Painted Floor Cloth

Materials:

canvas (with weight of 14.7 ounces - lightest 11 ounces)
black gesso
4" paintbrush
paintbrushes
paint palette
plastic for wall
pushpins or tacks
acrylic paint; white, rust, brown, yellow, purple, green and blue
sponges, rags
water-based polyurethane
glue gun and hot glue sticks
scissors

1. Tack a piece of plastic onto the wall to prevent the paint from seeping through the canvas and sticking to the wall.

2. Stretch a piece of 4' x 4' canvas onto the wall over the plastic. Place a tack or pushpin in the center top of the canvas. Pull the canvas taught straight down and secure with a pushpin.

3. Place a tack or pushpin in the center of one side. Pull the canvas taught over to the other side. Place a pushpin in the center of the opposite side.

4. Go back to the top and pull up and out to the corner.

5. Repeat on all other corners. Stretch the canvas to make sure there are no wrinkles (figure A).

6. Apply black gesso to the canvas with a 4-inch paintbrush (figure B). The gesso can be thinned a little with water. Let dry for approximately four hours.

7. Remove the cloth from the wall. Cut the edges approximately 1- 2-inches wider than the desired hem (figure C).

8. Snip the four corners on a diagonal about 1 inch from the outside edge (figure D).

9. Fold the corners in just a tiny bit but do not glue them. Fold the hem edges to the back.

10. Hot-glue the hem to the back (figure E). Wipe away excess glue with a cotton rag.

11. Place the floor cloth right side up on a flat surface. Draw the sketch of the design on the floor cloth with white acrylic paint (figure F).

12. Squeeze acrylic paint colors into a paint palette and paint the design (figure G) with a 1-inch paintbrush. Let dry.

13. Paint border details around the sides of the floor cloth (figure H). Let dry.

14. Apply polyurethane to the front of the painted floor cloth and let dry.

15. Apply polyurethane to the back of the floor cloth and let dry.

Website: www.impressionsmedia.com/kate.htm