Tutorial Tuesday! Birth of a Canvas Floorcloth

Good Morning bloggers..I have decided to post this follow along tutorial on Tuesdays so you can easily track it. Every week I will take you along with me as I design and create my canvas floorcloth. My hope is that you will come to realize how easy and so much fun these are to paint. Just remember...this is fun, so relax and don't take it too seriously...this is art, not politics ;-)

Base coated floorcloth...

Above is a 2'x3' pre-primed canvas from Canvasworksfloorcloths.com that I have base coated using a cream acrylic paint with a little walnut brown mixed in. Apply evenly using a 2-3 in good quality paint brush. Start in upper left and work your way to the right. Let base coat dry and cure overnight. Paint can feel dry to touch but still not actually cured and that could cause cracking and warping.

Taped off edge border w/ painters tape...

Make sure you secure the tape to avoid any bleed under, but not to worry..that is an easy fix too. I used the hem stitching as my guide, but you can make border any size. If you are feeling brave, skip the tape and wing it. We are not aiming for perfection.

Paint border left to right...

Use paint sparingly along the tape edge and never brush into the tape...always away, apply two coats of paint. Be sure to cover all the way to the edge so no base color shows. I am using Delta Tomato Spice Red.

Carefully remove tape when dry to touch...

Don't worry if some paint has bled under the tape. Use a small liner brush and touch up with your base coat. Hint...if you mixed your own basecoat colors be sure to make enough for touch-ups later.

Border after my cosmetic 'touch-up'...

Your floorcloth is now basecoated and has a nice border...

I used to buy my small 2' x 3' floorcloths from Michaels, which is fine for maybe your first one. They make a decent and inexpensive canvas floorcloth to start with. However, once you get going you will find that much better quality canvas' can be purchased on the internet. My favorite website is www.canvasworksfloorcloths.com , owned by Lisa Curry Mair. Lisa is an Historical expert on canvas floorcloths and her work is nothing less than stunning! Lisa sells very affordable and very high quality floorcloth blanks. You can even purchase them pre- base coated if desired. Hers will last much longer than the craft store cloths. I love her sewn in hems...much nicer than glued hems.

Next Tuesday we will add our second border color and start on the floorcloth design...hope to see you then. Until nest tuesday, be kind and stay creative.

P.S. NEVER EVER fold your floorcloth..if you need to set it aside while working on it, after completely dry, loosely roll it up and set it aside! Again ..never fold! Ok..I am done yelling at you now ;-)