Working with Lazertran
If your goal is to transfer an
image, be it a photo, magazine image, or some other original and the
original image is suitable to be copied on a color laser copier,
then Lazertran is your transfer medium of choice. That’s a fairly
broad brush statement, but this product is amazingly versatile.
The official Lazertran website promotes
the three Lazertran products as “decal papers” which is as good a
description as any. If you can run an original image through a
color laser copier (Lazertran Original and Lazertran Silk) or can
print an image on a color inkjet printer (Lazertran Inkjet), then
you have the ability to transfer that image or “decal” to virtually
any surface you can imagine. Fabric, plastic, glass, ceramics,
painted surfaces, polymer clay, wood, metal, ceramic tiles… the
list is virtually endless.
According to the folks at Lazertran, Lazertran Silk “is for use with
closely woven silk or satin, ribbons, metal foil, Polyclay and with
3M Photo Mount Spray onto almost any surface.” Regular Lazertran ”
is a water slide decal paper that allows you to transfer your own
full colour images onto almost any surface including, paper, canvas,
fabric, wax, ceramic tiles, glass, sheet metals and foils, plaster,
wood and stone. It can also be used as an etch resist and to make
stamped and embossed decals and as a way to put images on vacuum
forming plastic.”
The website has many examples
and projects using the products on various surfaces, though for the
purposes of our discussion the surfaces will be limited to silk and
cotton fabric and polymer clay. The Lazertran website is a wealth
of information, but be warned that it can be downright overwhelming
to sift though the multitude of directions and variations of those
directions for using the Lazertran products.
The only major obstacle I
encountered while playing with Lazertran was overcoming the
prejudices of the copy center staff when they were asked to run
Lazertran Original and Lazertran Silk through their color copier. I
went to a national office supply chain store near my house and was
told that they were not permitted to use anything other than their
own paper stock in the copier. Undeterred I went to another
location of the same chain and after speaking with the copy center
manager was allowed to use Lazertran in their copier. There are
limitations relative to the maximum temperature the copier can reach
and still be safe with Lazertran. Once I discussed those
limitations with the manager his objections disappeared. My
suggestion is that you bring the packaging and instructions with you
to the copy center so you can educate them about the product and its
safe use in their copiers.
Copying Images onto Lazertran
I began my
adventure by copying some color postcards of Pre-Raphaelite
paintings onto Lazertran Original and Silk. Naturally I forgot to
ask the clerk to use the “mirror image” mode of the copier on the
first couple of images we copied. If your image doesn’t contain
words or lettering, then mirroring the original isn’t critical
unless you absolutely do not want your final image to be the
opposite of the original. Be sure to keep that in mind though if
you do wish to copy anything with words.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 1 and
Figure 2 show the results of my postcard copies. The original
postcard is on the right and the copy on Lazertran is on the left.
The only real difference between the original and the Lazertran copy
is that the copy has a slightly “aged” look. The colors are a bit
deeper and the entire image is slightly yellowed. For images of
paintings I didn’t feel this was a problem at all and to some degree
I think it enhances the look.
The floral
images were culled from a gardening book. It took all my strength
to cut the first page out of the book, but I did it! Once I cut out
the images I wanted to reproduce on Lazertran, I assembled and
tacked them lightly on sheets of 8.5” x 11” paper.
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows the results of my
book copies. The Lazertran copy is the right with the original on
the left.
Transferring Images to Cloth
I started with Lazertran Silk and transferred it
to 100% cotton. The natural characteristics of Lazertran Silk do
not enable it to adhere to cotton, so before the image is ironed on
it has to be sprayed with 3M Photo Mount spray. I gave my image a
couple of very light coats of the Photo Mount spray and then laid it
face down onto the fabric. Using an iron set to “medium cotton” I
ironed the image to the fabric... and then I ironed some more. It’s
somewhat difficult to know when to stop ironing and the directions
don’t define any way to quantify when you’ve ironed enough. I made
very sure to get heat and pressure to the entire image before I was
satisfied that I’d ironed enough. Once the image cooled I took it
to the sink, filled the sink with several inches of water, and then
laid the fabric with the ironed on image in the water. You can see
the water absorb into the fabric and Lazertran and it only takes a
minute or two before the paper begins to separate from the fabric.
One word of caution though – don’t rush the process and try to peel
the paper off before it’s separated or you’ll damage the image. I
took the image out of the sink and laid it on a towel to air dry.
Once the fabric is dry you’re ready to use it however you choose.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figures 4 and 5 show the results of Lazertran Silk on cotton fabric.
It’s not visible in the photos, but the transferred image is fairly
shiny on the cotton fabric.
Click here to go on to page 2...
This article was written for and
first published in Art Dollz the Zine issue number 4.
You may not copy, reprint, or redistribute it without
explicit written permission from Barbara Strembicki
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buy Lazertran? We carry all three varieties; Inkjet, Silk and
Regular. Click
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