Daddy's Birthday Gift

For my Dad's birthday I wanted to make him something personal and avoid the go-to Amazon gift card.  I saw this tutorial online for how to transfer photos to wood and I thought the final look was really unique.  I decided to try it out for dad, and I was very pleased with the final results.

 

I took a 1 x 6 and cut two pieces 7 inches long.  I printed my pictures in 5 x 7 size and then made a photocopy of them on the copy machine at work.  I covered the boards with gel medium and then placed the photocopy, face down, onto the gel medium and rubbed the bubbles out gently.  I let the piece sit overnight to dry.  The next day I took a sponge with warm water and gently scrubbed the paper off of the wood to leave the transfer of the picture.  You have to be careful not to scrub too hard or you will scrub the picture right off with it!  It took a few times of letting it dry to see where there was still a few remnants of paper, re-wetting, re-scrubbing, re-drying before I finally was happy with it.  I then used wood glue to glue the two pieces together so my dad would have a side with normal children, and a side with his real children. :0)  I had Joe use the belt sander to round out the edges a little.  I stained the edges and sprayed the whole piece with lacquer.  I think it turned out amazing, and dad loved it too!  Success!!