After watching Donna Kato’s video on image transfers I decided to give it another shot.  The key seems to be to use a really really light touch once you start getting close to the clay.

I had some moderate success this time around.  This oroborus only smudged on one edge, with is doing pretty good.

However these two did not turn out so well.  No matter how careful I was, I still smudged off or blurred significant portions of the images.  I’m not sure what I was doing differently, or if it’s just that this is a haphazard process.

Reading about others’ experiences, though, that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Other crafters seem to be able to get good, consistent results.  So in the end, I’m still confused.

I’m also left wondering why this technique is so prevalent.  It took huge amount of time and was a lot of hassle for something that was so touchy and unreliable.

For most things, I don’t really see the point of bothering with this when using the liquid clay is so much easier and more reliable.  The only time I can see turning to this water transfer technique is when I want to manipulate the clay after the image is transferred, like with these domed pendants.

(Also on the left you can see the hazard of your armature being a little too big for your craft oven, bringing your clay a leeeettle too close to the heating element.)

To compare, here are two curved pendants, one of my not-so-successful water transfer attempts on the right, and one using Kato Liquid Polyclay on the left.

The one done with the liquid clay has crisper lines, no smudging, and was a whole lot less work.

I would still love to know why the water-transfer technique seems to be the go-to for so many crafters.  To me, it doesn’t seem worth it.