Patent ID: 8372233

Claim:
A method of applying an image to a substrate, the method comprising: positioning a first image transfer material adjacent to a second image transfer material to form a laminate, wherein the first image transfer material comprises a first base layer and a release layer on which the image is formed, and wherein the second image transfer material comprises a second base layer and an outer layer, the outer layer comprising a film forming binder and thermoplastic particles, the film forming binder comprising a polar polymer, wherein the first image transfer material and the second image transfer material are positioned such that the image formed on the release layer of the first image transfer material is adjacent to the outer layer of the second transfer material; heating the laminate causing the outer layer of the second transfer material to fuse only to imaged areas of the release layer defined by the image to form a fused portion of the transfer outer layer; separating the first image transfer material and the fused portion of the outer layer from the laminate to form an intermediary transfer material, wherein the fused portion of the outer layer overlays the image on the intermediary transfer layer; positioning the intermediary transfer material so that the fused portion of the outer layer is adjacent to the substrate; heating the intermediary transfer material to transfer the outer layer and the image to the substrate; and removing the first image transfer material from the substrate so that the image is exposed on the substrate, wherein the outer layer is positioned between the substrate and the image.