DIY Canvas Print - Take 1

I've recently seen a few blog posts about making your own canvas print. I love this idea and thought I would give it a try with a picture I took of my new nephew. It would make a great Christmas gift for my sister and brother-in-law.


Here's the step by step on making a canvas print via photo transfer.


Supplies:
Canvas (I used 8"x16")
Picture printed on plain paper (since I was using a large size, I got mine printed at the UPS store - be sure to print it flipped horizontally as the mirror image will appear on the canvas)
Scissors
Gel Medium (I used Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel found at Hobby Lobby)
Foam Brush
Water Bottle
Newspaper

Cut your picture to fit the canvas. I cut mine a little bit bigger than the canvas so the image would wrap around the sides of the canvas.

Spread a thick layer of the gel medium all over the canvas.

Place the picture upside down on the canvas and smooth it with your fingers. Try to get out all of the bubbles. If you cut the picture a little bigger than the canvas, be sure to cover the sides with gel medium and press the paper against the sides. Let canvas try overnight on newspaper. (I use our awesome, very country, Pigeon Roost News.)

Now for the difficult part. Use a water bottle to wet the paper and rub the paper away with your fingers. You have to be very careful because you need to remove all the paper, but not the image. This takes a lot of patience.

My image looked pretty good after getting a lot of the paper off, but when it dried, there were still paper remnants that became visible. I tried wetting the canvas again to remove the paper residue, but it was hard to get it off without also taking off the image. I put the canvas under running water in hopes of disintegrating the paper that way instead of rubbing which at this point was taking off the image, but that didn't work.


In the end, I was left with....

Not such a great gift. Thankfully, the blogosphere has more than one way to make a canvas print so on to take 2. I really wanted the transfer method to work because I think it's the coolest, but sometimes, you just need to admit defeat. Stay tuned for take 2.