Friday, May 2, 2008

Tutorial - collage on a canvas

My walls were still bare after living in the same house for 2 years. It was time for a change so I decided I would make my own art. I started by buying a blank canvas at Micheals, some Modge Podge and a book from Salvation Army I got for 35cents.
The canvas was already primed so I just needed to do 2 coats with some leftover basement paint. I realized that I was out of paint stir sticks so my handy boyfriend improvised and found me some chopsticks.


While I let the canvas dry, I started cutting out various circle shapes.

Once the paint was completely dry, I started gluing the circles in various positions.

I decided to leave a bit of the canvas blank and honestly at this point I had had enough! The very last step was applying 2 coats of Modge Podge all over the canvas. At this step, I learned lesson #1 - paper circles need to be properly glued to avoid bubbling and curling. Thank god the paper is old so it kinda blends in.

Lesson #2 was a bit more difficult. As we were hanging the canvas on the wall, I noticed that the canvas was warped. I'm not sure why I didn't notice this earlier. After an hour and a half, my boyfriend finally figured out a way to hang so it wouldn't show. Phew!

As you can see, I'm no expert at making art collages but it's still a great way to add a bit of character to your walls for under $30.

22 comments:

Sixth and Elm said...

Love it!

Helena said...

Hi,
It is great you should be very proud of yourself.
What color is the back ground paint? Love that too
Thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

Stopping by from How About Orange... Love this! I will definitely be trying it! :)

Emily said...

I loveeee this! So creative :)
Great color choice too! So inspired!

jen duncan said...

Great job! Very clever :-)

Natalie | Make Today Great said...

Stopping by from How About Orange.

I love this! I have a few old books and want to do something with them.

Sarah @ Mum In Bloom said...

The picture reminds me of pebbles on the beach. It's beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration :)

tina said...

How did you boyfriend frame your canvas? I have a warped canvas and do not know how to hang it.

Thanks,
Tina

tangente said...

Thank you for all the wonderful comments.

Tina,
I think he just used 2 screw eyes and a coil wire. I ended getting it framed professionally with a nice silver frame since the warp was too obvious.

Unknown said...

Love this - I would love to repost on my blog as well. Let me know if I can! Thank you.

tangente said...

Hey Amy,
You sure can!
Thanks :)

Garza said...

I just recently discovered your blog and read this post (HT: Decor8). So, last night I felt a relentless urge to go to Hobby Lobby, where I bought some canvas and Mod-Podge to make my own collage from an old copy of "West Side Story" and "Romeo and Juliet." I'm now delighted with the collages and had a lot of fun making them. Thanks for the inspiration!

Unknown said...

I love this tutorial "book art" post. With your permission, I would love to spotlight this in a guest post I am writing for an author's blog www.cymlowell.blogspot.com

I will give you FULL credit with linkbacks etc. Please let me know ASAP if this is OK. I plan on posting tomorrow (nothing like waiting til the last minute :)

XOXO

tangente said...

Hi BeachBrights,
Sure you can use my tutorial. :)

Unknown said...

It's Live:

http://cymlowell.blogspot.com/2010/05/book-art.html

Thanks again :)

XOXO

The Book Mole said...

I got here from Cym Lowell's site. I simply love your art! I might try something like this on a smaller scale first - thanks for the inspiration!

Teresa aka Tess said...

Ok, I'm going to be totally honest here. When I first seen this on ModPodgeRocks I didn't like it! Sorry!! But I followed the link to your tutorial anyway as I was curious. When I seen your artwork on the wall; pop, wow, shazam! I love it. Yor artwork rocks.... I think the blank space really adds to it also.

Amanda said...

I am featuring your totally awesome collage on my blog this Friday! I am feeling very inspired!

If this is a problem please let me know!

DailyExplorer said...

I love this! Thanks for sharing!

La-Dee-da crafter said...

This is awesome and I love that anyone can do this and it is on a budget, low cost. Wow, great job and great boyfriend for figuring out how to hang to avert a crisis. Love it all!!!!
ladeedacreations.com
following you now.

Anonymous said...

I read your blog thanks for sharing . ..

Anonymous said...

Some good design here you are posted but i like the design of newspaper because this is a use of garbage and you used it very well for your collage canvas

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails