Toner Transfer Silhouettes

(See more photos of this style of toner transfer pendants in my Flickr photostream.)

This is one of the techniques I've been experimenting with for the past few weeks-- toner transfers. I still have lots of things I want to try with them. I started out with the encased toner transfers Donna Kato demonstrates in her new book. I want to eventually go back to those for another try, but in the meantime, I've been sidetracked.

BlockPartyPress wrote recently about the returned popularity of silhouettes. I'd noticed that, too, and been drawn to their simplicity and graphic appeal. However, I've found myself wanting to add to them, to a certain degree. I guess I'm just not really that much of a minimalist, at heart. (g) Whatever the reason, I've ended up putting clouds and such behind the silhouette toner transfers.

While working on these pendants, I've thought that perhaps it's just extra work to do this with a transfer when you could get a very similar result from a stamp. Certainly it'd be easier to just stamp it on rather than going through the song and dance of making the image, having it photo copied, burnishing (and burnishing) it on, then carefully removing the paper. I guess the reason to do it with a transfer is that you don't have to own a stamp for each and every silhouette or pattern you'd like to use. I don't have that many stamps, so this works for me. There may be other advantages to using a toner transfer instead of stamp and ink, but I haven't (yet) used inked stamps on pc, so I can't say what they'd be. (That does remind me, though, that it's high time I used the ink pad I bought especially to use with clay. . .)

I've learned a little about which things do and don't work for this technique, but I'm still running into occasional problems with tiny air pockets in my clay that puff up during baking. Nothing awful, but not what I want. I guess I'll just have to be more careful about that. Unfortunately, I thought I was being careful. (g)

Incidentally, the pendants in the bottom photo are just about the only Halloween-themed things I've made this year. I had plans to do more, but I just never got around to it. Oh well. Maybe next year!