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I wanted to make some wall art. I love black and white patterns but I didn’t want to spend $20+ on a large blank canvas just to paint black and white stripes. So I figured out a way to make my own canvas for a reasonable price.
My canvas was 2 feet by 3 feet.
So you’ll need:
Furring sticks. Found in the lumber department of Lowes for 75 cents. What a steal! It comes in 8 ft section. For this canvas, i needed 2.
White fabric: Bought this at hobby lobby for 2.99/a yard. the fabric is 42inches wide (3.5 feet). 1 yard is 3 feet. Remember that you should leave about 2inches of fabric to fold around the edges of your wood frame.
Staple Gun & White Acrylic paint (dosen’t have to be fancy paint)
WHAT TO DO:
1. first, you should build a frame. Cut the wood to the dimensions of the canvas. Then you put the wood together with wood glue.
2. prepare the fabric: the fabric should be folded the way it was cut. {when you purchase the fabric it is folded to be double-layered and should be about 42inches wide} Then iron the fabric and spritz with starch to make the fabric stiffer.
3. Layout the fabric: lay the fabric on the ground and place the frame above the fabric. Center it so there is overlay on the sides around the frame.
4. Start to staple: while keeping the fabric as taught as possible (with no wrinkles), fold the side length-wise and staple in the middle. {always start stapling in the center of the sides}
5. On the opposite side, fold the extra fabric ( while keeping taught). Staple in the center. Always staple the sides center to center.
6. Staple the short sides: Staple the center width-wise while keeping the other side taught. Then staple the other side in the center.
7. STAPLE STAPLE- pull the sides taught and then staple…. then repeat, repeat… THE MORE STAPLES you add, THE MORE TIGHT the canvas gets.
9. once the sides are all stapled, cut off the extra fabric around the staples.
10. After you have the canvas stapled, take a paint roller and paint a coat of white paint (CAREFULLY) over the fabric. This makes the fabric stiff. You can do a second coat if you so wish.
Once it’s all dry, the canvas is yours to paint!
