How to Transfer Images to Fabric or Wood with CitraSolv

I’ve been researching different ways to transfer images to surfaces like fabric and wood.  There’s a bunch of different methods using freezer paper, wax paper, or even printing straight on the fabric.  In my research however, I didn’t come across any method as easy and permanent as this one using an all natural cleaning product called CitraSolv.

So here it goes, to transfer an image to fabric or wood using this method you’ll need:

• a piece of fabric or wood (the tighter the weave on the fabric the better)
• paintbrush
• 4-5 pins if you’re attaching your image to fabric, tape if you’re transferring to wood
• spoon
• CitraSolv- since it’s an all natural cleaner you should be able to find it at any Whole Foods market.  I picked mine up for $5.99
• image for transfer
  • it has to be a toner based image, ink jet won’t work
  • your picture needs to be a mirror image (backwards) there’s a 23 second video on how to flip an image in Word here

Here’s a close up of my mirrored image.

Pin the image ink down on your fabric and secure with pins.

Next, soak the end of the brush in CitraSolv.  To keep this process as clean as possible and ensure that I’m not wasting any of my CitraSolv, I poked a small hole in the seal on my bottle instead of tearing it completely off.

Next, saturate the image with CitraSolv until you can see every part that you’d like to transfer.

After you’ve soaked the image completely you’re going to burnish the entire image using the back and sides of the spoon.  Make sure that you are thorough.  If you lift the image up and find that you skipped a few parts it’s really difficult to lay it down exactly where it was.  Burnishing a second time after replacing the picture can result in a fuzzy transfer.

Lift the image up and marvel at your successful ink transfer!

Once you’re done run an iron over the transfer.  The heat locks in the ink, making it safe for the washing machine, you can even use bleach and it won’t come out!