Thrift Store Transformations with IOD Transfers
- By Joan
- June 22, 2022
- 8 Comments
Thrift Store Transformations with IOD Transfers
Today I have some more thrift store transformations for you.
The reason I bought this odd assortment of thrift store goodies is that I wanted to try my hand at rub on transfers. I’ve been seeing them for a while now and I don’t see how I can call myself a real crafter if I haven’t tried these out. So today is the day!
After much shopping online I finally decided on this set of IOD (Iron Orchid Design) transfers. It’s a set of 8, 12″x16″ sheets with enough transfers for at least 20 projects depending on how many images you use per project.
The transfers are a little expensive at around $37 but that breaks down to less than $2 per project. If you go to this website you can find a retailer near you. If there are no retailers in your area many will ship to your home.
This is one of the pages included in the set of transfers. Keep in mind that these sheets are 12″x16″ and on just this one sheet there are probably enough images for up to 7 projects, less if you combine the designs.
This is the back of the packet showing all 8 pages of transfers and a few ideas. Notice the dresser in the bottom middle, it’s a prime example of why you might not want to put all of your transfers on just one project.
Back to my own thrift store finds. Everything has been painted with a coat of white chalk paint. The Coffee can is drying on a paper towel holder and the tray got a coat of gray on the embossed sides. I’m just waiting for the gray to dry before I give the sides a dry brushed white finish.
This is the coffee can before. The coffee lettering was not raised, if it was, I would have had to sand it down before painting.
Make sure your paint is totally dry! I learned that the hard way. 🙄
I chose the butterfly transfer for the coffee can.
Tape in place and use the included burnisher, just a piece of hard plastic with rounded edges, to press down on all parts of the design.
Slowly peel back the backing of the transfer. If any part of the decal did not adhere, go back over it with the burnishing tool.
According to the directions you should “protect the transfer with a surface appropriate sealer that does not contain strong solvents“.
On my 4 projects I used both white wax (I could have used clear) or a clear spray varnish.
On this butterfly (or is he a moth?) I used the white wax to soften the image. It gives a slight white film over my bug.
Next up, this decorative tray. You can’t really tell from the picture but he was a kind of yellowish and brown and I ended up painting him white and gray.
I love the birds on the stick but I think the tall guy on the right is throwing off the balance making it look like my stick is tilted.
This one was also treated with white wax to soften the image.
Next up, my spotted jar. Envision this one with chocolate covered strawberries because apparently this was once part of an Edible Arrangement.
He was painted white as well and got a bee transfer (look at it upside down). But now he needs a lid.
I traced around the top of the jar onto pallet wood and cut out with a table top scroll saw.
A smaller circle out of thinner scrap wood will just fit inside the jar and prevent the lid from slipping.
Sand all edges and finish with a stain or varnish of your choosing.
Right side up bee jar with custom lid. This one is sealed with clear spray on varnish.
Final project, this beat up wooden box.
The box is painted white and finished with a sheep transfer and lettering.
And finally all my before and after thrift store transformations…
If you are only planning one or two projects I would not purchase this set even though it was super easy and fun. Instead, I would search for a graphic online such as those provided free at The Graphics Fairy and use an image transfer method like this one using Modpodge.
I think all my thrift store transformations turned out rather well, though I probably wouldn’t display them all in one place. A little too much image transfer overload. 😀
As always, stay inspired.
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Love, love these. I need these spaced out in my life
These are beautiful!
Angela L
Great resources your provided and beautifully used by you!
Datamaskinen kan gi deg ekstra inntekt hvis du bruker Denne Roboten. https://alalp.dkworld.de/gotodate/go
Ohh so glad I seen this post! I actually came here from Pinterest after seeing a salad bowl make over you did, lol, in 2015 haha! And was super excited to see you’re still active on the blog! Then I noticed the IOD post and although I’m kind of tired of seeing IOD everything, everywhere on YT (their products are absolutely amazing, love them, have a BUNCH of their products, BUT they are expensive & so isn’t shipping, so it gets a little overwhelming when every thrift flip DIY chnl I watch has different IOD products showcased in every video), I clicked to see what your use of them were and was thrilled to see its the same pack I bought and actually am struggling with using them. I think it’s the size, bc I flip smaller items & most of these are a good size. I LOVE the box W the sheep. And the lone bee on a canister… I also volunteer every week at a thrift shop & we get cannisters in all the time without the lids. We even get sets and 2 will have missing lids and I always stare at them hoping for some idea to pop in my head… But I always get hung up on “set” & “missing lid”… So thank you for the awesome inspiration! I feel renewed and ready for Tuesday (my thrift shop volunteer day, lol!)… Watch, all 3 sets I seen the last 4 weeks were bought up Thursday, the last day we were open ??)
Also, I forgot to add… Dollar Tree has some really cute transfers! For $1.25 ?
I’ve also purchased some really amazing washi type paper stickers, transfers, and even stationary stickers with such realistic quality to them from Ali Express. With the stickers, I just trim the white edges off and they stick so well I’ll just apply a small thin amount of Mod Podge over the sticker to make sure it stays put for a long time, then I’ll wax over it when it’s dry. I know some people are afraid they are a scam, but in all the yrs I’ve ordered crafting supplies from there, I rarely ever have issues and when I do, I send a picture of the problem and they issue a refund so I can just reorder the item. Shipping does take a little time, but it’s actually a lot better than it was a few yrs ago when it’d take 3-5 months, lol, to now maybe 10-20 days!
Just thought I’d add that bc IOD is pretty expensive if you don’t flip to sell or reallyyyyyy love transfers on everything in your house ?… Prima by Recollections or something like that, on Amazon, also makes nice transfers and they are a little cheaper than IOD, they also make really nice molds (also another great item I get on Ali Express under cake decorating) that are also cheaper. Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for the wonderful comments and ideas. I agree, the IOD transfers are expensive but if you do a lot of projects they do have great designs and yes, there are far cheaper options out there. I can see myself working in a thrift store. 🙂
Hi Joan
I think the birds on a stick look just fine; all the makeovers are great. Wanted to say that if there is ever a time those lids need to fit snug…you can try using jar rubbers around the inside piece. If you can find a close size they work very well.
Right now I am trying to use Plastisol coating (plasti dip) to soften and tighten the seal between two glass pieces but it takes a LOT of layers.