Image Transfers on Wood

I made this book for a friend of mine who works at the university I attend. He had made some comments earlier that got me thinking about how he could use a nice gift in his life lately. So with the help of my teacher we were able to borrow his well-beloved cowboy outfit and photograph it.
I photographed these images with a 4x5 large format camera. It was the first time I had ever used one before. My teacher let me use hers and went out photographing with me so she could teach me how to use it (I loved it so much a couple weeks later I bought my own ;).
Besides learning how to use a 4x5 camera, I was also interested in learning some new book binding techniques. I decided I was going to make my friend a handmade book with the images I took. I choose wood as the substrate because I wanted to play with new materials and I thought it fit the cowboy theme. I scanned the images on the computer,printed them off and transferred them onto wood. I stitched it with a green thread and have a belt around it to seal it closed.

Book Review: "Book Art - Handcrafting Artists' Books" by Dorothy Simpson Krause

Here is a review of another book I read this summer:


3.5 out of 5 Stars
This book is focused on the art of book making. Dorothy Simpson Krause seems to be a very experienced book artist. The book is filled with well over a dozen examples of handmade books she has created. With each of these examples she talks about her concept and how and why she did certian things, which is always interesting and helpful for me to hear how other artist work.

Krause covers a lot of ground: altering found/blank books, transferring images and text, book layouts, stitching, and making covers. This is great for an overall introduction to these techniques, but I found that some of the examples and how-to steps weren't as thorough as I would have liked, especially on the stitching section. I wish she had more pictures showing what she is talking about with each step. The pictures are kind of vague. I think if you were a beginner without much experience with bookbinding it might be hard to follow. But if you are familiar with bookbinding and have made a handful of books before, you shouldn't have a problem understanding what is going on and would probably enjoy the book a lot.

Besides the lack of more detailed pictures I found the book comfortable and easy to read. Her writing was conversational and easy to follow.

Overall I enjoyed the book. It had some really helpful tips and creative ideas. It gives a broad introduction to book arts and gives insight to the possibilities available, with great examples. I also found the author to be very sincere and open about her art which is also insightful. My favorite part in the book was an example she gave for gelatin monoprints. She showed how to use gelatin, leaves, and paint to make gorgeous transfers onto book pages. I am really excited to try this technique and can see myself using it often in my own book making projects.

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.