Digital Alchemy: Printmaking techniques for fine art, photography, and mixed media

Product Author Bios

An inventor and innovator, Bonny Pierce Lhotka is a co-founder of the digital artist collaborative, Digital Atelier, whose members research and develop techniques to leverage digital imaging in fine art application. Lhotka organized “Digital Atelier: A printmaking studio for the 21st century” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum where she was an Artist-in-Residence for three weeks. She is a recipient of the Smithsonian/Computerworld Technology in the Arts Award and is the producer of educational DVDs from Digital Art Studio Seminars.

In Digital Alchemy, acclaimed printmaker Bonny Pierce Lhotka shows how to turn your standard inkjet printer into a seemingly magical instrument capable of transforming your printed images into true works of art. Using plenty of visuals and straightforward terms, Lhotka walks you step-by-step through over a dozen projects. Forget printing on boring old paper, in Digital Alchemy, you’ll learn how to transfer and print images to a variety of surfaces including metal, wood, fabric, stone, and plastic using the techniques Lhotka’s spent years developing.

If you’re a photographer looking for new ways to personalize your work or a digital artist who’s ready to take your work to the next level, you’ll find all of the tools, techniques, and inspiration you need in this book. Lhotka’s enthusiasm for experimenting with unusual printing materials and processes has led her to create new and amazing transfer techniques, including one that resembles a Polaroid™ transfer on steroids. She also shows you how to make prints using unexpected, everyday materials such as hand sanitizer and gelatin. You’ll even learn direct printing, the technique for sending your custom substrate through your printer almost as if it were paper.

In Digital Alchemy, you’ll learn how to:

• Transfer images to metal, wood, plastic, and other materials that will not feed through an inkjet printer
  

• Print directly on metal for a fraction of the cost of using a print service
  

• Simulate a print from an expensive UV flatbed printer using an inexpensive desktop printer
  

• Use carrier sheets and paintable precoats to print on almost any surface
  

• Achieve near-lithographic quality digital prints with transfer processes to uncoated fine art paper
  

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Online Sample Chapter

Digital Alchemy: Introduction to Gel and SuperSauce

Table of Contents

Preface
Foreword

Section I: basics
chapter 1: Introduction
chapter 2: Materials
chapter 3: Equipment

Section II: Alcohol Gel
and SuperSauce Transfers
chapter 4: Introduction to Gel
and SuperSauce
chapter 5: Alcohol Gel Transfer
chapter 6: SuperSauce Transfer to
Plastic or Metal
chapter 7: SuperSauce Transfer to Wood
chapter 8: SuperSauce Transfer to
Paper or Fabric
chapter 9: Gallery of Work: Alcohol Gel and
SuperSauce Transfers

Section II: gelatin Transfers
chapter 10: Introduction to Gelatin Transfers
chapter 11: White Marble Fresco Transfer
chapter 12: Gelatin Acrylic Paint Transfer
chapter 13: Travertine Tile Transfer
chapter 14: Gelatin Transfer to Metal
chapter 15: Clear Gelatin Transfer to
Plastic Sheet
chapter 16: Gallery of Work: Gelatin Transfers

Section IV: direct printing
chapter 17: Introduction to Direct Printing
chapter 18: Direct Printing onto Metal
chapter 19: Direct Printing onto Metal Leaf
chapter 20: Direct Printing onto Custom
Substrates
chapter 21: Gallery of Work: Direct Printing

Section V: Finishing up
and Looking Ahead
chapter 22: Postcoats and Finishing
chapter 23: New Technology and the
Future of Imaging
chapter 24: Gallery of Work: New Technology
Index

Sample Pages

Download Chapter 4: Introduction to Gel and SuperSauce