Blister-based laser-induced forward transfer is proposed as a promising tool for clean, cold and liquid-free local transfer of various organic substances. The feature of the given technique is non-destructive local deformation of an absorbing metal film on a transparent support avoiding the metal sputtering. Application of the blister-based laser transfer of a Langmuir film to fabricate mesotetraphenylporphyrin micropatterns on a silica substrate has been demonstrated. The metal film thickness is found to be a key parameter, which determines the laser fluence range allowing the clean transfer, predominant mechanism of the blister formation and laser-induced heating of the transferred material. According to the numerical modelling confirmed by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, the target with 1.5 mu m thick titanium film provides negligible heating of the porphyrin transferred by 5 ns laser pulses. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.