In the middle of a new project that I am working on, I realized that I had a problem. I needed to transfer a very large design (think 4 feet by 4 feet!) than I want to paint onto a primed piece of wood, and I couldn’t figure out how to do it.
I laid the printed design out on the wood and thought I could just trace the design on the paper with firm pressure and a little impression line would be left on the wood that I could just go back and trace. Um, nope.
Then, I tried a ballpoint pin. Nada. How about the tip of a butter knife? Nah. A bamboo skewer? No way.
I was getting pretty desperate at this point. I knew I could run out to the store to buy transfer paper, but my son was napping and that’s prime crafting time as any of you other moms know. I had to use something I had on hand.
Then a light bulb went off in my head: Newsprint! It always rubs off on my hands, so maybe it would rub off on the primed wood. Egads! I was right!
This technique will be especially helpful if you have a very intricate design, a very large design, or you just don’t want to take the time to cut out your design and trace like a stencil. I think this is going to be my go-to tracing technique from now on. It is so easy.
1. Print out your design and cut away the excess white space. Tape the top of your design to the painted or primed wood in the location you want to transfer the design.
2. Lift up the design and slide a page of newsprint underneath it. The classified pages and stock market pages work best, as there is a lot of small newsprint all over the page. Make sure that the entire design is underneath the newsprint.
3. With a pen or pencil (preferably a pink one with your name on it like you are 6 years old) , trace the outline of your design directly onto the paper. Press firmly, but you don’t have to go overboard with the pressure.
4. Remove the taped design and newsprint to reveal a light transfer underneath! I have turned up the contrast on this photo so that you will be able to see the transfer.
5. With your pencil (or with a paintbrush if you are way more talented than me), trace the transfer directly onto the wood.
6. Admire the beauty of your transfer, and then get busy painting!
I’m adding this to Kristen’s Works For Me Wednesday blog carnival over at We Are That Family. Head on over there to check out some other great tips!
What's that they say about the necessity of invention. Marvolous idea! I will be using this one!
Can't wait to see what it is you are making…
Sherrie
That is awesome! Great idea!!!
Blessings to you!
That's a great idea!
Well! Aren't you a clever cookie : ).
Awesome idea, thank you for sharing, I am sure this will come in handy many times over.
Are you kidding me? That is the most brilliant blogggy thing I've read since you painted your laminate. I am SO impressed with your ingenuity. You clever clever girl. I am bookmarking for sure.
Smiles and gasps,
Kate
What an excellent idea!
If you don't have newspaper around the house you can also rub your pencil on the back of the design, but that requires a little more time than your brilliant technique!
Thanks for sharing I will definitely being using this!
Neat trick!!!
This is a brilliant idea! I need a good use for all the newspapers floating around my house.
oh my gosh! So awesome! You are a genius!!!
that's pretty nifty.
I should try that out on the wall area above my desk.
Hmmmmm, can't wait to see how this turns out!!!
Looks like a great technique…thanks for sharing! I already have a project in mind
Love your blog, by the way!
Have a wonderful day!
~Michelle
(Treasure the Moment)
These Craft Ideas are great! Can these be done by those that are not as artistically talented?
Wow that is so cool! I don't think I would've thought of that myself =)
Brilliant! I love, love, love it when these moments of sheer genius happen!
Ali T. @ My Little Kingdom
alitaylorbloginvite@yahoo.com
This is GENIOUS!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!
Clever, clever! As a previous poster said, necessity truly is the mother of invention! This is better than transfer paper, because it's recycling!
Fabulous, another use for newspaper! Love it, such a "green" idea!
That is WAY cool! I love learning new techniques and I super love your pencil. =) I'll be linking.
Thanks, guys!
That is such a great idea!!! Thank you! I am planning on making some wood signs in the near future, and I'll be using that technique for sure!
I gave you an award on my blog: http://madebyjaclyn.blogspot.com/
I love it! I had never thought of doing that before. My in a pinch way to transfer something was to scribble on the back of the template with a pencil or chalk. Voila, instant transfer paper. But this is even more simple! Great idea and thanks for sharing. BTW, I love the new look on the blog.
Anjeanette of the R&W; girls
Ingenious! Love the new look of your blog, too, though my first thought was, "What's with the hairdryer?" A second glance cleared that up. Glue gun! Duh!
Great idea!!
That is a great idea! Plus, I'm thinking that once the transfer and painting is complete, the lines will erase easily. I find that the graphite transfer paper lines don't erase…thank you so much!
my art teacher in high school showed us to use a pencil and do a rubbing on the back of something we wanted to transfer, then lay the transfer and trace over it, the rubbing transfered over to the object, it was really great for alot of reasons
Saw you on One Pretty Thing
Great idea – I've done the same as HomeSpun Threads but this seems even easier.
This is a really brilliant idea! Transfer paper is actually kind of difficult to find (around here, anyway). You can get the spendy Graphite Paper for real artist type people but not the cheapo stuff that I want.
Kimba
I am going to try this this week!
You are my new hero.
Here’s something else: If you ever need to REVERSE a design like that, trace over the whole thing with a really soft pencil (6B is my preferred), flip it over so the pencil is against what you need to transfer it on to and rub the back with a hard object (6Bs are usually eraserless so I usually use the other, flat end of them). Nifty idea, btw!
Oooh- you are a smart cookie! Thanks for that tip!
Clever!
Brilliant! I will definitely be using this tip in the future!
I’m SO going to try this technique this weekend! I want to transfer large words to a wall for painting. This is GENIUS!
Very useful, thanks!
Brill-yant! Love it. Thanks!
Found you on Pinterest! This is so simple, and somehow makes me want to go out and buy pencils with my name on them. I love the quick nap time solutions we come up with as mommas, and I keep thinking I could use this transfer method for some sort of inexpensive kid craft… Maybe those new plain chipboard notebooks that I keep seeing for back to school? I loved it so much, I featured you on my own blog!
It sure is better than carbon paper which tends to darken other places that should not be.
Great discovery!
You could also rub the back of the paper your design is on with a colored piece of chalk or a pencil and then just trace the front. It will have the same effect as transfer paper.
This is a life saver!!!! I have been wanting to paint a very intricate design on my 2 leaf dining room table and was getting bummed thinking about cutting out and tracing! Ha! Thank you thank you!
That is fricken awesome. Thanks for the useful info, I am going to try using that right now!!! Yeah.
Now, that’s NEWS to me…woka, woka, woka…
Fabulously fabulous ideeeyuh!!!
O.K. so I had to get back on Facebook to figure out how I could say (again) that this is awesome, cuz I was littttrally sittin down to print off a graphic to paint on my table…like right now… when I saw yur teknique on Shabby Creek… I’m, like, stoked.. And if this wurks I’ma totally line my house with newspaper and trace graphics evrywhur and everybody’ll call me that Crazy Graphic Lady… Watch out, cat…
What a wonderful idea! I love free uses for things that we already have one hand.
This is awesome! You have alot of great ideas
Adding you to my google reader.
OH MAN! I had everything but my name pencil. *fail*
<3 AWESOME! thank you so much!
And it’s ideas like this that keep the world turning around.. Thank you!
“I love it”! …I bought a package of tracing paper at Staples a few months ago and it cost “$18.00″ !!! …Believe me I’ll be using newspaper from now on…Thanks so much for sharing.
Hugz ..Betty
PS…I found you on Pinterest.
If you have a restaurant supply store or a smart and final or even possibly a costco. They have the paper you wrap sandwiches in not the white the thin almost waxy kind.(but not waxy) anyway you can get 1200 sheets for $12.00. I use it in my classroom all the time.
That’s a great idea! I’ve been searching for a great cheap idea and hope I’ve just found it! I’m going to try that…will let you know how it goes! Found you through pinterest…xo
Love the idea, and the humor!! Sometimes the simplest methods are the best way to go!!
PS. I also have stationery w/ my name on it. Ha ha!!
You are a god send. Totally just saved my project
THANK YOU
How easy! I can’t wait to use this method! I was thinking I would have to whip out the messy carbon paper. Thanks.
You have an awesome blog…I’m following now!
jamie @ sewrockin.com
This is such a brilliant idea! I’ve been wanting to transfer a vintage design but hesitated. Now I’m ready to do it.
Thanks to Suzonne Stirling’s Pinterest I found your tracing brilliancy! Good grief this is going to save a lot of time on projects. Thanks so much for sharing it!!!
Cathe
This technique rocks! I just wanted to let you know that I featured this today on You Sew Rock Me Fridays. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: http://wp.me/s1VAkT-1183.
You can also take a #2 pencil and rub the lead on the back of your pattern in a close zigzag , just where you will be tracing. The lead will leave a mark where your tracing pen put pressure on it. You can also use chalk the same way if you need to see the “tracing” on something dark.
one other option is to trace the design with a pencil on the back and then trace it from the front. better than tracing paper won’t get anything on your project except what you want. . .your design.
Thank you so much for sharing this tip. I’m not artistic, so I’m always looking for ways to get around that! This is so easy!
Warmly, Michelle
I had the same problem. I used the pencil method. Check out my blog: http://dinxdeb58.blogspot.com/ There you’ll find what I mean by “pencil method”.
I enjoy your blog very much.
Very handy idea. Thanks for sharing!!!
this is another method but it will be a mirror image.
Draw the item with pencil.
Flip it over onto what you want to trace it on and rub it real hard with a bone folder or an old card of some sort. The design will transfer and you only had to do it once.
That is if a mirror image is what you want or is ok.
Oh, how I love you!! I keep seeing easy ways to transfer and then I read them thinking ‘how is that easy!?’. Thank you for changing my crafting life
So simple! Makes me want to get up right now and print something on my wooden bread board. Thanks for sharing.
It’s because of the carbon. Regular carbon paper can also be used or a soft pencil. With the soft pencil you turn your design over and rub a light layer all over the back of your design, then you lay the design down, rubbed pencil side down, and draw over it like you did. The graphite from the pencil will transfer. Learned this in art in elementary school!! Looks great btw!!
This does not work on canvas, I found that out today…. SO, I was only experimenting and finally came up with what I thought was a great idea…until I saw it on the comment above the one I am about to post…. Today has definitely been a live and learn day. However, I feel like I have the tools, thanks to your blog and my trial and error, to get the stupid design I want finally onto the stinkin’ canvas. AT LAST I can get to the fun part! Thanks so much for your ideas. I really enjoy your blog. I found you via pinterest, of course. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!
I would have totally thought that it would have worked on canvas. Good to know!
Yeah, the rubbing the pencil on the back trick is an awesome one. I remember doing ti as a kid. It’s hard to do that for really large transfers, though. That’s why I love the newsprint trick!
Great thinking. Here’s another method is to hold the design onto a window with the right side to the window. Trace the backside with a lead pencil. You then may transfer onto the surface by securing the tracing in place and tracing it onto the surface. I’ve also used a credit card to run pressure over the tracing. Hope this helps! Any extra lead lines showing can be removed with clean paint thinner.
Very smart!
Great idea! I wonder if carbon paper would also work for you?
I want to see the whole project this went on. Looks so cute!
Oh thanks for this great idea. I have a textured wall that I tried to rub a stencil on, but it wouldn’t stick. Now I can transfer it and paint! Thank you, thank you!
Perfect!
wow what a neat idea thanks for sharing :O)
Thanks, Pauline!
A very clever solution.