For a long time I am going to write about the simplest, but at the same time very effective way to decorate the walls of your home with antique paintings in expensive frames or stylish modern still lifes, landscapes, collages, etc. This method – decoupage on canvas with imitation painting, or imitation decoupage on canvas – I will also tell and show about it.
So, let’s start with the simplest one. In stores for artists sell such things – canvas on cardboard. This is a dense cardboard, on which the canvas is glued, and all this is primed and prepared for painting.
There are different manufacturers, different prices and different sizes, from the smallest (10×15) to the largest (60×60 cm).
Additional preparation of the surface is not required – we just glue the napkin or rice card by the method of file on the canvas, making sure that the texture of the canvas was visible (some recommend to beat the napkin in relief, i.e. canvas, but I just carefully iron the napkin with a brush in the direction of the threads, and that’s it.
We get decoupage with the texture of the canvas, and the eye perceives it as painting on canvas. Two layers of matte varnish perpendicular to each other (in the direction of the threads) – and you can insert it into the frame.
Once again all the steps in order:
- At the same time choose a canvas on cardboard and a frame for it, make sure that it can be inserted into your frame.
- Find a napkin of suitable size (take into account that it will still stretch), it is desirable to glue on the entire surface to avoid underpainting. If the napkin is a little smaller than the canvas, and the edges will be visible, then they need to be drawn, and for this purpose it is very important not to cut the napkin, but to cut off!!!! And from all sides, even on the edges (this is what I keep forgetting about)!!!!
- Glue the napkin, carefully expelling all the bubbles. Dry.
It’s a pity that a regular quarter of the napkin is not stretched as much as necessary, and in the frame 20×20 a little visible ragged edges. I’ll have to do some touch-ups.
- If necessary, we draw, or just cover with 2 layers of matte varnish.
- We decorate the frame – this usually takes more time than decorating the canvas itself. How to decorate the frame – read in the next MK.
For additional effect you can apply any thick transparent volumetric gel to some elements with strokes (even before varnishing or between layers). However, try not to get carried away with this gel; I also recommend to look at real oil or acrylic paintings to feel the relief of strokes, then you will be easier to apply the gel realistically. At least on acrylic paintings there is not much relief at all, so I often do without gel.
Napkins with any motifs are suitable for gluing (except for motifs with clear edges – they will have to be added to create a beautiful background), or rice cards, or printouts on thin tracing paper. The thinner the paper, the more the texture of the canvas will be visible.
And try to avoid folds and underdrawings – it is very inconvenient to sand down folds on a relief surface, and underdrawings should be done a little differently than usual in decoupage – more picturesque, boldly, with strokes of accurately selected paint.
What to do if you don’t have a canvas on cardboard at hand? You can glue a dense fabric with clearly defined weaves of threads onto the cardboard:
- Cut out the fabric with allowances;
- Lay it on the cardboard, tuck the edges and glue;
- Priming with something. It is better more dense means that the cardboard from water less deformed (but it in any case you can dry it under the press, then it will level out, or just bend in the opposite direction).
Imitation decoupage on canvas
Another interesting option is to imitate decoupage on canvas. If you have a slightly thicker paper or simply do not have a canvas at hand, you can use this option.
We will need:
- A surface (this can be the back of a frame made of MDF or even cardboard, or even just the glass from the frame!);
- Primer or acrylic paint, possibly aerosol (for glass) – read about surface preparation with primers here;
- Putty without lumps, homogeneous consistency. Old is not very suitable, better fresh;
- The brush is construction bristles (not art);
- Motif, glue, varnish, brushes, etc., and the frame itself.
Stages of work:
- If our surface is a backdrop of MDF or dense cardboard, no preparation is needed. If it is glass from the frame, we degrease it and cover it with a layer of spray varnish or glass primer.
- We mix putty with primer or acrylic construction paint in a proportion of about 1:1. We will get a white composition that holds its shape quite well.
- Apply our mixture to the surface with a construction brush in vertical strips, as usual, the finishing stroke is carried out from one edge of the workpiece to the other. Your stripes should look like threads that go in one direction. Drying.
In process:
- Apply our mixture perpendicular to the first layer. These are the threads that go across (choose for yourself where you have the weft and where the base Dry.
- Our “canvas” is ready – you can glue the motif. And even though the lines are not always even, the picture will still look good.
Why is it important to use construction bristles? Because its pile is not a continuous row of one length, but more sparse, which allows us to leave more relief stripes at a greater distance from each other (unlike art bristles).
Glue the motif – and we get an imitation of painting with decoupage.
It’s just a matter of making a frame for our decoupage on canvas. The idea can be any, and in the next article I will give examples of three frames that are easy to design with your own hands (because our goal now is to decorate the walls quickly and easily, without complicated techniques and painting).
