It's almost time to send and receive books!!

How are you all going? Are you almost ready? If not, why not?
I have heard from almost everyone re THE 'book proposal'. It can often be a difficult task to come up with a proposal, find a suitable book, then put it all into words that others will be reading. .....sometimes the only way forward is to just DO IT! grab the bull by the horns and it will all fall into place!!

Recently I had a request from Jen re photocopy transfers, I sent her a detailed description of the process I use. Jen has told me that she used it and that it was a success! I'm looking forward to seeing how she has used it in her book, as it will arrive next week!

You'll find the photocopy transfer process on this blog!

Happy creating!
Peta

PHOTOCOPY TRANSFER

....you need to have copies from a machine that uses toner, I don't think that the laser copies will work with this method...you will need acetone (which smells bad and isn't so good for you! if using acetone, do the transfer in a well ventilated area) or you can use oil of wintergreen - this is an oil used by masseurs, I have purchased it from a chemist or you can try the local masseur - it smells quite nice and is not nasty at all, you'll also need some cotton buds - for small transfers or some clean cloth for larger transfers,I have found that smoother surfaces give the clearest transfers, like smooth papers, teabag paper, calico or silk, you will probably need to experiment a bit. You may also need a bone folder or smooth spoon.
The process:
Place the paper you are transferring onto on a firm smooth surface, it's best to have a couple of layers of clean, cheap photocopy paper underneath the area you'll be transferring onto. This seems to give it the right amount of firmness and give, it also prevents the oil of wintergreen penetrating onto your next page.
Cut away any unwanted parts of the image, but leave a tail of paper to hold down (free of the image you are transferring)
Place the photocopy face down onto your transfer surface, you will need to hold it firmly in place
dampen your cotton bud or cloth - NOTE do not have it too wet, if you get too much of the oil of wintergreen on the cotton bud it will flood the image and cause the release to be a black undefined mess! Sometimes I'll just run off the excess by wiping the cotton bud onto another sheet of paper
rub the oil of wintergreen dampened cotton bud firmly over the back of the photocopied image , working from one corner and gradually over the entire image, apply pressure with the cotton bud, sometimes this is enough pressure to help to transfer the now released toner onto your other surface. Just lift a corner to check to see if the transfer is occurring, if not you may need to apply more pressure eg with the bone folder/smooth spoon or you may need to apply a little more oil of wintergreen.
At times I have found that I can release a second copy of the first image, which can turn out sharper than the first one just by placing it immediately onto another surface and applying pressure again with the cotton bud or bone folder/spoon
Jenny, I have found it is a matter of trial and error so practice first. Apparently you can also use turps (very smelly) in the same fashion or run the turps whetted photocopy under a press, I haven't used this method as I don't currently have access to an etching press.