How to Transfer an Image onto Wood [The Easy Way]

I love the words of Matthew 5:16- ^“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” so I decided to make some wall art with part of the verse, a visual reminder to let our light shine.  Today I’m sharing with you how to transfer an image onto wood so that you can make your own wall art of your liking or you can use my free printable to make one just like mine.

You will need:

• “Let your light shine” printable pdf (or whatever image you are looking to transfer)
• photo transfer medium
• a white wooden wall plaque (if it’s not white then the letters will be whatever color the surface of the plaque is… mine wasn’t white but I wanted it to be so I painted it)
• a sponge
• a foam craft brush

How to Transfer an Image onto Wood:

Step 1: Print out the “Let your light shine” printable pdf.  You need to print it out on a laser printer in order for this photo transfer method to work.  If you do not have access to a laser printer then you can have it printed at a store like Office Depot, etc on a laser printer or print it out on your inkjet printer and then have it copied on a color copier at one of those places or your library.

Also note: The image on my pdf will print backwards!  That’s how it should be.  If you use your own image and it has words then you’ll want to print it backwards too.  Cut out the image.

Step 2: Brush some of the photo transfer medium onto the image, covering the image with it.

Step 3: Place the image with the face side down on top of the surface that you want to transfer the image onto.  Smooth the image down as best as you can, moving from the middle outwards so that there are no air bubbles. Allow this to dry for 24 hours.

Step 4: Wet your image using a sponge.

Step 5: Once you have let the water soak fully into the paper you will use the sponge to start rubbing off the paper but be careful not to rub too hard or you could rub off the image completely. Use a paper towel to gently wipe off the paper bits.

Step 6: Let it dry for about a half an hour and you will still see areas where there may still be paper left. Wet it again and repeat the whole rubbing and drying process until you’ve gotten off the paper. Again, be gentle so you don’t rub off the image.

Step 7: Let the wall art dry completely and you’re all done!  I love this method because I am not good at painting images by hand and this allows me to make so much than I could do by hand and I can do it more quickly than if I tried to use other methods like tracing.  Now that you know how to transfer an image onto wood give it a try and let me know what you think!