Photo Transfer Tiles, Part 1

I've been checking out companies that transfer photographs onto ceramic tiles (either one large tile or several tile that, well, "tile" your image.) However, they seem to reduce pix to the type one can buy as a "mural" at your local "big box" home improvement center. Worse yet, some of these companies actually ask you to transfer them the copyright to your photograph (presumably so they can sell your work to other customers!)

However, I found a number of craft web sites which provide directions for DIY photo transfers. I took the best of the instructions I found and tried it out for myself. Here's what I did:

(1) I found images I liked and developed a theme. (For this series, I used only photos of me and my husband, so arguably none of the finished products are solely "mine"). Here's one I particularly like, for obvious reasons:

(2) I went into Microsoft Word, found one of the readings from our wedding and sized it until it became a perfect square. (I also changed fonts until I found a "pretty" script I liked.) I then saved the file as a PDF.

(3) I next went into Photoshop and resized the PDF to 3.5" x 3.5" at 300 dpi, cropping the image close to the edge of the text. Next, I enlarged the ***canvas*** to 4"x4", centered which left a .25" border around the image. I then saved this file as a template, in case I wanted to do a similar project in the future. (I knew there was no way I'd be able to match fonts, leading, etc. again.)

(4) I then opened a copy of the template and saved it for this project. I tiled 4 of the images as an 8x8" image. (Still .25" around the outer edges, but .5 between the images. I then resized the ***canvas*** to 8.5 x 8.5", centered. After that, I resized to 8.5 x 11", moving the image to the top. This left me with a .5 border on the outside edges (more than adequate for a laser printer), as well as .5" between the pix.

(5) Because this is a transfer process, the text needs to be reversed. The "flop horizontal" command works nicely for this. I then saved this file as a template, too.

(6) I then Photoshopped the images, converted to Greyscale, flopped them, too, and added them, as new layers to a copy of the page template. I then flattened the image and saved as a PDF to economize file size.

Here's what the full page transfer looks like:

(7))I then printed the transfer on a laser printer, onto regular printer paper. (It's important to use a laser printer rather than an inkjet printer, because the inkjet ink may run too much. Your local copy shop can help you if need be.)

(8) After that, I cut carefully around each image, leaving a 1/4" border. Your transfer, including the border should measure 4" x 4", exactly the size of the tiles we'll be using:

(Doesn't it look like a vintage square photo?)

Part 2 of this series will explain preparing the tiles, transferring the image, and the importance of waiting...

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