Aharoni’s hearts toggle

This polymer clay heart toggle clasp comes from Valerie Aharoni. Her blog and flickr site are full of new concepts and experiments.

On her blog you can see the results of her tranfers made using ink jet prints on baking parchment paper. A bit of a buzz is growing about this process. The ink pooled when I tried it with my Epson but other printers seem to have had better luck.

Here are previous posts (1, 2, 3) we did about Valerie’s innovative designs.

  • reply Dayle Doroshow ,

    Thanks Cynthia and Valerie! Always ineresting to hear about new transfer ideas- one of my favorite techniques.
    An experiment I tried a couple years ago seeemed to work great- inkjet on the slick side of freezer paper – it transferred beautfully onto paper, fabric and clay by just burnishing. Something else to explore- yay!

    • reply Melinda ,

      That is a great toggle! Love it.

      Cynthia, it depends on what kind of Epson printer you are using. Some are pigment inks and some are dyes. If you tell me which printer Valerie is using I can tell you what the problem is.

      • reply Valerie ,

        Melinda,
        Hi. I am using Claria inks in my Epson.
        Claria are dye-based inks.

        hth,
        Valerie

        • reply Valerie ,

          • reply Susan ,

            Valerie do you have any tips for us – are you using a specific type/brand of parchment paper? I tried this with my laser printer and didn’t have much luck…but it sounds delightful!

            If anyone is interested in trying the freezer paper technique that Dayle mentioned, Laura Tabakman’s tutorial for this method is in the October 2008 issue of Polymer Cafe.

            Thanks for sharing so generously Valerie!

            • reply Linda Roberts ,

              I just love your heart toggles! Great idea and design.

              • reply Linda Roberts ,

                Forgot to say I’m looking forward to trying the transfer technique.

                • reply tejae ,

                  Great work Valerie!! Can’t wait to try the transfer paper with color. hmmm, wonder if it would work with color copier? Guess I need to find out if it’s dye or pigment based ink. I’m guessing it’s pigment (powder).

                  • reply Lynda ,

                    Another stunner! It is gorgeous, Valerie!

                    • reply VAharoni ,

                      Hi Susan,
                      I tried 3 kinds of baking parchment. Reynolds, Pur, and Bak-O-Matic. While all 3 had very positive results, the last works the best. I believe it is because it is the smoothest. The others have a bit of texture.
                      Dayle, trying freezer paper with an inkjet is what led me to baking parchment. With the freezer paper the transfers smeared. The wax coating was just too slick for my Epson inks to handle. Hence the baking parchment.

                      • reply VAharoni ,

                        And thank you to everyone for the wonderful comments!

                        • reply Ashley Woods ,

                          Wonderful work Valerie! We at MBS Art love following your work.

                          • reply Bokwus ,

                            WOW I love it!

                            • reply JuLee ,

                              I tried it with the Reynolds baking parchment paper.Any tips on keeping it flat? It crinkled up and the ink smeared all over the place.

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