How to Transfer a Photo onto a Glass Block... Forget the Mod Podge!

I made several of these personalized glass blocks for my family last Christmas and they were a huge hit. I wanted to share my results for anyone looking for a unique and relatively inexpensive gift idea.

Originally I had started this post with a step by step process on using Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium. Turns out, you're required to own a laser printer in order for this to work properly. Sorry Mod Podge, but all I have is your standard affordable inkjet kind. It would have been nice if they put it on the bottle that it was necessary instead of just recommended.

 In the beginning I was extremely excited by this project. Getting gifts that my family doesn't just go and out and get themselves is hard and I thought putting a photograph on the square glass craft blockwas something no one in my family would ever think of (because no one in my family is exceptionally good at crafts, especially me). Two days in I was ready to be done with this nightmare!

See, it takes a little over 48 hours for Mod Podge to dry after application. And that's IF the temperature of your home is perfect. It can't be too cold, too hot, too damp, or too dry or it takes even longer (that should have been my clue right there this crap was tricky). But of course, I'm nothing if not determined so I applied it to my printed inkjet copy and waited for grass to grow for it to be completely dry. After the 24-48 hours waiting period you then dampen the paper and "simply" peel it off.

First of all, there is nothing simple about getting the printer paper off the damn block. It sticks like glue, peels the Mod Podge medium if you rub to hard, and drys too quickly which necessitates wetting it repeatedly which results in over saturation and smeared ink (this is probably why the "recommend" using a laser printer).

After a good 20 minutes of peeling off the soppy paper, my end result looked like this:

The photo isn't the least bit clear and if you look close enough you can see where not all the paper fibers came off. It took a total of 3 days just to get that and all I had to show for it was blue fingers and a foggy photo. I was more than disappointed, I was pissed!

After seeing this, I ended up researching alternatives well passed midnight. Some people recommended a product called Liquitex Professional Gloss Gel Transfer, which essentially is a different type of Mod Podge. There was no way I was doing that again! Other people recommended printing on vellum paper. However, after looking into it more closely printing on vellum is tricky. Not all printers will actually do it, since it's basically a water resistant tracing paper that's not actually meant to be printed on. That didn't seem like a really good idea to roll the dice on.

Time was running out, since we're leaving today and it took me until Wednesday to figure out Mod Podge is a joke. In the end, I went over to Office Depot on Thursday and found a wonderful printer friendly product.... WINDOW CLING! If I had just been smart enough to visit my local office store in the first place, it would have saved me a ton of time and a migraine.

So if anyone is looking to do something like this, please just order yourself some printable window cling sheets and save yourself a boat load of stress. You'll actually get the results you're looking for with essentially no hassle...