Thursday, October 8, 2015

How to Put a Photo on a Canvas

This is a fun little trick to cheaply make canvas prints. In short, you just mod podge any photo to a canvas and paint the edges. Here are detailed instructions for you. 

Materials:
Canvas
High Quality Photo Print (You don't want ink that will smear or bleed)
Mod Podge
Brushes
Scissors or paper cutter
Paint

You can purchase the design you see in the photos in my Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShameronStudios




Start by trimming the photo to fit to canvas. You should use a canvas and photo that are the same size, but the canvas edged are slightly rounded and you don't want the photo to stick out past where the canvas rounds. You may need to trim about a 1/8"-1/4" off each side.


Next, paint the edge black (or any color that looks good with your photo). 


You don't need to go very far toward the center of the canvas because the photo will cover it.


You will probably need 2 coats to get it nice and solid.


Once the paint is dry, evenly spread a layer of Mod Podge on the canvas.


Working quickly, paint a layer of Mod Podge on the back of the photo.


Quickly line up the photo on the canvas and lay it down from one side to the other (the like peeling it off in reverse) to prevent bubbles. You may need to lift it and re-center it to get it just right and you might be able to slide it around a little to get it even.


After the photo is centered on the canvas, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge around the edged of the photo. This will help it blend into the canvas.


Because my photo had a very defined edge, I applied the Mod Podge up to the line. If you're using almost any other photo, you can paint it all over the photo in nice sweeping motions to give it the brush texture of a painting. Or just blend it into the edges. You may also want to add another coat of paint on the edges and feather it over the edges of the painting to make it blend into the photo.


The finished product!!! You can find this design available for Instant Download