apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

oooh! pretty!

I did a very similar treatment using 12"x12" scrapbook paper, sixteen 12"x12"x1.5" gallery canvases (bought at the bargain price of $5 each at Big Lots!) and image transfer medium. The transfer medium allows the texture of the canvas to show through the surface image.

The scrapbook paper choices are almost limitless, including many options that have a hand-painted/remnant look that seem to be especially fitting for canvas mounting.

With any luck, I'll get a chance to link to photo of the finished pieces in the next day or so.

Nice! I love an inexpensive DIY... And the possibilities are endless.

JDave - i'd really like to see your finished pieces and more information on it as well. I was just discussing how to take this to the next level with a friend of mine when your comment popped up.

So for questions, what type of transfer medium? I have something like this an acrylic gloss medium or something like that, is this what you're talking about? Any chance on a step by step with the method you used? What you described is exactly what i was thinking about trying to do with it either with canvas or just with masonite. Thanks

And great look on the original up there, good choice of paper.

Wow JDave, that sounds exciting, we look forward to seeing the project. Those canvases were a great buy, too!

Sorry for the delay. Here’s the promised link to photos of my scrapbook paper project and instructions on how they were made.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=171ngrc1.mp3hgwx&x=0&y=107ckl&localeid=en_US

1. Apply three coats of transfer medium* to the FRONT of the paper (yes, the “good” side), letting each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next. It will go on milky white, but dries clear. The medium I used retains the brush strokes, which seemed appropriate for the canvas treatment.

2. Allow the last coat of transfer medium to dry overnight (or longer). Then, soak the entire sheet of paper in water for 10-20 minutes. Remove the sheet and place it face down on a smooth surface. With your fingertips, roll away the paper from the back of the image. Basically, you’re shooting to end up with just the thin layer of transfer medium (which has retained the image) and a pile of wet, paper pulp (hmmm…, maybe this project could be combined with a paper making project). Place the image on a dry, flat surface and let dry. When dry, the front side will be glossy and the reverse matte.

3. Using more transfer medium (white glue would probably work just as well and cost less), apply a coat to the canvas front. Then, apply the image, matte side to canvas. It’s best to do this slowly, starting at once side and pressing it down across the canvas as you smooth out any air bubbles. Any remaining air bubbles can be left for added texture or deflated with a pin-prick.

4. Paint the sides of the canvas a coordinating color. On mine, I used a chocolate brown color. Once everything was dry, I sprayed on a flat, clear top coat because I found the finished transfer medium a bit too glossy for my décor.


*The transfer medium I used is called “Omni-Gel”, manufactured by Mona Lisa Products and billed as “the strongest transfer & texture medium available”. I purchased it at Michael’s, but I’m sure many arts & crafts stores and websites carry it. Regardless of the brand you purchase, it’s important that the medium dries CLEAR if you’re following my instructions.

Opaque transfer mediums, such as “Picture This”, manufactured by Plaid, may not work with this project as they are applied a bit differently. The medium is brushed on the face side of the image and, while still wet, the image is applied to the receiving material (in this case, the canvas). Once the medium dries, the image’s backing paper would need to be soaked and rubbed to remove the paper and reveal the image. In this case, the image is reversed. I caution against using opaque mediums for this project since the canvas and wood stretcher would be exposed to quite a bit of water, possibly loosening or warping the canvas/stretcher.


PS. DCexplorer, I agree that the canvases were a great buy (and a lucky find). I bought them on a whim, figuring they’d be great for some fun art project. Months later, when I came upon a package of assorted scrapbook paper, the proverbial light bulb shined. Unfortunately, I had far too many wonderful paper options to choose from and ended up expanding the project from fourteen to sixteen canvases. This required the purchase of two additional (and far more expensive) canvases from Michael’s since no more were to be found at Big Lots.

Jdave -

Well I gotta say those look great. I had a heck of a time getting the kodak gallery to work, but they look really good.

The night after i read this i went to our craft store and picked up some interesting papers. Never really thought i'd be buying scrapbook paper, since that's my wife's thing, oh well...

I picked up a small canvas as well, along with some ink pads (my wife just got me the eames stamp set, had to play with it). All in all not too bad, paper was all 50% off, 50% off on the ink, and 30% off on canvas.

So i'm going to try wrapping the corners as well but i like yours painted dark like that.

I tried one method of just applying the gloss medium i had already to the canvas, and then to the paper, sticking it to the canvas, and then applying more medium over the top of it. essentially gluing it down instead of transferring but the canvas started to show through a bit and looked pretty good. Still had some brush marks and so forth.

So next i'm going to try your method. I've done transfers with this stuff before and was kind of worried your way would look a bit washed out, but when i saw your photos they looked great. So it's the next try on the list.

So we'll see how it all turns out, I like the single sheet look of yours and the 3 sheet look above, so i am going to try a 2 sheet but not half an half, so it's off balance a bit.

Jdave,

This look Fabulous (and truly looks like an art installation). I can not wait to try this. Thanks for all the detailed instructions. -dcexplorer