Crafty Time: Make Your Own Canvas Prints

I have always loved the looks of canvas prints.  However, purchasing one from a place like Walgreens starts at $39.99 for an 11' x 14" print.  That's a little bit out of my price range, especially given how much I love swapping out photos.  So after finding The Pinterest Project's attempt at this, I decided to go all out and make my own.

Supplies:

Canvas (size of choice)

Bought a 10 pack originally $20, used Michael's coupon and got it for ten meaning each canvas cost about $1.  Always take advantage of coupons!!

 

Gel Medium

Again, always take advantage of coupons!

Photo (printed on regular paper, not glossy photo paper)

I printed all of my pictures at Fedex Office, costing me about $0.57 per print.  Make sure not to print on photo paper! As well as reverse your image before you print them, or they will turn out backwards!

Procedure:

 

1.  Paint canvas with a generous layer of Gel Medium (enough to cover canvas).  You don't have to overdo it but you want enough for your picture to stick to.

2.  Spray water on to photo side of print using a spray bottle.  Not too much just enough to get the picture slightly moist.  Place print face down onto canvas while gel medium is still wet.  Smooth out with a plastic card of some sort (credit card, drivers license, etc.) and let canvas dry for 24 hours.

Canvas after drying for 24 hours.

   3.  Once dry, spray entire canvas with water.  The canvas needs to be soaked for this to work so make sure the entire thing is thoroughly wet.

A towel on work area is recommended.

4.  Alright, here's the fun part.  Peel off the layer of paper, and ta da! The ink has transferred onto the canvas!  Keep peeling off all the paper until a residue of paper strands is left on the canvas, let dry.  

 This part is very messy! keep a wastebasket near you if you don't want to have to clean up shredded paper.

5.  Once dry, spray again thoroughly with water and start to rub off paper remains.  Repeat as needed.  I was annoyed with how long it took to rub using my finger, I found using a softer scrubbing pad took off the paper remains very well.   Note: if part of the ink is rubbed off in this process, that's ok, it adds what I feel is a nice distressed, worn look to the photos. 

 

After a lot of rubbing and paper mess, I managed to make 19 of these (I'm saving my last canvas of one of my bulk pack for another project).  The best part over all all of these probably cost me about $32 for all of these print (less than $2 for each canvas individually), which is a much cheaper than paying to have one made (I got 18 more for less than the price of one!)  I gave 4 away as gifts and hung the rest in my room and they add a nice homey touch to my room for my senior year in college. 

I absolutely love my canvas prints! Gives me a constant reminder of how much love I have for all my friends and family in my life!

I thought it would be a really cool idea to buy square canvases and print Instagram pictures.  Also, I'm wondering how cool this would look on other surfaces like wood or fabric!