I love roaming the Home and Decorating sections of every store. The big trend that has translated to all of them is words, phrases or image transfers on different finishes of planked wood. I think they are awesome. Yet, I never connect with the words or phrases on the shelves. Who doesn’t love the words “Family,” “Love” and “Always Kiss Me Good Night”? Me, I don’t! I want ones that say four letter words or things that relate to my life, like “Trash,” “Vodka” or “Go Away Children.”

I took this as a challenge to make what I want. I have read, and tried, all sorts of processes on how to do a picture or word transfer onto wood. Most of the tutorials I think were just people writing about it, rather than doing the process. I am sure there are many different ways, but this way is easy, and most likely, you have the supplies already. It does take a bit of effort when it comes to sticking to the process. The result is sophisticated, personal and, if you are like me, ridiculously hilarious and gorgeous. You need about a day to get this done.

Supplies:
Ink Jet printer so you can print out image or words on regular printed paper
Mod podge, gloss or matte
Disposable sponge brush
Wood in whatever finish you want for your look
Wet cloth

Steps:
1. Clean the surface of the piece of wood you want to use. Have the piece already distressed, finished and ready. The lighter the wood surface, the clearer the image will appear. You can use darker wood, but follow the rule of the wood and image must be opposite shades. Dark letters on light wood or a light image on dark wood.

2. Printing out the image took me a few tries. So, I went into a plain Word document and found the font and size I wanted. I printed it out and cut it to make sure the spacing was correct. I tweaked it a bit then saved the document. I then realized I needed to superimpose or mirror the text for when I place on the wood. You really should just YouTube it. Each program is different. You will find the right way, and in less than three minutes, you will have the image mirrored. Save your image, print it out and then just cut close around the image or words. It doesn’t have to be exact.

3. Figure out if you want gloss or matte Mod Podge. If your wood surface is gloss, use gloss Mod Podge. If the surface if matte, use matte. It will come out much cleaner and more professional. Take your sponge brush and slather on a thick coat of Mod Podge onto the wood where you want the image or words to appear. Make sure the surface is covered well. Then take your printed image – print side facing down and touching the wood – and place it on the Mod Podge. Press down and smooth out all wrinkles. Be gentle; don’t rip or make holes in the paper. Try not to wiggle the image around. You should be able to see the image a little bit, but not completely. Now take your Mod Podge and lather over the paper. Make it an even coat. Now, leave it overnight or for about six hours. It must be completely dry.

4. When it is dry, you need to take a wet cloth, sponge or paper towel and saturate the image. Not a puddle of water, but make sure the water gets into the image. Let it sit wet for about 10 minutes. Then take your fingertip and GENTLY roll and wipe the paper. Do not scrape or peel. You must gently wipe off little balls of paper with your finger. Add more water with the sponge if needed. I wipe an initial step, then walk away and see what it looks like a half hour later when dry. You may need to repeat this step again to get off the layers of paper. It is worth it!

By Jamie Burke