Shine Bright and Create: Image transfer on MDF

Sunday 29 July 2018

Image transfer on MDF

I made a plaque for a friend using a picture of their dogs trying out an image transfer onto the mdf and thought I'd share the process with you.

I started with one of my Dreamees mdf pieces and painted it with a cream match pot that I had. I picked up a few of them from Homebase really cheap as they were discontinuing the colours. Perfect size for painting small pieces like this and easy to store as they don't take up a lot of space.

The picture was printed onto a slightly thicker gsm of paper (for colour printing) than your regular photocopier paper. I just happened to have this paper left. It does need to be a laser printed copy and not inkjet. If you use an inkjet print, the colours will run when you add your matt medium to it.

I got mine printed at the local library.

I really like this DecoArt matt medium. It goes on smoothly and leaves a lovely matte finish, perfect for your journaling too. Modge Podge will do the job too.

Give your picture a thick even coat of matte medium. You want to cover all the picture until it looks opaque.

Stick the picture face down onto your mdf and smooth down to get rid of any air bubbles. This is important as it can give your picture an uneven finish if left to dry with them in. I used a small ruler and careful run it up an down to ensure a smooth finish.

I left it to dry overnight and then used a damp piece of kitchen roll (you can use a cloth) and just placed it over the picture for about 3mins to absorb the moisture. It may need more time, depending on how much of the moisture sinks in but don't flood it with water.

I used a piece of sponge but you could just use your finger and gently start to rub away the paper. This takes some patience and don't rub too hard or you may damage your image. Just keep adding water bit by bit, letting it soak in and rubbing off a little more.

Once all the paper had been removed I let it settle and dry out before adding a layer of my matte medium all over the plaque just to seal it and give the plaque an even finish.

Next for the decoration. I stamped and heat embossed my Dreamees Ditsy Stitch flower stamps (the first flower stamps I purchased from the Dreamees) onto some of their backing paper and die cut some foliage from their peculiar leave & flourishes die set onto some peach satin board by Create & Craft.