Now, I'm not a real artist, I want to make it clear that I cannot draw so much as a flower that doesn't look like a kindergarten kid did it. All the art I use (mostly fairies, dragons and unicorns), comes from clipart collections. Some are just CD's I picked up over the years and I use the Vapor ArtDisc CD and the BODART collection. These great clipart collections are from a shirt company called Vapor. I got them from Conde Systems, an outfit that sells equipment for digital imprinting. (Click here to check out Condé)
So I take the clipart of a fairie and add it to a unicorn and maybe some trees and I use CorelDRAW to position them until I am happy with the whole picture. Then I set the pic to be the size of my porcelain piece. The porcelain I also get from Conde, they have oval, square, hearts and star pieces in graduated sizes. These are pre-coated to accept my transferred image.
I print out the picture on sublimation transfer paper, a paper that works with my sublimation inks. The ink is called SubliJet-R, I have a GX e3300N, a Ricoh printer, it is set up to only use this special ink. I print it in reverse, or mirrored and then I place it on top of the porcelain piece. I use heat resistant tape or a spray fixative, called ProSpray (from Conde) to hold the transfer in place. You cannot move the image once it starts heating so don't be tempted to look, it will destroy what you are doing.
Then I put the whole shebang into my little heat press. I have a Hobby Press, a George Knight JP12, it only cost $250, and it's perfect for my small items. I use 400 degrees and keep it pressed for five minutes. The image is then transferred directly to my porcelain. I can also make tee shirts with the same process, they have to be polyester shirts and it doesn't work well on dark colors, but the technique is much the same, just press for one minute if doing shirts.
Above you see a porcelain ornament from the Conde website, they are really nice, as well. I have gold and silver findings, little hooks, pieces that hold the porcelain, I get these from Michael's Crafts. I add these as I see fit, attach a chain or a pin back. The best jewelry glue is E-6000, which is available at Michaels (Conde also has it). Sometimes I use a little glitter glue to attach strategic rhinestones. Voila! That's how I do it!
If you want to make similar jewelry, you can call the folks at Conde at 800-826-6332 and order the following:
GX5050 Printer......................$200
Set of 4 Inks..........................$240
Sublimation Paper.................$20
JP12 Heat Press....................$250
Porcelain...............................$1 each
Or, go online to the Conde website and click here to order the package deal for $450. So, there you have it folks, get started, you can be an artist, too!
