How to Transfer a Photo onto Wood: 5 Methods Compared

To transfer a photo onto wood, you need a laser print or a photocopy of the photo, mirrored, and something to glue it to the wood: a photo transfer medium such as Mod Podge Photo Transfer, or PVA glue. Let it dry, wet the paper and rub it away: the picture stays on the wood. With acetone or a clothes iron the toner transfers straight away, but the result is less reliable. If all you have at home is an inkjet printer, the method for you is baking paper, or a photocopy from a print shop.

Below are the five methods one by one: which printer each one really needs (where tutorials often contradict each other), what you need, the steps, the drying times and the mistakes that ruin the job. If you're still deciding whether to do it yourself, order a printed wood panel or put the photo on a skateboard deck, the three are compared in photo on wood: print, DIY transfer or a skateboard deck.

First things first: laser or inkjet?

Almost everything depends on this, and the answer lies in the ink:

• Laser printers and photocopiers print with toner, a powder the machine melts onto the paper with heat. It doesn't dissolve in water: when you wet the paper and rub it away, the toner stays caught in the medium or the glue. It does soften with solvents such as acetone, and with heat.
• Inkjet printers print with liquid ink that soaks into the paper. With glue, medium and a wet sponge, it tends to dissolve and smear.

That's why the makers of transfer media ask for toner. Plaid wants a printout from a toner printer for its Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium; Kreul explains that a laser print won't dissolve and an inkjet print will (Kreul, in German); and Royal Talens' Amsterdam Photo Transfer Gel is meant for laser prints and photocopies only. The exception is Golden, which makes acrylic gels for artists and says it has transferred inkjet prints too: you can try, but don't count on it.

In practice:

• Got a laser printer? You can use every method except baking paper.
• Only an inkjet? Get your print photocopied at a print shop, in colour if you like, or use the baking paper method.
• Never photo paper or developed photos. Some tutorials recommend glossy photo paper for brighter colours, but that's exactly the paper that's hardest to rub away, and Plaid explicitly rules out real photos for its medium. Use plain copier paper: Kreul specifies 80 gsm.

And always print mirrored. The photo goes face down on the wood, so it comes out flipped: on a landscape you won't notice, on text or a date you will. Any photo app can flip an image horizontally, and many printers have a mirror option in their settings.

The five methods compared

The first two methods give a handmade but predictable result, except that you only find a mistake the next day. With the other three you see straight away how it turned out, for better or worse. Either way, try it first on an offcut of the same wood.

1. With a photo transfer medium or gel

This is the method with products made for the job: Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium, Royal Talens' Amsterdam Photo Transfer Gel, or an acrylic gel medium from an art shop. The steps are much the same; the times aren't, so keep your product's label to hand.

What you need

• the photo printed mirrored, as a laser print or a photocopy on plain paper, trimmed with a small margin;
• a pale, smooth piece of wood: a poplar or birch board, a plywood offcut, a wood slice;
• fine sandpaper and a dry cloth;
• the medium and a flat brush;
• an old plastic card or a small roller;
• a sponge, a bowl of water and clear varnish.

The steps

1. Prepare the wood. Sand it and dust it off well. If it's very dry and absorbent, Kreul suggests a thin first coat of the same product, left to dry: otherwise the wood soaks up the glue instead of holding the picture.
2. Apply the product. A thick, even coat on the printed side, on the wood or on both, as the label says. With Mod Podge Photo Transfer, the coat on the print should be thick enough that you can no longer see the image through it.
3. Lay the photo face down. Put it in place in one go, then run the card or roller from the centre outwards to push out the air, and press the corners down well. Wipe away any product that squeezes out.
4. Leave it to dry completely. Kreul gives about 12 hours for its Foto Transfer Potch, so overnight; Plaid and Royal Talens, 24 hours. Plaid advises against a hair dryer or the oven: patience is the only tool here.
5. Wet the paper and rub it off. Dampen it with the sponge, give the water a few minutes to soak in, then rub gently with your fingertips in small circles: the paper comes off in little balls and the picture appears. It usually takes two rounds, because once the wood dries a white haze comes back: those are paper fibres still stuck on.
6. Seal it. When everything's dry, a coat of clear varnish or of the medium fixes the picture; Kreul says its finishing varnish makes the last bits of paper disappear in no time.

One detail changes the result: Mod Podge Photo Transfer dries to an opaque background, so the photo shows up even on dark wood, but the grain disappears under the picture. Clear gels do the opposite: wherever the photo is light, they let the wood show through, and on dark wood the image gets lost.

2. With PVA glue

This is the version with what's already in the drawer: ordinary white PVA glue, the kind that dries clear. The process is the same as with a medium, with a few extra points:

• Printer: laser or photocopy here too. PVA glue is water-based, like the media, and an inkjet print can smear the moment it touches it.
• The coat: even, with no lumps and no gaps. Where there's no glue, the picture stays on the paper and comes away with it.
• Drying: at least a whole night, better a day. The glue grabs quickly at the edges, but it also has to dry under the sheet, where no air gets in.

The result looks like a medium transfer: paler than the original, with the grain showing in the light areas. If the picture comes off in patches, there was almost always too little glue, or it wasn't dry. The finish is the same: a coat of clear varnish.

Instead of glue you can also use water-based polyurethane varnish. In a comparison of five methods by the woodworking blog Fix This Build That, all with laser prints, it gave the best result of all: a thin coat brushed onto the wood, the print pressed into it while still wet, about an hour of drying, then the paper wetted and scrubbed off with a toothbrush.

3. With acetone

Nothing gets glued here: the solvent softens the toner, which moves from the paper to the wood under pressure. It only works with toner, so with a laser print or a photocopy: guides to solvent transfers, such as the one from the art store at the Kansas City Art Institute, warn that inkjet prints behave differently and that not every laser print transfers equally well either.

1. Fix the print. Face down on the sanded wood, with masking tape on two sides or with the sheet folded over the edges: it mustn't move a millimetre.
2. Dampen the back. With a cotton pad or a cloth barely wet with acetone, one section at a time: the paper should turn translucent, not get soaked. The same guide warns that acetone evaporates fast and can leave a blurred or incomplete transfer.
3. Press and rub. With the back of a spoon, a scraper or a card, hard and in every direction, before the acetone evaporates.
4. Check and peel. Lift a corner: wherever the image hasn't transferred, lay it back and rub again. Then peel the sheet off. Nothing needs to dry, apart from the varnish at the end.

The picture comes out paler and less even than with a medium, often a little washed out. The final coat brings it back, though: in the same Fix This Build That comparison, the acetone transfer gained a lot of depth after two coats of clear lacquer, enough for the tester to rank it above the gel medium.

Staying safe with acetone

According to its safety data sheet, acetone is a highly flammable liquid, and so is its vapour; it irritates the eyes, breathing it in can cause drowsiness or dizziness, and repeated contact dries and cracks the skin. So:

• work outdoors or with the window wide open;
• no flames, cigarettes or sparks nearby, not even a gas hob on in the same room;
• safety glasses and gloves;
• pour only a little onto the cloth at a time, close the bottle straight away and keep it away from children.

4. With a clothes iron

Toner matters here too: the heat melts it a second time so it sticks to the wood. You need a laser print or a photocopy, mirrored.

1. Lay the print face down on smooth, pale wood and fix it with masking tape.
2. Set the iron to its hottest setting, with no steam.
3. Press hard and move the iron slowly over the whole surface, paying extra attention to the edges.
4. Lift a corner to check and, if the image has transferred, peel the sheet off.

It's the least reliable of the five methods. In the Fix This Build That comparison, the iron gave the worst result, and the tester put it down to his household iron not getting hot enough. If the sheet shifts while you iron, the image doubles. Mind the burns, and don't leave the iron standing on the wood.

The iron-on transfer papers sold in shops are something else: they're made for fabric, and their instructions talk about T-shirts, not wood. If you want to try them, start on an offcut.

5. With baking paper and an inkjet printer

It's the only one of the five methods made for liquid ink. Baking paper doesn't absorb it: the ink stays wet on the surface and, pressed onto the wood straight away, it transfers. Some tutorials use wax paper instead, or the glossy backing sheet left over once you've peeled off a sheet of labels, sometimes with a coat of gel on the wood: the principle is the same.

1. Prepare the sheet. Cut the baking paper to A4 and tape it tight onto a plain sheet, along the edge that goes into the printer first.
2. Print mirrored onto the baking paper side.
3. Transfer it straight away. Pick up the sheet without touching the ink, flip it onto the bare, sanded wood and press with a card, rubbing in every direction. The sheet mustn't move: if it slips, the image smears.
4. Peel and let it dry. Lift the sheet off in one go and let the ink dry before you protect it with clear varnish.

Light areas barely show and details soften: dark, high-contrast photos with little white work best, on pale, well-sanded wood. On rough wood the image breaks up.

Common problems and how to avoid them

Which wood and which photo

Unless you use an opaque medium, the wood is the photo's background: pale, fine-grained woods work best, such as poplar, birch, lime or pine, and birch plywood from a DIY shop, while walnut and other dark woods swallow the picture.

As for the photo, a transfer lightens everything and softens the details: pick high-contrast pictures with large subjects, and skip group photos with small faces. Black-and-white and old photos gain from it, because the slightly worn look suits them. A sheet is A4 or A3 at most: to cover a bigger piece of wood, split the picture over several sheets laid side by side, and the joins will show.

If you'd rather not do it by hand

A transfer has a charm a print doesn't, but these methods won't give you a sharp colour photo. That leaves two options:

• Order a printed wood panel from a photo printing service. What to check before ordering (visible grain or white base, type of wood, format, hanging) is in our guide to photo on wood.
• Put the photo on a skateboard deck. It's real wood, seven plies of Canadian maple, in a long, narrow shape that stands out on a wall. We print it in colour on a transfer film that goes on the underside of the deck: a transfer as well, only done by a print shop. The deck is 89 €, with griptape and parts extra, and it hangs on the wall or, with trucks and wheels, gets ridden. Which photos work best is in what photo works on a skateboard deck; how to hang it, in how to hang a skateboard on the wall.

If you already have a deck and want to put a picture on it yourself, painting is usually simpler: it's all in how to paint a skateboard deck. A transfer works too, but on a deck that already has a graphic the picture gets lost, and a photo covering the whole deck won't fit on one sheet. And if you're looking for a fifth wedding anniversary present, the wooden one, a handmade transfer and a deck with your photo both fit the bill: more ideas in 5th wedding anniversary gift ideas.

Shipping is free within Spain and costs 20 € per order to Ireland, and from 15 to 25 € to the rest of the EU, depending on the country. Outside Spain we don't give a delivery time: the deck is printed when you order it, so if it has to arrive by a particular date, order early. Our shipping guide lists exactly where we deliver.

Frequently asked questions