I found some 8 x 11 canvas wrapped frames on sale for pennies and thought I would try an experiment with my photography. Above, you see the canvas wrapped frame and one of my photos, printed at Staples on plain paper, ink jetted for only 39 cents. In the can is some clear Acrylic Varnish.
I brushed a heavy coat of varnish on the canvas and on the printed surface of the printed page. I took great care to place the photo squarely on the canvas and even more care to push any bubbles and wrinkles out. Like hanging wallpaper, I suppose.
In this photo, you see a different print and this time I used an off-white pure acrylic paint. Same method.
Here is a photo I transferred to a piece of particle board with varnish. There are too many distress marks on it and the darkness of the board took clarity away from the photo. I will not do this method again.
But I got ahead of myself. After applying the photo with the paint or varnish, I let it dry over night. The next day I moistened the photo paper and gently rolled the paper off the back of the photo. Fingers work best for this. The ink (photo) transferred onto the canvas and was fixed in place in the dry acrylic after having been dissolved by the wet acrylic. In the above photo you can see that I am about 1/3 done removing the moistened soft paper.
There are a few distress marks but it is unavoidable. It adds character and makes the photo look old.
This one turned out the best.
When they were dry, I put a protective coat of satin varnish on them to seal in the ink and 'fix' the photo.
Next, I went to my wood pile and found some Pine branches from my latest prunings that were a bit longer and wider than the canvas.
I cut out 1/4 of each branch to accommodate the depth of the canvas frame and then cut the pieces to length.
I now have one frame and two photos. I could not find 4 more suitable sticks. Not quite sure which photo to frame permanently, but probably the Sunflower.
I am trying to come up with some other ideas on how to frame these canvas boards because the prints are 8 x 11 and the frames are a wee bit bigger than that. Ideally, I would like to wrap the photo around the edge of the canvas and just hang it that way, but now I have a small unprinted border each time I transfer a photo.
Does anybody have any ideas?
1 comment:
My answer is go to London Drugs and have them do it right from the start. By the time you have figured it out, you will have spent the same amount of money.
That is for the wrap around canvas. They will size the photo for you and show you what it will look like before you commit.
Takes away the joy and frustration, of course of accomplishing it yourself.
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