How to Make a Gel Transfer

"Wild Honeys," Laura Tringali Holmes
Paper collage with mixed media on 5 x 7 canvas board.  Three gel transfers, papers from Les
 Journal des Demoiselles 1837 and various other old publications, handmade paper and fibers, dye
 inks, acrylic glazes, Micron pen, and one wine spill

It is hard to amuse even oneself when writing about how to make a gel transfer, but sometimes one must do what one must do, and I have promised a tutorial. So here goes. I have started with a photo, above, to demonstrate that the results are a whole lot groovier than the process. Making your own transfers is worth doing if you want to communicate feelings of mystery or emotional tension, history or time passing, in your work.

This next photo provides a brief vocabulary lesson on the transparencies I most often use. It's important to note at this point that while all transfers are transparent to some extent, not all transparencies are transfers. I can't count all the people I have managed to confuse by swinging between the terms while chattering about my work.



Everything to the left is a gel transfer. They don't look transparent, but they become semi-so
when you glue  them down. As for the transparencies on the right, the sheet music at the top is a
packing-tape transfer, as is the black-and-white playing card. The sepia-tone woman, plant,
and color playing card are acetate transparencies, not transfers.

You can make gel transfers from black-and-white or color images. Whichever you choose, this will involve photocopying. What you're going to be doing with the gel is slapping it on, letting it dry, and then rubbing off the photocopy paper leaving the ink behind. So no original images please. I'm using a black-and-white photocopy for this tutorial.

You'll get the best black-and-white transfers from an inky photocopy. Inky photocopies come from machines that use toner cartridges. Machines that are not on the cutting edge of technology tend to produce the best photocopies for making black-and-white gel transfers. Give the machine in your public library a try. Sadly, your library is probbly underfunded and making do with an old photocopy machine. Happily, that machine just might produce exactly what you need to make a decent black-and-white gel transfer.

This is an inky black-and-white photocopy.  You might want to start with a
smaller image than I did if you're just getting started with gel transfers.

Going to the library to make the photocopy might be the most exciting part of this process, although there is peace to be found in the repetition of laying down numerous coats of gel and watching them dry. You're looking to build up at least three coats if using a gloss gel, more if using a matte gel. I prefer using a soft gloss gel because it results in the most transparent image, but regular gloss gel provides a sturdier transfer. You can either slop the gel on or go for thin coats. But whatever you do, make sure each coat is thoroughly dry before adding another. You are going to be rubbing the paper off the dried gel down the line, so it's in your best interest to create sturdy layerings.

This is the first coat but it might as well be the second or third. There's
not a whole lot going on visually in this process. And while I like
Golden products, of course you can use other brands successfully. 

Sometimes when I work I like things really flat. Other times I like to create texture, as in the piece at the top of this page. Viewers engage differently with things that are smooth than they do with things that are bumpy. It's a nice detail to be in control of. This is something to keep in mind when brushing out the gel. Do you want ridges or smoothness?



As you can see, I'm leaving the ridges in the second coat. If you use a
matte gel, you won't have the option for big ridges, as it doesn't hold
brush strokes like gloss gel.

After your photocopy is coated, you want to throw it in water and go do something else for at least fifteen minutes. I left a gel transfer in a pot of water for two days once, and it was just fine, so you don't really have to rush back.

Soaking in water.

Now it's time to strip the paper off the back of your built-up gel. The water will have softened the paper, making this much easier than it may sound. A large transfer, like this one, can be unwieldy, expecially if you are hoping to keep it in one piece. If your transfer is large, try supporting it on your wrists. But whether you are working small or large, start rubbing off the paper in the middle of the image, with your thumbs. Like so.

My other thumb should be in the picture, but it's holding the camera.
Notice how the paper is coming off in rolls. That's what you're going for.
Now imagine how those rolls of paper can clog up your sink. Do not do
this directly over your drain!

And here we have it. The finished gel transfer will become semi-transparent after you glue it in place. There will always be some paper fuzz on the back of the transfer, so don't go crazy about that. The best way to neutralize the light-blocking tendency of the paper fuzz is to rub it with some more gel just before you glue it in place. That's rubbed-off paper in the sink strainer and some lemonade with strawberries for me.

And now, at last, an opportunity for wit! One of my favorite altered playing cards using a gel transfer.

"Bird With Heart," Laura Tringali Holmes
Altered playing card with paper collage and mixed media, using bird engraving and gel transfer,
various papers, text snippet, inks, paints, and glazes

Good luck! And thanks, as always, for tuning in.