Canvas Photo Transfer
I've always loved the look of photos printed onto canvas, but I've always hated the price. You can spend anywhere from $60-$200 for a canvas print. Because of that, I've been searching around for ways to DIY. Most of what I found had to do with printing the photo on picture paper, using mod podge to stick it on, and just painting a border around the edge. Good idea, but it didn't sound like it would look like an actual canvas photo print.
So I was able to find one, that turns out great work if you are very careful. I've listed all the steps below, but first, all credit for this goes to Elsie Larson, creator of A Beautiful Mess Blog.
Materials:
- A stretched canvas. Size is your choice, I used an 8x10
- Gel medium
- Paint brush (I used a sponge brush)
- Spray bottle full of water
- Photo you want to transfer, laser copy
Step 1:
Paint on, and completely cover the canvas with the gel medium. Use a heavy coat, but try to keep the brush strokes smooth, with as little bumps as possible.
Step 2:
Press the laser copy of the photo, face down, onto the canvas. Set the canvas aside to dry. You'll want to leave it for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Notice, since the photo was placed this way, your image is going to flipped.
Step 3:
Once the paper and canvas has dried, use the spray bottle to get the top of the paper wet.
Step 4:
Start to gently rub the surface, to get the paper to peel back. Once the paper starts to come off, the image will be revealed on the canvas. Be VERY careful on this step, as you can rub too hard, and the image will come off the canvas, and not just the paper. Continue until all the paper is removed and the image is revealed. You'll see in the photo below, how easy it is to remove the transfer when trying to remove the paper. In the final product, I filled some of these blank spots in with paint.
Video below during paper removal
Step 5:
Once the paper is fully removed, paint another (not so heavy) coat of gel medium over the image to seal it.
Suggestions:
Anyone that will be trying this, I would suggest starting out with a black and white photo. In the instance that you remove some of the transfer, it will be easier to fix with paint. The more you do this, the better they will turn out. Another important thing I learned here, is I just used the gel medium I had lying around... Mistake! The gel medium I had was opaque, and for a project like this, you need to use a transparent gel. That is why the photo looks washed over in white.
With more practice, I will definitely be making more of these :)
