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:

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

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

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

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  4. Stopping by from How About Orange.

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

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

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

    Thanks,
    Tina

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  7. 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.

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

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  9. 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!

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  10. 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

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

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  12. It's Live:

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

    Thanks again :)

    XOXO

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  13. 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!

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  14. 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.

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  15. 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!

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  16. 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.

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  17. I read your blog thanks for sharing . ..

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  18. 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

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