Tag: Art

Reverse That Frame

While getting ready for an upcoming Maker’s Market, I’m reminded of a time I was in a crafting group. A couple of times a year the group would do a special session of crafting binges. One of the first things I made with this group was a reverse canvas. It’s one of the simplest crafting transformations that is so satisfying.

If you haven’t heard of a reverse canvas, or have yet to make one yourself, grab a framed canvas, screw driver or staple remover, paint, exacto knife, and stapler or staple gun. This is all you need to make your own reverse canvas.

At any of your craft stores, or even dollar store, you can find two types of canvases: frames canvas and canvas flat. The flat looks like canvas that has been glued to a piece of cardboard. (You can make this in a similar fashion as you’ll see with this reverse canvas.) A canvas frame is the one where you see the canvas stretched over a wooden frame.

First, you want to flip your canvas frame over and remove the staples from the back. I’ve had some frames where this was easy. And there have been a few frames where I had to work to get those staples off. If you find that the staples don’t want to release from the wood, grab a piece of needle nose pliers. This will give you enough leverage where you can wiggle the staples out.

Don’t worry if your prying scars this side of the frame. With all the holes and splintering, this side of the frame will remain the backside that no one will see.

I’ve heard many crafters recommend using the exacto knife and cutting the canvas free from the frame by cutting on the side of the staple between the staple and the outside edge of the frame. If you don’t want to spend the time removing the staples, this is the method that you will love. The down side of this option is that the finished back of your reverse canvas is not going to be smooth as it could be But as I mentioned before, no one is going to see the back of the frame once it’s on the wall.

The rest of this walk through is under the assumption that you remove the staples. There are also other ways of reapplying the canvas, such as using hot glue, but I’m going to show you how to stretch the canvas. This is going to give you the best quality and make it look less DIY and more professional in finish.

Paint to Dress It Up

Of course you have the option to paint your frame and canvas at any point in time. My timing of choice is to paint the frame and canvas once they are separated from each other.

As you can see here, for one of my Market products, when you paint them separately, you are free to personalize and customize your project anyway that you want.

If you want to spray paint, you can. You can use glitter or other crafting medium. When the pieces are separated, you will never have the accidental over spray or find the need to tape off to protect one element while you’re working with the other. And if you want to try your hand at free hand painting one element, you can work absolute certainty of the work that you’re doing.

Once canvas and frame are dry, you are ready to put your canvas back on your frame.

TIP: If you wanted a pattern on the canvas (like I did above), make sure you take a look at your frame on top of your canvas. Make sure your lines, design, landscape or portrait are lined up like you want them in the frame. You may find that what you painted on the canvas doesn’t line up inside the frame like it did when you were just looking at the canvas.

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It’s Time to Stretch

If you pre-lined up your canvas and frame (as described in the tip above), you will need to hold on to both pieces and carefully flip it over. Make sure that the canvas doesn’t slip. If it does, you may need to reposition it.

If you have a solid canvas, or one that doesn’t need positioned, start of by putting your frame front side down on your table or work surface. The staple holes side should be up. Next, place your canvas down with paint side down.

Find the center of the long side of your frame and staple your canvas to that spot.

Next, find the center of the other side of your frame and pull the canvas tight to that spot. You may need to use both hands. This will give you control in how tight you will make the canvas in the end. Once you feel the tension, staple the canvas, tight, to the center of that frame arm.

Find the center of the short end of your frame. Pull the canvas tight to that point. You should notice that you can pull it more than you did with the first pull you made. Staple it in place.

Find the center of the last side of the frame and pull the canvas tight. At this point, I start pulling the canvas to the outside edge of the frame and using the frame edge as leverage to keep the canvas tight as you staple.

As you look at these pictures you are going to really see the warping in the canvas just from these initial 4 staples. This is normal and in no way reflects the final product. In fact, the more that I pull the canvas, the more tension that I add. I find that if I gradually add more tension as I go the least likely I am of ripping my canvas from pulling too hard.

After these initial staples are in place, the next step is to aim your stapler about 2 inches to the side of center staple. Pull and stretch the canvas toward the nearest corner, in a diagonal pull. The original pulls were in an up/down directional pull. But after you place the first 4 staples, you want to pull diagonally to prevent bubble like ripples from forming around already set staples.

Another benefit to diagonal pulls is that this is how I get my canvas to keep tight like the skin stretched on top of a bongo.

Another truck to keeping a tight canvas is that as you start pulling diagonally, you want to alternate directions that you’re pulling in.

For example, if your frame (after the 4 initial staples) is orientated in front of you with the long frame size on the top and the short on the sides, keep your frame in this orientation. Start with a staple 2 inches to the right of the staple on you top long side. Then drop to the bottom long side and pull the canvas to the bottom left corner with adding a staple 2 inches to the left of the the bottom long frame side center staple. Then for the short frame side on your right hand side, pull the canvas toward that right bottom corner and place your staple 2 inches below the center staple. Finally move to the left hand side short frame side, pull the canvas toward the upper corner , and place the staple 2 inches above the center staple.

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With these four staples in place, we’re now going to staple on the other side of the center staple to balance out the tension that we’re putting in the canvas.

The last pull was toward the upper left corner (on the short side). So now we’re going to go to the bottom right corner (on the long side). Pull to the lower right corner and staple to the right of the bottom center staple. Next, pull to the upper left corner and staple to the left of the upper center staple. Then pull to the upper right corner and staple above the right center staple. Finally pull to the lower left corner and staple bellow the left center staple.

At this point the canvas has an even pull and it’s a good time to check the front to see if any adjustments need to be made. If there is no design to the canvas you can keep stretching and stapling in opposite directions until the canvas is fully attached to the frame.

If you have a design, now is a great time to check to make sure that you are stretching with enough balanced tension that the design is still straight.

Is the design pulling or warping toward a short/long side of the frame? Then you pull the canvas tighter in the opposite direction. This will take pulling toward the two corners opposite of where it was gravitating toward.

If the design is gravitating toward a corner, you want to pull tightest on the opposite corner to bring the design back to its original orientation.

Once you’ve made the corrections that needed to be made (keep checking back to the front after each set of 4 staples to keep an eye on what you need to do), continue with the stretching and stapling until the canvas is reattached to the frame.

Time for a Trim

As you see here, all of the original funkiness from the 4 original staples has worked itself out. The center is smooth and tight. On the outside edges of the canvas you can still see bunches and creases of where I pulled tight against the frame (using it as leverage to pull the canvas tighter). None of this matters because we will trim off the excess canvas.

Flip the canvas over so you can see the front face. Grab your exacto knife. You are going to cut into the canvas at about a 45° angle behind the frame. This will cut enough of the canvas back so that you won’t see the edges from the front of the frame. The benefit of the exacto knife is that you can run the flat edge of the knife against the edge of the frame and cut a straight line.

It is possible to cut away the excess canvas with a pair of scissors. You will want to pay a little extra attention to where you are cutting. You will want to get the scissors in there so that you are cutting behind the frame. But at the same time you want to make sure that you aren’t cutting too close to or between the staples. Just like any taunt fabric, canvas will rip along the grain. This is particularly true when you have the tension that we built in with stretching the canvas.

And now you see the final product with the excess canvas cut away!

This particular canvas is ready for the next step in the product that I’m making, which is a 3D wall art.

But you can consider this as a crafting blank that you can add anything to it. You can stencil paint a design on it. Maybe you want to mod podge a photograph or note from a loved one. Or there could be a decal that you want to attach to this canvas. You could also have an early childhood stick figure drawing from your child or grand child that you want to frame in a unique way. This may be what you’re looking for.

There are so many different things that you can do with a reverse frame. You are only limited by your imagination.

One last thing I want to mention, before you add your favorite decorations to this canvas, think about how you want to hang this reverse canvas. The frame can stand by itself on a counter or table top as long as what you add is very light. Otherwise, like in my case of 3D art, you will want to add a mode of hanging.

Some options for hanging your art are:

  • drill a couple of holes into the back of the frame where finishing nails can hold up your frame on a wall
  • staple a long bit of ribbon to the two top corners of your frame
  • nail a portrait anchor on the back

You’re not limited to these ideas. But they are a few of the most common ones.

How do you use reverse frames?

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New Twist on Carrots

Making a new style out of throw away materials

The one bit of insight you have, when working for someone else, is just how much a business throws out. And the quality of their garbage. And you also gain insight as to what kinds of businesses subsidize other businesses for you marking your product down for their employees.

I personally know of a few companies who have switched to the Lean Operational method of running a business. And even then it still, somehow, manages to amaze me how much gets thrown out.

Maybe it’s the fact that I grew up where we didn’t have as much as other people around us. Maybe it’s the fact that my mom created magic when she made the gifts we were given on less than a shoe string budget. Maybe it’s the fact that I carry on that frugality because our family budget can go farther and do more things when I reallocate and make do with the little I have, so the hard work of my husband can go elsewhere for family provisions.

This craft here is me on a plate, for you. This is me thinking outside of the box. This is me using materials where half of what you see is stuff that most people throw away.

If you are looking for a new infusion to your farm house style or Easter decor, this project is for you!

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Materials

  • 8×10 Canvas Frame
  • Teal and Metallic Gold Acrylic Paint, with paint brush
  • 2 Complimentary Ribbons
  • HTV Vinyl (Permanent Vinyl is another option)
  • Garden Now Open SVG
  • Leaves from Silk Flowers
  • Hot Glue Gun with Glue Sticks
  • Pliers
  • Crafting Knife or Scissors
  • Staples (optional)
  • Sandpaper (optional)

Prepping the Frame

First you want to remove the canvas from our frame so you can paint the frame for your reverse canvas. (If you’re new to Reverse Canvas, hold on for a moment and I will circle back to help you through this process.) Paint the front and sides of your frame with Teal paint. If you keep the paint very thin, you will notice that the paint is dry to the touch in about three minutes. For this example, I went in a circle around the frame twice with the minimum amount of paint (dry brush method, where it look likes and almost feels like you’re brushing on already dry paint) and ended with full coverage of color with no waiting time to apply the Gold paint. It’s really not in my budget to play with Gold Leaf. I would use it for a client. But for the rustic feel I went for, metallic gold paint was enough to add a smidge of class to an otherwise rustic feeling project. And the gold, I used somewhere around a nickel size drop of paint and hit the corners and some edges. Then I set the frame to the side to dry while I added the HTV to the canvas.

First Time Creating a Reverse Canvas: From the back side of the Canvas remove the staples with a pair of pliers. (There are two different methods of putting the canvas back on the frame, which I’ll cover in steps ahead. I just want to let you know from the beginning, if you remove the staples right from the beginning, it can save you from potential problems in future steps. It’s not mandatory, but definitely one of my highly recommended steps.) If small holes next to the staples happen, don’t be afraid, you will not see them later on. If the staples are stubborn, feel free to cut the canvas next to the staple, with a crafting knife, and release the canvas. Set the canvas to the side and move forward with painting your frame, mentioned above.

TIPS: If you’re keeping with the rustic look, there’s no need to sand your frame. If you want a smooth looking frame, you will definitely want to sand your frame before you paint it. If the frame staples are visually unappealing to you, I highly recommend dry wall spackle. You can find some that is purple when you apply it and turns white when it’s dry. It’s very easy and convenient to use, with next to no guess work. A palate knife or even your finger is all you need to apply the spackle. Once it dries, you’ll quickly run over it with sandpaper a couple times. This will smooth out your edges. And when you paint your frame, no one will know that you used putty to fill in the frame cracks. (This is the same method I use when I want to use a frame that for one reason or another was gouged or dropped.

Applying Vinyl to the Canvas

When you go to cut your HTV (High Temperature Vinyl) from your cutting machine, remember to mirror your image. Once you’ve weeded your vinyl, you will place your frame on top of your canvas, so that you can see exactly where you want to press your carrier sheet down on the canvas. (This step is mostly important if you have a few small holes in the canvas that you’re working around. If you’re canvas came off the frame undamaged, than feel free to skip using the fram as a point of reference.) Follow our vinyl’s directions for heat and pressing time. These settings vary. Once you’re vinyl is attached, proceed to reattaching your canvas to your frame.

What if I choose to use Permanent Vinyl? I have successfully used permanent vinyl on canvas. I prefer HTV over 651 (or permanent) because once I have it adhered I do not have to worry for one moment about humidity causing the vinyl to lift. But please do not be shy with using permanent vinyl. You will still want to use an iron to press your Canvas. If there’s any moisture in the fabric, the iron will get that dried out and prepped for your permanent vinyl. Once you place your vinyl, you will want to make sure to have your project on a hard surface that you can press down with a scraper or squeegee. The more attention that you use with burnishing that vinyl down will pay off in the end with a longer life to your craft. Remove your transfer tape and then move forward with attaching the canvas back onto the frame.

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Reapply Canvas to the Frame

There are two ways of doing this; hot glue gun or staples.

Method Hot Glue Gun: Apply a liberal amount of hot glue to the back of your frame. Flip it over and position it over your canvas before pressing down and attaching the two together.

The benefit of this method is that it is so quick! Any skill level of crafter can do this application. The important thing to remember is that you have to move quickly so your glue doesn’t cool down on you. AND you will want to try and manage how much glue you use. Too little and the canvas won’t want to stick to your frame. Too much and you will have guaranteed seepage of glue that you will have to clean up. My recommendation is err on the side of a little too much and keep the glue a little off center. It’s better if it seeps out of the outside edge instead of the inside edge. With an inside edge seep, you will need to try and scrape the glue off the canvas or risk having what looks like slug trail on your canvas.

Method Staples: Flip your frame upside down. Position your canvas on top of the frame. Take your staple gun and staple at the top center of your frame. Gently pull your canvas down and place a staple in the center bottom of the frame. Gently pull the canvas to one side and staple in the center of that side. Gently pull on the other side of the canvas and staple in the center of that side. This is called Stretching Canvas. You will then go through the whole rotation again, moving out from center. On a frame this size, you should have about 5 staples across the top and bottom. And about 7 down the sides.

In my opinion I recommend stretching your canvas with the Staple Method. Anytime you add anything to canvas, if it’s not taunt, the weight of your project will warp the appearance of your canvas.

I’m in a crafting group where many of the crafters there swear by the hot glue gun method. In that group I withhold this information because in that setting it’s more important to have these ladies soak up the success of accomplishing a craft that they might not otherwise have attempted.

Here, I want to give you further information because I want you to make an education decision based off of the goal you are after. If you are making this to sell at a craft fair, or you’re decorating for an event that you want professionalism for, I want to set you up for success in these moments. And I know we are not face to face so I can’t use my tone or non-verbal cues to fill you in on this. I am by no means dogging on the hot glue method. In fact, in this example I’m showing you I couldn’t find my staple gun and so I in fact used a hot glue gun. I know the value of stretching canvas and so even with a hot glue gun, I still stretched my canvas. It took much longer than with a staple gun. And if I were using something of more weight than paper carrots, I can assure you that I would not trust hot glue to keep my standard of professionalism to clients. (I know my limitations with hot glue guns, and I’m woman enough to admit that there are many other crafters out there who are geniuses with hot glue. I have skills, but I am not a hot glue gun goddess.)

I want you to feel comfortable with your skill level and what goals are for this project. If what you have available is a hot glue gun, you’re not at all comfortable with stretching canvas, and you’re new to reverse canvas making–PERFECT! Know that you can make a beautiful and professional looking canvas using this method. If you want the challenge and extra security that staples offer, than stretching your canvas is exactly what you’re looking for.

Once your canvas is attached, you will want to trim off the extra canvas. You can either use a crafting knife and cut away on the outer edge of the frame. Or you can use a pair of scissors, angle you blade into the back of the frame, and trim the canvas back.

With clean edges, it’s now time to add those carrots!

Carrots

This is the part that I’m most excited about. These carrots are made completely from scraps that most of the times end up in the trash or recycling bins.

Most of these segments are made from triangles and parallelogram scraps about 3″ wide. Some wider, some less. All of these were from scraps from an explosion box I made a few months back. The card stock was 5 different textures and shades of orange. In fact, one of the orange papers was actually faded from being left out in front of a window. The segments you see above were not triangles and so I pre-folded them in triangular forms to make it quicker to shape and hold with a small drop of glue.

These single cones I then stacked with each other. On a few of the carrots I placed the glue on the back of the cone. Most looked better with the attachment point being at the front of the cone.

I made a few extra carrots than I had space for on the canvas, because I wanted to have some choices of which ones looked better than others. In fact, one carrot had a herringbone look to it. And since it didn’t have the same feel as the others, that one got set aside for a future project.

Once I got the length of carrots that I was happy with (a few were 4″ long and others were as much as 8″), I went into my bin of silk flowers that have seen better days. In fact, they were part of the flowers that I bought from a wedding planner who was selling all of her inventory. I was after her roses, but she gave me her entire flower collection. These leaves were actually from some geraniums and daffodils. The daffodils were actually really beat up and were just collecting dust, because I couldn’t use them for events. And this was the moment that I could actually give these greens a purpose. Other than purchasing silk ferns, these greens were actually quite perfect.

What makes these carrots so special in the crafting world is that it embraces the cubism element from the art world. I’ve seen a lot of carrots made from yarn and cloth, styrofoam and foam. These paper carrots give talking points and structure. And this structure is what was great for placing in the frame, with the ability to break free from the frame (giving a nod to surrealism).

Finishing Touches

Once I found the placement that I liked for these carrot shapes, I glued them down with hot glue gun.

Due to the light weight nature of this project, attaching the ribbon with hot glue is enough. However, if you’re creating for a professional item, you will want to use a stapler to attach you bottom layer of ribbon to the frame. For the top ribbon attachment, E6000 glue would be better than hot glue. But hot glue does do the job for a non-sellable project.

Please comment below and tell me how this spring time project turned out for you. Pictures are even better. I love seeing what other people make!

The SVG used in this post can be found here

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From Iron to Press

Background photo created by senivpetro – www.freepik.com

This past week I was following a Facebook Group dedicated to Brides who are DIYing their wedding. And my heart went out to several of these ladies. I remember DIYing my wedding and clearly remember the stress of putting together something beautiful and feeling that dreaded time crunch. It was difficult to cut that stress and maintain some proper brain function to problem solve. Sometimes it was just the lack of sleep that amplified the struggle a little more.

So Brides, if you are struggling with Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV), this week is for you. And if you’re a crafter, new to HTV, you will enjoy some insight between tools and how they stack up with application.

There are two common problems with HTV that can be daunting if you don’t know the cause. One is movement of HTV while pressing. The other is a halo around your words or image. (You may need to zoom in on the wood sign photos to get a clearer visual on what I’m talking about.)

Your HTV Moves

There are a couple of different reasons why your HTV moves. Depending on the material you’re using, the carrier sheet might not be tacky enough to hold it in place. For example, this picture was from my first attempt to applying HTV to wood. There was just not much for the carrier sheet to grab onto. I sanded that wood down smooth and stained it. So think of it like you standing on a sheet of ice. Yes, you can stand in place on ice. But the moment there is a force that comes against you (wind, another person touching you), you’re going to move. With nothing to grip to, chances are your carrier sheet is going to shift on you once you start to press.

Solution One: position your carrier sheet and secure it in place with painter’s or masking tape. But make sure that you are not ironing or pressing over the tape, the heat will cause the adhesive to stick to your project. If you need to have your heat source on top of your tape, use teflon tape. This tape was designed to be pressed without depositing adhesive. (Tip: I always dog ear the ends of my teflon tape so I don’t have to dig and fight to pull the tape off.)

Another reason why HTV shifts is from the movement you apply before the vinyl has time to adhere to your project surface. This tends to be the most likely cause of shift for DIY Brides. Chances are you are using an iron because that is the heat tool you have on hand and saves you to money to use elsewhere.

I also used an iron for the first 4 months that I began using HTV.

Solution Two: prevent your iron from shifting your HTV by lowering and raising your iron straight down and up. I know this seem contrary to what you read from other writers who talk about how the iron does not have uniform heat. This is true. The iron doesn’t have uniform heat. Your steam chanels won’t adhere your vinyl. And if you forget to turn your steam off, it will also warp the vinyl.

The best results with an iron came when I place my iron straight on, press down with maximum pressure for about 5 seconds. Lift straight up and move to the next section. Place straight down and press with maximum pressure for 5 seconds. Repeat until you’ve given your whole vinyl this initial press. By doing this, your vinyl has a great initial contact and gives you a little more freedom to glide your iron over a single spot. When I say glide, I mean remove all your pressure and slide the iron over to your new spot with the amount of pressure of you using a finger or two to push your iron over. If you iron your vinyl like you iron your shirt, the vinyl is going to shift. But you do have to move your iron to make sure you get a smooth application.

Using an iron takes far longer than the 15-30 seconds promised on packaging and websites. That is the recommended press times for heat presses. However, if you take the extra time to minimize shifting, you will definitely get an excellent quality that no one will ever guess that you used your clothing iron to apply.

(If you find that your vinyl is not secure, so you see the grains of fabric of your material, you will need to go back through and maximize press again. Follow it up with another gentle glide and you’ll keep everything looking smooth.)

I use this same process when I apply HTV onto a wood project; maximized pressure followed with a gentle glide (even with a mini press).

Alternate Heating Sources

There are the three types of heat sources that I have used with HTV.

Not my photo. This is not an endorsement, nor am I promoter of this iron. This is a stock photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The iron is not my favorite but I have to admit that this is where I started. I have no regrets. And I value my experience at this stage in my HTV crafting.

From there, I moved up to the mini press. I cannot tell you how excited and happy I was for this new tool. I didn’t have the fun money to spend for anything more elaborate, but I remembered how this was a game changer for me. One shirt took me 5-7 minutes to press with an iron. The mini press brought that time down to about 3 minutes.

When I had the opportunity, I invest in my 12 x 15 inch heat press. And it quickly became my heating source of choice for everything. I use it for clothes, canvas art, small thin wood… if I know it won’t melt, I use my heat press. The only time it takes me longer than a minute to press is when I’m layering my HTV.

I know many DIY Brides don’t have the budget to get the heat press for making your decor at a quicker pace. But I did want to bring to your attention that if you are stressing over the time it is taking you to press your HTV with an iron, there are other options available. And they do come with the added bonus of eliminating the problem of your HTV shifting on you.

Halo or Ghosting Effect

If you look closely you will see the around all of the letters that there is a halo next to the gold vinyl. This is actually the HTV adhesive that has been exposed because the vinyl shrunk under the heat. Translation, my mini press could have been lowered to medium heat and I should have pressed for less time. I over compensated because this was my first time using HTV on wood. I wanted to make sure that the vinyl was going to stick forever.

Every Bride wants the details to be perfect, right down to not seeing that halo around the HTV that you applied to your decorations. The trick to not overcompensating on the heat is that HTV will tell you if you haven’t pressed long enough. So always err on the side of not long enough and add up to 5 seconds at a time of additional pressing.

HTV is good at telling you is when it’s not “done”. When you go to peel off the carrier sheet, the HTV will stick to the carrier sheet and it just will not let go. At this point you can go a little heavy on the couple extra seconds. However if it releases from the carrier sheet but isn’t fully adhered, lower the sheet and finger press the vinyl flat, then apply just a couple more seconds. When you get the sheet to release, you may find a stray wrinkle. Just smooth it down gently with your finger tips (while the vinyl is still hot), using a feathery touch. If you’re too hard, you’ll smudge your vinyl in the opposite direction. So the the lightest contact is all the pressure you need to smooth it.

HTV is such a wonderful medium to use when personalizing decorations, clothes, and other items. At first, I know it can seem daunting, especially if you start to feel that it’s giving you some attitude and you don’t have vinyl to spare. Take a deep breath. This is going to work out. Your projects are going to be amazing.

If you have any other questions or you seem to have an issue with HTV that doesn’t seem to be caused from shifting or haloing, please reach out to me. Let’s figure this out! Because if you can see in your mind what you want to do, there is a way to get that exact image.

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