scissor-edgers or a deckle ruler to tear the edges and make them irregular. This softens the hard, straight edge. Scan it back in with your new edges and proceed from there. J 3. After you’ve created your digital image and sized it accordingly, mirror it and save. If your software doesn’t have the capability to mirror your image, check your printer. Usually, when you tell your printer to print something, a print dialog box opens. There are a few buttons you can click to modify the settings for this print job. Most all printers have a “properties” button in this instance – click that and see if you can select paper, layout. You’ll have to poke around a little in there, but odds are pretty good that a “reverse” or “mirror” setting is there. Remember, if you get confused, hit the cancel button to go back to where you began, and take a moment and try again. 4. Open a new 8 ½ by 11 inch document. Now, either copy and paste or insert your previously created image file into your new document Four times. Four is about all you can get on one sheet for the 4” x 4” tiles. 5. Place a scrap piece of paper in your printer and print a draft – just to make sure the layout works and you like what you see. (This is a good time to test your printer’s settings!). If the draft is good, place your transfer paper into the printer. In your print dialog, click “properties” and either choose high resolution paper or a resolution of 360 as your print quality. Printers differ here – some let you choose the resolution and others make you choose the resolution by choosing your media. You do not want to choose an extremely hi resolution here – too much ink in the hot peel paper can result in bleeding of the image. REMEMBER to reverse your image either in the software you’re using or in your printer settings! 6. Let your transfer paper dry at least 15 minutes to 1 hour. I let mine dry overnight. 7. Trim fairly closely around each of the images – approximately 1/8 inch. You may want to leave a ‘dangle’ on one corner – just a little slip on one corner that hangs off the tile a little so that you can peel the paper off quickly when the time comes. I suggest you do this at least the first time to get a feel for working with this paper on this substrate. 8. Plug your iron in and set it to the hottest setting available – DO NOT add water and if it’s got water in it already, pour it out and let the remainder boil off before you get busy on these transfers. J 9. Place your transfer face down on your tile. Holding one side of the transfer down to the tile firmly, place your iron onto the back of the transfer - DO NOT PRESS – let the iron rest on the surface of the tile, pick it straight up from the tile and place back down on another area. As the transfer medium heats, it expands and if you press down, you may unintentionally cause the transfer to slip a little, damaging your image. Note: I have not tried my little heat transfer tool on this because mine heats to 1000 degrees It does not work with my rheostat and this paper is not supposed to be heated higher than 385°. Your tile will get really hot so you may want to have an oven mitt or glove handy in order to hold the transfer while heating. After about 1 ½ to 2 minutes, pick up one corner, just a little bit to see if the transfer is complete – if the image on the tile is blotchy or too irregular, lay the corner back down and place the iron on the tile again. Since you cannot apply pressure, patience is key here. I usually end up checking my corner about 3 times before I actually get the transfer down (patience obviously not my strength). 10. Once your transfer is complete, make sure you heat the entire surface of the paper up and peel it off while hot. There will be small remnants of ink left behind on the transfer paper – rock can only take so much! J 11. Allow tiles to cool. 12. Place tiles one by one onto the backing of your choice and trace around them with pencil, cut out and glue to the back of the tile with The Ultimate. If necessary, trim backing closer after the glue is dry. I used leather because I had a LOT and didn’t want to “buy one more thing” right now. I do really prefer leather over other substances. Cork is a good choice for this part of the project, too, though. 13. I don’t find sealing this very necessary – a hot cup of coffee or tea isn’t hot enough to interfere with the transfer and I like to maintain at least a little of the marble’s natural state – it’s absorptive on it’s own. If you really need to seal your tiles, use Krylon Crystal Clear for a shiny finish or Clear Matte for no shine.
14.
Voila – a set of coasters is created that match my painting! NOTE: I wouldn’t suggest this method for holding hot pots in the kitchen – sealed or not - placing a very hot pot on top of the transfer will smear the transfer as well as get the bottom of your pot gooey. Yes, I tried this – I had to be able to tell you what would and would not work didn’t I? J
Photo on Tumbled Marble Tile II - Waterslip Decal Supplies:
•Digital Camera or
Scanner Instructions: 1. Take a picture of the painting. If you don’t use a digital camera, you will need to either scan your photograph in to your computer or have your photo developer put your photos on a CD for you. 2. Measure your tile and digitally crop your photo to ¼ inch smaller. If you have a program you’re familiar with and it’s capable, you can feather the edges of the image so that there won’t be ‘hard’ edges where the picture abruptly ends. SUGGESTION: If you aren’t real computer savvy and you feel there’s no hope for you in this regard, try printing the photograph in it’s entirety on a lightweight photo-quality paper. Crop your photo to nearly a square and use one of your fancy scissor-edgers or a deckle ruler to tear the edges and make them irregular. This softens the hard, straight edge. J 3. After you’ve created your digital image and sized it accordingly, save it. 4. Open a new 8½ by 11 inch document. Now, either copy and paste or insert your previously created image file into your new document four times. 5. Place a scrap piece of paper in your printer and print a draft – just to make sure your layout works, you sized correctly and you like what you see. Go ahead and set one of your tiles on top of one of the printed images – if your tile is a little larger than the image – proceed to next step. 6. Print your images onto a sheet of the Waterslide Decal Paper – choose photo paper or high resolution. 7. Let the paper dry for 30 minutes to 1 hour after printing. Cut each image out – not too closely, but not so that each piece is larger than the tile it will be put on. 8. Spray 3 to 4 light coats of Krylon (I used Clear Matte) on each of the images, allowing sufficient drying time for your climate in between each coating. You want the image coated well – this makes the opaque waterslide clear. 9. Let all images dry thoroughly – I waited overnight. 10. Wash each of your tiles with warm water – don’t dry them off. 11. Fill a bowl (not huge, but larger than one of the images) with warm water. 12. Place one image into the bowl – it will curl up, then uncurl. Wait for a full minute before you take the image out of the water – if it moves a little on the backing paper when you pick it up – it’s ready. You don’t want to force it as it may tear. 13. Make sure your target tile is still wet – Slide the image off of the backing paper and onto your tile – by having the tile wet, you’ll have more open time to work with the placement of your image. 14. Once you have your image placed, you’ll notice pockets of water beneath the surface – use a paper towel and blot water off the surface, then gently press the water out from underneath – this is going to be a painstaking process sometimes, but it’s worth the patient, mindful effort on your part! 15. Again, sealing isn’t a big issue – especially since you did seal the decal before application. If you use ceramic tiles, you may bake the tiles in the oven for an hour, starting the temp at 200° and bumping the temp up from time to time until you reach a maximum of about 325°. You want to watch this very closely as too much heat will yellow the decal. On the tumbled tiles, baking worked but bubbles did appear – they did flatten out as the tile cooled, though. 16. Place tiles one by one onto the backing of your choice and trace around them with pencil, cut out and glue to the back of the tile with The Ultimate.
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