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The 3 Robbers

3robbers
I don’t even know what a solvent transfer is but damn they look cool in moleskines. the3robbers, an art student in Cardiff, Wales (maybe he’s a super furry animal?), has a bunch of these gorgeous little things posted at his flickr site.

Also, check out his scanner art (a digital update of the old “lets photocopy our body parts and stick the pieces together” movement) and other flickr moleskinery.

[Link]

  • oscar

    You use a solvent to transfer toner from photocopies/laser prints onto another surface. There’s a couple of different options – like blender pens, which contain xylene, or certain kinds of thinners. I’ve heard of wintergreen oil, and cleaners like citrasolve working too. I haven’t tried those, but they’re probably less toxic.

  • oscar

    You use a solvent to transfer toner from photocopies/laser prints onto another surface. There’s a couple of different options – like blender pens, which contain xylene, or certain kinds of thinners. I’ve heard of wintergreen oil, and cleaners like citrasolve working too. I haven’t tried those, but they’re probably less toxic.

  • http://greatestpaws.blogspot.com/ rhp

    i used to do a lot of solvent transfers. i always knew them as xerox transfers.
    my way was perhaps not the healthiest, but it’s pretty simple.

    you get a photocopy of an image, and then rub acetone on it. it takes some trial and error to get the right amount of acetone. sometimes it will just bleed, and sometimes the image will not transfer at all. then you put the acetoned xerox face-down on the substrait you wish to transfer to, and rub it evenly. i didn’t have a printmaking roller, so i just used the back of a wooden spoon or pieces of rag. besides that, all you need are rubber gloves and a well-ventilated space.

    i have only ever done transfers on paper and cardboard, but i’ve been told you can do it on fabric as well. a quick search found instructions for photo transfers here:
    http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/99/23/index3a_page10.html?tw=design

  • http://greatestpaws.blogspot.com rhp

    i used to do a lot of solvent transfers. i always knew them as xerox transfers.
    my way was perhaps not the healthiest, but it’s pretty simple.

    you get a photocopy of an image, and then rub acetone on it. it takes some trial and error to get the right amount of acetone. sometimes it will just bleed, and sometimes the image will not transfer at all. then you put the acetoned xerox face-down on the substrait you wish to transfer to, and rub it evenly. i didn’t have a printmaking roller, so i just used the back of a wooden spoon or pieces of rag. besides that, all you need are rubber gloves and a well-ventilated space.

    i have only ever done transfers on paper and cardboard, but i’ve been told you can do it on fabric as well. a quick search found instructions for photo transfers here:
    http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/99/23/index3a_page10.html?tw=design

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com Al aka El Negro Magnifico

    Good toxic fun! I did a few of those in college.

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com/ Al aka El Negro Magnifico

    Good toxic fun! I did a few of those in college.

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com/ Al aka El Negro Magnifico

    I just looked at those. Mine were never that good. Very sweet stuff!

  • http://elnegromagnifico.blogspot.com Al aka El Negro Magnifico

    I just looked at those. Mine were never that good. Very sweet stuff!

  • http://diversionmary.com/ Eric Bostrom

    yeah we called these xerox transfers and either did them with gum arabic on the printing press, or using xylene (color less blending markers) on the back of a toner/photocopied source onto a surface that could take the transfer… usually acrylic paint.

    It’s a great way to get nice text onto an otherwise traditional media drawing/work.

  • http://diversionmary.com Eric Bostrom

    yeah we called these xerox transfers and either did them with gum arabic on the printing press, or using xylene (color less blending markers) on the back of a toner/photocopied source onto a surface that could take the transfer… usually acrylic paint.

    It’s a great way to get nice text onto an otherwise traditional media drawing/work.

  • Anne

    I used to do this with varsol and images from newspapers and magazines.

  • Anne

    I used to do this with varsol and images from newspapers and magazines.

  • http://www.bjornnelissen.nl/ Bjorn

    I use paint-thinner as a solvent. Here we call these transfers ‘thinner-prints’. Photocopies and/or laserprints work best. Some magazines work fine too. I guess you need magazines which are printed using rotation-printing. Mostly these are glossy magazines or magazines that have a lot of copies printed. Just offset will not work.

    But I can’t print on acrylic paint. The paint thinner dissolves the paint.

  • http://www.bjornnelissen.nl Bjorn

    I use paint-thinner as a solvent. Here we call these transfers ‘thinner-prints’. Photocopies and/or laserprints work best. Some magazines work fine too. I guess you need magazines which are printed using rotation-printing. Mostly these are glossy magazines or magazines that have a lot of copies printed. Just offset will not work.

    But I can’t print on acrylic paint. The paint thinner dissolves the paint.

  • Papilionoidea

    Any none-toxic alternatives to this technique?

    And, those are some awsome transfers, definatly very cool stuff!

  • Papilionoidea

    Any none-toxic alternatives to this technique?

    And, those are some awsome transfers, definatly very cool stuff!

  • http://www.budsnead.com/ BadHandBud

    Papilionoidea-

    I used wintergreen oil in a class. I was told it was non-toxic, just don’t drink it.

    Just use that instead of solvent and go by the tutorial provided by rhp in this list of responses.

  • http://www.budsnead.com BadHandBud

    Papilionoidea-

    I used wintergreen oil in a class. I was told it was non-toxic, just don’t drink it.

    Just use that instead of solvent and go by the tutorial provided by rhp in this list of responses.

  • http://www.lisahorstman.com/ Lisa

    One way I used to do xerox transfers without using acetone was by hitting the Off button on the laser copier before the copied image’s sheet passed through the heat rollers inside the copier. If you watch the light inside the copier roll across your original image (with the copier lid down, of course), when the light finishes travelling across your image, that’s a good time to hit the off button. It will take a little experimentation, but it’s fun. The toner on the copy image won’t be heat set, so you can open up the copier and pull the copy out. Then you just put the copy face-down on another sheet of paper and rub the image onto it.

  • http://www.lisahorstman.com Lisa

    One way I used to do xerox transfers without using acetone was by hitting the Off button on the laser copier before the copied image’s sheet passed through the heat rollers inside the copier. If you watch the light inside the copier roll across your original image (with the copier lid down, of course), when the light finishes travelling across your image, that’s a good time to hit the off button. It will take a little experimentation, but it’s fun. The toner on the copy image won’t be heat set, so you can open up the copier and pull the copy out. Then you just put the copy face-down on another sheet of paper and rub the image onto it.

  • http://diversionmary.com/ Eric Bostrom

    Lisa nice tip, i’ll try this…

  • http://diversionmary.com Eric Bostrom

    Lisa nice tip, i’ll try this…

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/3robbers/sets the3robbers

    …thanks for the mention on DRAWN!…quite a suprise…thanks for the nice comments.

    the3robbers

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/3robbers/sets the3robbers

    …thanks for the mention on DRAWN!…quite a suprise…thanks for the nice comments.

    the3robbers

  • Papilionoidea

    Thanks, BadHandBud & Lisa! I’ll experiment a bit and see what I can do! :)

  • Papilionoidea

    Thanks, BadHandBud & Lisa! I’ll experiment a bit and see what I can do! :)

  • http://www.eyeswideapart.blogspot.com/ Paige P

    These are soooooooooo pretty.

  • http://www.eyeswideapart.blogspot.com Paige P

    These are soooooooooo pretty.

  • http://www.awcomix.blogspot.com/ Anthony Woodward

    I’ve been doing a lot of research into this area over the past six months. Most things that disolve platic/toner are going to be toxic if inhaled over long periods of time, so take the right precations. Although wintergreen is supposed to be good i haven’t tried it.
    Another thing that works is permanant fixitive, just spray on the back of a copy and either rub, or better still, put through a press for a nice even transfer.
    Thanks for the tip for turning the copier off, I hadnbn’t thought of that

  • http://www.awcomix.blogspot.com Anthony Woodward

    I’ve been doing a lot of research into this area over the past six months. Most things that disolve platic/toner are going to be toxic if inhaled over long periods of time, so take the right precations. Although wintergreen is supposed to be good i haven’t tried it.
    Another thing that works is permanant fixitive, just spray on the back of a copy and either rub, or better still, put through a press for a nice even transfer.
    Thanks for the tip for turning the copier off, I hadnbn’t thought of that

  • Papilionoidea

    Thanks a lot Anthony, I’m going to give the permanant fixative a try tonight! :)

  • Papilionoidea

    Thanks a lot Anthony, I’m going to give the permanant fixative a try tonight! :)

  • Nicolais

    We just did these for a class with wintergreen oil and it works well, I just can’t stand the smell and it stays with the paper so you will probably want to do it in a well ventilated place or outside. Also, it’s about $8 a bottle, a very small bottle! A tip…apply it on the back with the qtip and let it sit for at least a minute…then apply it to your paper for a clearer image and it will eat through plastic and take paint off of a table :) Learned the hard way!

  • Nicolais

    We just did these for a class with wintergreen oil and it works well, I just can’t stand the smell and it stays with the paper so you will probably want to do it in a well ventilated place or outside. Also, it’s about $8 a bottle, a very small bottle! A tip…apply it on the back with the qtip and let it sit for at least a minute…then apply it to your paper for a clearer image and it will eat through plastic and take paint off of a table :) Learned the hard way!

  • http://meganfrau.com/blog/2009/06/wintergreen-oil-how-to/ Wintergreen Oil How-to | Megan Frau

    [...] 2.) Drawn! has a nice example of a solvent transfer on moleskine. [...]