Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Step 6: Alcohol Gel Transfers

The last step in making the endangered plant prints is the alcohol gel transfer. This is by far the least reliable part of the whole process as the transfers tend to work only about 50% of the time. I have yet to figure out the perfect amount of gel and the right amount of time to burnish the film as it varies greatly with each type of paper, the temperature and humidity of the room, the temperature of the gel, and how warm my hands are. However, when it does work, it's a beautiful thing.

Supplies: Purell hand sanitizer, Genuine DASS ART Classic Transfer Film, brayer, gloves

Below is a transfer of the shadow image of prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) onto paper made from phragmites.