Book Review: "Image Transfer Workshop" by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson

This summer has been a nice vacation for me. I am up in Washington while my husband is doing research at a university here. This has been a great time for me to take a break from school and work, and to be able to do what I want! During this time I have been able to read a lot of books. Because I have been getting so much great reading done, I decided to write up some book reviews. This way I can share these wonderful books I have been finding so many gems in and share it with you!


5 out of 5 Stars
I would definitely recommend this book. It is a very simple to read, straight forward book with a wide variety of techniques to transfer images (35 to be exact). It gives very detailed step by step instructions with each transfer as well as step by step photographs to go with them. It is hard to get lost or confused along the way.

Plus, with each transfer it lists: its limitations (potential issues), the different types of surfaces it works well on (wood, cloth, metal, paper), its archival quality, and the materials you will need. Also, it gives a troubleshooting section with each transfer to help you figure out why your transfer didn't work. I also found it really helpful that at the end of the book they have a list of resources for where you can buy the materials you would need.

They also have a chapter at the end of the book showing how the artists apply these techniques in their own work. For me personally, my style and taste differs from theirs, but these techniques can definitely be utilized to fit my own personal vision and offer great potential to all different styles of art making (photography, book arts, mixed media, painting, fabric arts).

I plan on using a wide range of transfer techniques I learned from this book. I like to use different substrates in my work and so I am really interested in the transfer techniques that can be used on wood, metal, and cloth. There was also a really interesting technique where you use silk tissue to make a transfer that I want to try. Once I get home and have access to all my art supplies I will post an example of an image transfer I make based off a technique I learned in this book.