Transferring an image to clay

[Beadbug]

I tried to transfer an image to clay today but failed dismally. I followed the directions I found on the video but the image just rubbed off. The method used was where you coat the image with liquid clay, bake it, apply more liquid clay then press onto raw clay then bake it. The image did not bond to the clay and peeled off like rubber. The image I used was done with coloured pencils. What did I do wrong?

[MilleD]

Are coloured pencils supposed to work?

The seem a bit waxy to enable the liquid to absorb the image.  I could be wrong though.

You could try copying your images with a laser printer if you have access to one and trying that technique?

[ejralph]

Are you transfering an image or actually just trying to apply a piece of paper with a drawn image?

When I have done image transfers in the past, I have painted a layer of liquid clay over a clay sheet, then laid the image face down into this, smoothed it over and baked. Once baked, I carefully peel away the paper and the image is transfered. This tends to work best with toner-based photocopies I think, but I have done it with colouring pencil images too.

Another method is to use t-shift transfer paper and print your image onto that, then layer it over the clay and bake.

Emma

[Beadbug]

I had drawn the image with coloured pencils and baked it with a covering of liquid clay. I wonder if it was the type of paper I used? There does seem to be a lot of people on YouTube who have success with this but they're not always clear about the type of pencil or the paper used. Thanks for the suggestion about t-shirt transfer paper, I'll give that a go. If I don't have any luck I'll try the method described for inkjet printer images.

[Carrie]

Inkjet images tend not to work, as far as l know, except on a few papers, like the t-shirt stuff and other specialised paper.  Laser images apparently work very well and transfer with just water....l have just been watching a couple of videos of that and it looked easy enough, though l daresay in practise it would have its pitfalls!.

[Beadbug]

We used to have a really good printers near me and I used to get a discount because I knew most of the staff, unfortunately they closed about six weeks ago hence me trying other methods to transfer images. However, this morning I was thinking about the failure I had had when my eye caught sight of my box of pencils and I wondered if any of them would just draw on the baked clay. Some would others wouldn't and it seems the waxier the pencil the better the line. The best was Karisma, then Stabilo and finally Derwent Coloursoft but I'm sure there are others that would work. Well it's one way of getting an image onto clay!

[MilleD]

Unfortunately, if I did that, it would look like a five year old had done it