Saturday, April 21, 2012

DIY Photo Canvas Masterpiece

I’ve been looking at getting some photos printed on canvas and they aren’t cheap. The other issue I have is that I have so many pictures and so many bare walls I have trouble deciding which to do first.

So a couple of nights ago I was Googling away and discovered a tutorial on A Beautiful Mess blog for doing it yourself!

This is a fairly inexpensive project that you can do over a couple of days if you want. I tried it out this week and am so happy with the results!

How to make your own photo canvas 

Visit your local craft store and buy the following: 

  •  A canvas the size that you want your print to be (mine was 8.5 x 11)
  • Gel medium – I purchased Liquidex from Michaels. It was about $13, but I had a 40% off coupon so it worked out well!
  • A paint or foam brush to apply medium 
  • Spray bottle 
  • Sponge 
  • Photocopy paper and laser printer 
  • Electronic file of the image you want to transfer 

7 easy steps to create your photo canvas masterpiece


1. Print a photo on regular everyday photocopy paper. Make sure to use a laser printer, a photo printed on an inkjet printer won’t work. Also make sure to use a photo program to reverse the image - I forgot and the lettering on DH's shirt came out backwards.

2. Use your brush to apply a thick coat of the gel medium to the canvas


3. Lightly spray the photo side of your photo with water

4. Place your photo, face down onto the canvas.

5. Smooth out the photo with your finger or smooth edge ie ruler, wallpaper smoother. I found it was a bit easier to do when damp, so I sprayed some more water on the back of the photo.
 
6. Now you have to wait for the paper to dry onto the canvas. You need it to be good and dry, so I left this one overnight and it was perfect.

7. Now the fun part – removing the paper. Spray a good amount of water onto the paper and use your finger or the sponge in a circular motion to remove the paper. Like magic, the image will stay on the canvas.


8. After you have removed all the paper let it dry and then apply another coating of the medium to seal in your print and ad a glossy sheen.

Voila my DIY Photo Canvas Masterpiece

  Notes:

  • I found step #7 to be a lot like removing wallpaper backing from your wall. Just keep adding water and working in small patches around the photo. This can be done in stages so don’t feel like you need to block off a lot of time. I did the whole thing over a 4 day period.
  • You won’t end up with a perfect removal – well I haven’t no matter how hard I tried. The small “rips” give the photo a distressed look that I really like. The rips will appear in the direction that you applied the medium.
  • I have seen some people finish the sides of their print using paint or add strips of decorative paper.  I’m sure there are many things you can do, let your imagination go wild.   
  • Next I am going to try out this DIY photo canvas method using tissue paper !
 Would love to see what masterpiece you have created, leave me a comment with a link!

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