Printing On Canvas

Printing with digital grounds on cotton worked out well, so I was curious as to how an image would print on a rougher surface like canvas. My son needed a box to store the half dozen bow ties I’ve made for him, so I went rooting around and found the perfect vintage ad for a bow tie that lit up – the Glo – Bow!

I began by tracing the lid of the box on to the canvas.

I wanted to glue the image to the box – the only problem is that the digital ground is water soluble – meaning that you can’t launder it or get it wet. I was afraid that the glue would saturate the ink and ruin the image, so I needed a work around. I decided that a coat of Mod Podge would act as a barrier, and prevent the canvas from fraying when I cut it out. I brushed a thin coat of Mod Podge on the side of the canvas where I traced the box lid.

When the Mod Podge was dry, I flipped the canvas over and applied the digital ground in a horizontal, then a vertical direction, letting it dry completely between coats. I centered the canvas on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ piece of card stock, and taped down the top and one side with low tack tape. The I ran it through my printer with the tape toward the feed rollers.

I cut out the image using the pencil tracing as a guide. Then I applied a coat of Mod Podge to the lid of the box and laid the printed piece of canvas on top.

This is a process in progress which I’m still learning about – stay tuned!

 

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