The Horror

I love doing transfers in my artwork. I have taken to Purell Transfers like I took to boys when I was 14. Fast and Furious. To put it Mildly. teehee. Well, my beloved Apollo Transparencies 7031s for HP inkjet printers are NO MORE. I had a panic attack when I tried to reorder them last week. They are discontinued. I can't believe it. My entire style revolves around these transfers. My PhrenMen, my ShellSeekers, BoneHeads and ScareyClowns. WTF???? I put on my big girl panties and ordered the Apollo 7039. They'll work, right? WRONG. I spent 40 bucks and I am Bereft. The new packaging says for Canon, Epson, Lexmark. No mention of my humble HP. The purell lifted a very small amount of ink. The transfer is very light, almost all of the ink remained on the trans. I tried different amounts of Purell. Over and Over and Over. I swore, I made bargains with The Universe, all to NO AVAIL. I then tried Goldens Soft Gel Medium. I don't like transfers using this because, well , they are Glossy. They lay on top of the paper. With my old technique the paper sucked in the ink and BECAME ONE with the substrate. The image didn't lay on top like a foreign body. Ok, I'm getting dramatic now. teehee. Here are the BAD transfers, make sure the children are OUT of the room first:


Look at the time and materials I wasted. But I could not make myself give up. I even sanded some of the paper first, because some of it was scrapbook paper and may have some kind of evil plasticy coating on it. Here are the so-so transfers:
The transferred image ends up with brushstrokes from applying the gel with well, a brush. Sponge and fingers still left streaks. And gloss. Ok, I know I can spray a matte sealer on top and that should eliminate the gloss. But, well, WHY??? The 7031s's were PERFECT. Anyone else having this issue or know of a source for the 7031s's??? I am going to consult with my inkjet transfer Yahoo group and see if anyone has The Answer. xoSusan