hi there it's deidre from our upcycled life and welcome to my channel if you like thrifting diy
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today i have a little bit of a technical video i love using mod podge for photo transfer and
graphic transfer um but there's quite a few methods that you can use to achieve this
so today i'm going to show you four different methods that you can use mod podge for
to transfer your graphics or your photos i'm gonna go through step by step with each process so make
sure you hang out to the end um to see which one you like the best and then leave me a comment down
below and let me know if you've tried any of these techniques and which one's your favorite and also
with all of my videos um after this has aired for a week i'm going to go through my comments and i'm
going to pick a winner for one one person to win any graphics that they'd like out of my etsy store
you can head over to my etsy store i have all my graphics there from all my previous projects and
you can pick out anything you like download it right away and use it for your your diy projects
okay let's get started
okay to do these projects i've picked out some scrap two by fours
and i'm going to paint them with some chalk paint
to do this technique i find that chalk paint works the best i've tried it with acrylic paint
and i've tried it with latex and the chalk paint always works better i make my own chalk paint
so i'll put a link below in the description so you can see my recipe and it works fabulous
and i'm just going to put a base coat of black all over all four blocks
okay the base coat of the black has dried and now i'm gonna put a
coat of my white chalk paint on one side that i'm going to do the transfer on
i'm going to sand up the edges because i like that rustic chippy look and then they're ready for
transfers and these are the four methods that i'm going to show you today just a regular transfer
a napkin transfer an iron-on transfer and a reverse transfer and i'm going to be using my
matte mod podge you can use a gloss i just like the look of the matte myself better i'm going to
use all of the same graphics on each technique so when it's all finished you can see the difference
of each one all of these with the exception of the napkin have been printed on regular computer paper
with my laser jet you can use your inkjet but you'll have to do a special step before you do it
the first technique that we're going to do is the reverse transfer i've printed this off on
my laser jet and i've reversed the text this is very important with this technique is to
reverse the text because you're going to flip it over when you put it on your piece of wood
if you're going to use your ink jet printer i'll put a link below for a video that i made of the
process that you have to do to your graphics or your photos before you do this technique
now you're just going to put a light coat of mod podge all over the whole
graphic until it's completely covered and then you're gonna flip it over
and press it onto the wood make sure it's centered exactly where you want it and then press out all
the little bubbles and all the little wrinkles and make sure it's adhered really well to the wood
you can also do all of these techniques with pictures that you've printed off on your computer
just remember if you're using a picture that you have to reverse the image of it too before
you do this technique now this needs to dry and i usually let it sit overnight
and now we're just going to do a regular transfer you want to make sure that your piece of paper is
cut the same size as your block of wood you don't want it any smaller because then your paper will
show along the edges so you're just going to put a coat of mod podge all over the back of the graphic
just put a nice light even coat all over and then you're gonna flip it over and press
it onto the piece of wood and make sure you get out all the wrinkles and all the bubbles
with this technique you don't have to reverse your text you just leave it as
is this is the most common way to use a mod podge transfer and it's the easiest one to do
make sure you press all those bubbles and all those little wrinkles out if you have any
and make sure it's pressed down nice and firm
and the next technique is a napkin transfer so what you want to do is you're going to take your
mod podge and put it on the block of wood and put a light coat you don't want it too thick with this
transfer you just want a nice light coat over the entire surface and then you're going to pick
up your napkin and just very gently lie it down and make sure it's centered and then just gently
press it down with your finger i like to take my paintbrush and just kind of gently just tap it in
and get any wrinkles or bubbles out that you might have i just did a tutorial on how to make your own
napkins and i'll put that link below in the description because it's a really cool
technique so you can make whatever kind of napkin you want with what any graphic or any photo
i find it really hard sometimes to find the nice napkins that i like to use
so that's why i make my own and here's a little trick if you have little bubbles
or little wrinkles that show up when you're doing this get a little piece of cling wrap
and just dab it where it is and it'll push that right out
now the next technique is an iron-on transfer you want to make sure your paper is cut the exact same
size as the block of wood you're going to put
your mod podge onto the wood and you want to put a liberal amount on you want quite a bit
this technique takes a little bit of practice it can sometimes be a little
bit fussy and a little bit tricky so just be patient and give it a try now you're
going to take that iron-on piece of wood and set it to the side and let it dry thoroughly
okay now my napkin transfer has completely dried and i'm ready to put the top coat on
you're just going to take your mod podge and just put a light coat over
the whole napkin and seal it right up
and now the regular transfer has completely dried and now i'm gonna put a top coat of the mod podge
all over that entire surface just a light coat and make sure you cover everything completely
and we're gonna let it dry
okay now that mod podge that we put on that piece of wood for the iron on transfer is completely dry
we're going to take our image put it on the block of wood make sure it's centered
exactly where you want it get some parchment paper has to be parchment paper not wax paper
because it'll stick you're gonna take your iron have it on the highest setting
six with no steam and you're just gonna iron it on top of that and let all the mod podge
melt and adhere right to the wood just keep an eye on it you can lift up the parchment paper
and just check the edges be careful it's hot and make sure that it is adhered well
and it looks pretty good i'm just going to give it one last little iron
it looks like it's adhered really well to the wood so i'm going to let it cool down
and it'll be ready for a top coat and now i'm going to take the mod podge make sure it's nice
and dry and it's not hot anymore and i'm going to put a nice light coat over the whole top
and now we're just going to let it dry
now the reverse transfer method has sat overnight it's completely dry you're going to take a damp
rag and you're going to rub the water all over the graphic until you start to see the word show
through and then you're just going to take your fingers and rub all of the paper off takes a
little bit of patience and a little bit of a knack but it looks fabulous the trick to this technique
is not to have the paper too wet you just want it damp so you can just see the lettering through
now it's all completely rubbed off and it's ready for a top coat
i'm just going to put a light coat of the mod podge all over the top and you don't
need to sand this because it's already all sanded around the edges and there's no paper to blend in
okay now the regular transfer is completely dry the top coat of mod podge is dry and then i like
to take the sander and sand all around the edges so it looks like it blends right into the wood
i'm using an 80 grit sanding block and it works really good you can also use an electric sander
but it's out in my shed and it's really cold right now so i'm not going to go out there and use it
now the napkin transfer is completely dry and again i'm just going to take my sander
and just blend it in all along the edges and just give it a nice sand
and now the iron on transfer top coat is completely dry
i'm going to take my sander and blend it in all around the block
and there you have the four different techniques to use mod podge for image
or graphic transfer let me know which one you like the best my favorite is the reverse transfer it
blends in really well and i just find it's nice and crisp and looks like it was made for the wood
i hope you have enjoyed today's tutorial and has helped you out to learn more about
how you can use mod podge for photo and graphic transfer thanks for watching and have a great day