Transfer prints are monotypes made by drawing on paper while it rests face down on an inked plate. The weight of the paper, hands placed on the paper, and impressions made by just about any hard drawing instrument result in ink marks transferred to paper and visible only after the paper has been lifted from the inked plate.

Pat Brandes taught printmaking in Central America where there were few art resources available. She found that transfer printing was one way of printmaking which intrigued her students and yet did not require much equipment or many supplies. She could use just about any ink and blueprint paper discarded from her husband's engineering business. From that material poverty she has developed a printmaking method which fascinates the viewer both with its imagery and with the question of "how did she do that?"

Pat still uses left-over blueprints. She acknowledges that the paper is not archival, but even the first transfer prints she did 20 years ago show no signs of deterioration. Blueprints have to be tough to survive their use in the field by builders and engineers. Pat adds that most of the common printmaking papers could be used as well; the artist's intention would determine the choice of paper. Additionally, prior to printing, she coats the blueprint paper with white latex paint in a random fashion and allows it to dry thoroughly. This process helps preserve the paper, adds a distinctive texture to the finished print, and hides the blueprint image. The surface can be either smoothly or roughly painted depending on the amount of texture desired. Acrylic paint can be used to tint the color of the paint to achieve a colored background.

Pat uses 1/8-inch Plexiglas plates and commercial offset lithography inks. Working from a separate inking plate, she rolls out a thin layer of ink over the whole surface of the printing plate. She uses the sound and sheen of the ink to determine when there is sufficient ink. Too much ink results in large blobs on the print and too little ink yields a faint print. When the plate is inked, Pat moves it to the registration area. She had taped down strips of matboard which had thumb tacks coming up from the bottom so that the points would hold the paper. After hooking the paper on the tacks, and carefully laying it over the surface of the inked plate, she places heavy, rectangular ceramic pieces on both ends outside of the printing area. Pat registers her paper so that she could lift one side or the other to check on the progress of her image without moving the whole sheet of paper. Registration also allows for the use of multiple inking plates if the artist wanted to work in more than one color.

Once the paper is in place, Pat draws with a pencil on the back of the paper. She also uses caulking scrapers with various saw-toothed edges, a baren, and other hard objects. She says that just putting her hand down on the paper transfers ink to the paper, but with a softer look than a drawing instrument.

Although it is possible to do very deliberately conceived prints by drawing on the paper before placing it on the inked plate, Pat prefers to work quickly and spontaneously without preliminary drawings. She says that this printing technique is purely additive; although a wrong move can be made part of the image, it cannot be erased. Pat explains that one of the advantages of using blueprint paper is its low cost. She could work quickly throughout a day and discard any images that she didnŐt like without worrying about waste.

Pat often uses black ink on blueprint paper coated with white latex paint, but she also finishes prints by hand with colored litho or etching inks. These prints are impressive in the variety of line, texture and image that she achieves with this printing technique.