The Adventures of Image Transfer!

I've been playing with some image transfer techniques lately. There are a ton of tutorials out there if you use your Google-Fu. I started with this one.Last week I tried the gel-medium transfer because I had some on hand. It went fairly well. Quite well in fact really if you consider it was my first time.But then, as the tutorial stated, caulk transfers were the author's favorite. Of course this meant I would have to have a small affair with the caulk as well to see how I liked it myself.I had some caulk left over from a stained glass mosaic I made someone for Christmas one year. I searched up and down and in and out for it. No luck. Again, I cursed myself for tossing usefull stuff: art supplies, household building supplies, and scraps of anything (heck just last night I was eyeing up the background of a diet mountain dew 12 pack and nearly fished it out of the garbage) So, it was off to "the-mart" to purchase some caulk last week.Of course I went with a different brand. This brand was in a clear tube, looked so deliciously crystal clear and promised no yellowing. Ever. Fabulous! Sure, the other brand worked great as an adhesive and I knew it, but this was surely better – it had nicer looking packaging! (As a graphic artist, I should know better than to fall for that trick!)Yesterday I printed out a bunch of letters of the alphabet and images that I wanted to use for some pendants. I laid my printouts out and proceeded to cover them with caulk. Mr. CH walked in and didn't even bat an eye. I laughed to myself – how many husbands can walk into a room, see their wife spreading clear caulk on 12 different pieces of paper full of images and letters, and not even think twice? (Do take note, I am experimenting here, and what do I do? I go and cover EVERYTHING as if I am certain it shall work fabulously.)When I started to spread the caulk and realized it was MUCH thicker than the last brand I used. It was difficult to spread, and I never did get it very even. I told myself that I rather liked the rippled texture and that it would look fine against glass. Say it enough, and you believe it! Perhaps ya'll will utter the words, "well, DUH!" to yourselves after reading this little tip, but here it is anyway. Silicone caulk does not wash off with soap and water. You should wear a disposable glove, use a tool of some sort, or have mineral spirits on hand rather than just diving in with your bare hands! Of course, if you enjoy waiting for silicone to dry so you can peel it off like an extra layer of skin, by all means skip that advice!After a few hours of drying I flipped my pretties over and proceeded to soak the back of my favorite image with water. I carefully begin to rub the paper from the caulk, leaving the ink. I ripped the first one a few times. I did not have it adhered to another sheet of paper (I wanted just the caulk with the toner left on – it worked pretty good with the gel medium). I also didn't have the caulk think enough on that one. The second try worked great.Except one thing:When caulk is thin and you hold it up to the light to admire how your image transfer worked and how much of the paper you got off on your first try it has a tendency to fold over on itself. Once it folds over on itself, you can never ever separate the two layers successfully. You can beg. You can plead. You can pull ever so gently. You can pull ever so quickly. You can pray. You can offer up a sacrifice to the patron saint of caulk. You can walk away and hope it fixes itself.Your last 30 minutes of slow careful work will be destroyed in .3 seconds of time!At that point I threw my hands up in the air. I wisely stacked the rest of my caulk covered papers and set them away for another day. A day when I had more patience for Murphey's Law.Really, I should know Murphy much better by now! Murphy should be to me as Swiper the Fox is to Dora! Maybe it would help if I had an audience of preschoolers to yell that Murphy is hiding under the table to help me better. "Murphy no jinxing! Murphy no jinxing!"