Vintage Christmas Graphic Transfer - Holiday Wall Art

6 Materials
$20
1 Hour
Medium

It's time to get our Holiday craft on! So choose your favourite vintage Christmas graphic and let's get started on some easy wall art to decorate your home.

I started with a pre-painted wood board. Choose a vintage image and have it printed via laser printer in reverse. The reverse setting should be in your printer settings when you go to print. This is especially important if your image has text, so that the letters are facing the correct way when the project is finished. Cut out your image, but don't cut too close to the image itself, leave a small margin all around.

*NOTE: for this step you are painting ON the printed image, NOT on the back of the paper. Paint your decoupage medium or transfer gel over the entire printed image using even strokes, leaving no gaps especially around the edges. It's important that it is completely covered edge to edge. Work fairly quickly so that the transfer gel doesn't dry before you place it on your board.

Position the image on your board face down. Working from the centre out to the edges, gently smooth out any bubbles that may be trapped. Use a store card or credit type card to help with gently smoothing out your image onto the board. This is also important for spreading the transfer gel evenly against the board and squeezing any excess out to the edges. Gently wipe any excess away with a cloth.

Then, wait until the image is fully dried before you do the next step! Overnight if you can. I know, patience, people!

(If you want to know my sneaky quick dry trick if you simply can't wait that long, I reveal that over on my blog in the full blog post with more pics)

AFTER it is fully dry, dampen a cloth with water. Not too wet, just wring it out and it will be damp enough.

Press the damp cloth onto the image until you can "see through" the paper and you begin to see your image coming through.

When you see the image begin to appear, gently rub your cloth back and forth and you should begin to see the paper rubbing away in little rolls. You can start using your fingers if you prefer, as sometimes you can be a little more gentle with your fingers.

It's important to have your paper not too wet, but enough to where you can keep rubbing away the paper without rubbing away the image.

"Gently" is the key here.

I rubbed away just half of the image to show what a difference and how clear the image comes out. Magic hey?

When you have completely finished rubbing all the paper away and the image begins to dry, you may still see some whiter areas where there are still a few paper fibres remaining. This is not a concern if these areas are very thin, but if they are thick areas of white, dip your fingers in the water again, and rub a little more.

Don't worry if you've rubbed away a little of the image. This may happen especially near the edges. I think it gives it a more authentic aged, vintage look!

Now it's time to seal your image.

You could do this by brushing on a coat of polyurethane sealer, or you could use the Transfer medium itself.

Today, I wanted to continue the aged, vintage feel and have decided to add some antiquing glaze over the whole board. This is simply a process of "brush on, wipe off". When you wipe off, do it gently as you don't want to rub it all off, just the excess so that you are left with an aged, antique appearance.

Work in sections until you have glazed your whole piece.

At this stage, wait until the glaze is completely dry, then seal with a poly varnish as you would normally seal a piece of furniture or a sign. Glazes are not made to be a sealant, so if you want a good finish that you can wipe down again and again, brush on a sealer.

All ready to hang on your wall or place on your mantle ready for the Holiday season!

Are you playing your Christmas music yet?

Suggested materials:
  • Painted board   (had it lying around the house)
  • A transfer gel or decoupage medium   (Fusion Mineral Paint)
  • Paint brush   (Cling On)
See all materials
I Restore Stuff
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  2 questions
  • Nina Nina on Oct 31, 2016
    does it have to be ink printed pictures? Can you use colored pages from a coloring book?
  • Dianne Dismukes Dianne Dismukes on Oct 31, 2016
    Where do you find your images and is there a need to be concerned with copyrights?
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 21 comments
Next