Photo transfers – photography without negatives or a darkroom

Allergies caused Carola Etche to explore alternatives to photographic chemicals. She revisited photo transfer, a sustainable, chemical-free technique that lets her work outdoors. She experiments with various materials like tile and stone and shares a step-by-step guide to photographic transfers.

Writer and photography / Carola Etche

Six years ago, I developed allergies to photographic chemicals, so I stepped away from the lab for a while and began searching for alternatives. Although I still work with chemicals, it’s not as frequently as before. During that time, I recalled a technique I had learned at fifteen: photo transfer.

Part of my work focuses on inhabiting spaces with my body and conducting experiments, and the photo transfer technique allows me to work outdoors, something I truly enjoy.

Photo transfer doesn’t require chemicals, negatives, or a darkroom. There is also no waste, making it more sustainable, as all the materials used remain on the support. In Argentina, where I’m from, we’re still a bit behind in recycling photographic chemicals, so photo transfer offers a way to create art without contributing to pollution.

Photo transfer is a handmade technique that gained popularity in the late ’70s and early ’80s, though its origins trace back to much earlier times, with evidence in the Middle Ages. You may have heard of techniques like decoupage or transfer with solvents—photo transfer is a fusion of both. It involves transferring photographs onto various materials, such as tile, porcelain, cobblestones, debris, stones, fabrics, metals, mirrors, glass, or wood, using a special transfer medium.

At first glance, the technique seems simple, but once you start experimenting, you’ll discover the many challenges each material presents. Despite these challenges, it’s fascinating to learn how each material interacts with the process. Like any technique, photo transfer has its tricks. I spent years experimenting with it and was surprised by the incredible results, which resembled those of gum bichromate or liquid emulsion techniques.

I experimented with various supports, and each presented a new challenge. During this time, my self-portraits explored different states of mind through the naked body, and I began thinking about how to transform this vulnerability into something stronger. That’s when I decided to work with hard materials like tiles, porcelain, and stone. This allowed me to highlight the contrast between the fragility of the body and the solidity of the material, which was exactly what I was seeking.

In my research, I explored the history of art, including Chinese lacquering, Italian and French decoupage, and solvent transfer techniques. Robert Rauschenberg is considered the father of photo transfer. Seeing the evolution of these techniques deepened my fascination with photo transfer. There are so many possibilities, and the different supports add meaning to the work. Choosing the right photo for each material comes with practice, and through experimentation, the appropriate medium reveals itself. Each material expresses something unique, and the challenge lies in selecting the one that best conveys your emotions or message.

Photo transfers – step by step

1Choose the image you want to transfer and then the object where we will make the transfer to.

We can ask ourselves these few questions when we choose the photo and the media:

• What do I want to tell or express?
• What does the material tell?
• What is the new meaning I want to express through this material?
• How can I express through a support? For example fragility, power, something old or modern, the smell of our grandma’s house, war, struggle, discrimination, etc.
• Why do you choose this support?

The support we choose could be metal, glass, mirror, wood, tile, porcelain, rubble, a napkin, street cobblestone, wood or fabric.
Going out to look for the stones, having in mind beforehand what we would like to place on them, will help us a lot to find a piece that has to do with what we want to express. When we are searching we have to keep in mind that surfaces with a lot of texture and perforations are the most difficult to transfer.

2Measure the object.

Once we have the object, we measure it to know what will be the size of our photo. Always leave a photo margin, for possible mistakes, it is better if the image is bigger than the object. The photo is printed inverted. And there are several things to take into account in the exposure when printing.

3Make the surface even.

For the first practices, I recommend using light-coloured objects for example: white tiles, cream-coloured tiles, light-coloured wood, white stones and the ones that are quite flat, without textures. This way we can be sure that the transfer will go well. The colour of the support Will work as a filter.
Sand the surface of the object (if it is a stone or wood). USE DRYWALL REPAIR ANY HOLES. A coarse sandpaper will be used. The idea is to help our surface, not to leave it completely smooth.
If the material is dusty we can varnish it to make the surface suitable.
Wash the objects before using them.

4Lay out the photo.

Place the photo on the object and see how we want to place it.

5Layer on the transfer gel.

Place a good layer of transfer gel on the photo on the side where we see the image. It is not always necessary to put gel on the object. But if the object has a lot of texture we can put some on the object/support to make sure it adheres well. The piece Will show many wrinkles. Rub it with a Subway card or ID card.

6Dry.

Let dry for 72 hs. If we do it on fabric, we can place a cloth and iron it to speed up the process.

7Start the transfer.

Wet your fingers on warm water and start rubbing over the object carefully.
Let’s see how white paper starts coming out. There are seven layers of paper, we have to take all of them out one by one.
You can use a toothbrush but I recommend to start with your fingers. If the image sticks to the object and is left to dry for 72 hours and then removed with water by rubbing it with your fingers.

8Add the next layer.

Remember to wait for the piece to be completely dry before taking out the next layer Repeat the process until there is no more paper left.
It is not necessary to remove all the paper. If there are still rests of pulp paper do not worry because with the water-based lacquer, we will make them invisible.
But it is important to recognize the right moment or you can ruin the piece.
When the piece is wet if you still find white parts of paper, it means that it is not ready yet. There is always more than one layer, we remove about 6 thin layers of paper.

9Trim the image.

When the piece is still wet, this is the time to correct the edges.
Because when it is completely dry you will only be able to remove them with sandpaper or a cutter.

10Work until finished.

The process will be finished when we can see the image without white paper stains. If there are white spots we have to remove them until we can see the image.
It will be ready when, while wetting the piece the image is perfectly visible.

11Dry and vanish.

Let dry again for a few hours. With a brush, paint the piece with matte water lacquer (to make the pulp disappear completely). We have to protect the piece with three coats of Mate varnish or glossy varnish. Once dry, the print is finished.

Carola Etche is a visual artist trained in photography and film (Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires, Argentina), currently residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Specializing in self-portraits and video performances over the last five years, she uses her body as a key medium in her art. Carola is known for exploring experimental techniques, selecting those that best align with her evolving artistic vision.