The idea for this art came from a tutorial that I found on Pinterest. I knew I wanted something large to hang over the mantle in our new house. The blogger who inspired me used a wood board but I had to switch it up to fit my needs. The need being something to cover the cable jack and power outlet that are on the wall over the fireplace. (I didn't want our flat screen mounted there, much to my husband's dismay.)
Instead of using a flat board, I bought a 40x30 canvas from Michael's. The depth of the underside of the canvas covered the jack & outlet perfectly.
If you are hanging this on a flat wall, I'd suggest using the board. It was difficult to get the paint chips to stay flat on the canvas because the canvas is flexible.
I went with the middle-grade canvas, not the student or the pro. After my coupon, it was about $8.00.
You will need:
canvas or board, in your choice of size
paint chips - lots (sorry Home Depot!)
spray adhesive
acrylic paint for edge of board or canvas
mod podge
wood stain
acrylic paint in metallic color for finish
brushes & sponges
A way to hang your original masterpiece. My hubby picked up a picture hanging kit at Home Depot and we used the eye hooks and wire.
I chose a variety of colors for my paint chips and trimmed them to 2.5" squares using a simple paper cutter like this one. Then I laid them out on my canvas in a pretty random order. I didn't want a pattern but I also tried to avoid clusters of the same color.
Then I very carefully picked the chips up in the order I had them arranged and put them aside.
I didn't want the edges of my canvas to be white so I chose a dark brown acrylic paint.
This is after one coat of the brown. I ended up doing two.
Make sure you bring the paint on to the front of your canvas just in case your paint chips don't line up perfectly to every edge.
After that dries for a bit, you can start gluing down the paint chips. I started at the top left corner and worked down in a column. I sprayed my adhesive on the canvas and just pressed down. When it was time to spray for the next column, I covered my already glued paint chips with a piece of newspaper. I didn't want them getting all gunked up with glue.
All done!
Pour Mod Podge all over and then spread it out evenly. I used a 2" wide paint brush and brushed in all different directions.
I like the texture of the brush strokes.
I ended up doing three coats of Mod Podge, letting each one dry for about 30 minutes before applying the next. Then, I let it dry overnight.
In the morning, it was time for the stain. I chose Dark Walnut Minwax.
I don't know of a way to do this that isn't messy. I just poured some on...
spread it out...
and then wiped it off. (I let the stain sit for about 10 minutes before wiping.)
In the above photo, you can see how the stain settles in the spaces between the paint chips. It also accentuates the brush stroke texture. It just dirties the piece up a little. :) I did 3 coats of stain total.
Now it's time for the last step. I wanted a warm finish so I added gold metallic acrylic paint in with Mod Podge.
This photo shows a mixture of 2 parts Mod Podge to 1 part paint. It ended up being much too gold for my tastes. I added lots more Mod Podge to tone down the gold.
Covered in my golden Mod Podge and drying.
Tada!!! The statement piece in my still-very-bare living room. Not bad for a few hours worth of my time and less than $25! (I already had some of my supplies like the Mod Podge and used Michael's & AC Moore coupons to save also.)
