DIY Tuesday: Transferring Photos to Canvas

Easy and inexpensive, here is a little tutorial on how to transfer your favorite photos to canvas!

Let me just state that I don’t think I used enough of the gel medium, which gave my photos a “vintage/patchy” look.  I am okay with the look, since I’ll be hanging these in our living room that has a sort of vintage wedding picture theme taking place anyway.

Supplies:

• A blank canvas. I purchased mine at Michael’s this week because they are having a canvas sale–40% off!
• Your photo printed out in black and white to match the size of your canvas. An inkjet or laser copy will work.
• Gel Medium. You can find a wide variety of gel mediums on Amazon, but can also be purchased at craft stores.
• Paint Brush
• Spray Bottle of Water

Step 1: Choose the picture you’d like to use. Make sure it prints out black and white and the same dimensions as your canvas.

Step 2: Apply the gel medium generously to your canvas.

Step 3: Lay your image face down into the gel. Keep in mind, whatever image you decide to use, it will show up reversed on the canvas. Allow the image and gel to dry overnight.

Step 4: Spray your canvas with water and then gently rub the paper off using your fingers. This is a pretty messy process, but can easily be cleaned up. Anyway, the ink from your print out will adhere to the gel.

Overall, I am pretty happy with the outcome. I think if I would have used more gel medium, there wouldn’t have been so many white blotchy areas within the pictures but of course, you never know how a project is going to turn out.