Friday 16 January 2015

Adventures in DIY: The Geometric Canvas edition

I wish I could think of a snappier title for this blog post but I really can't.

Back in October I read a post at Oh Gosh that afforded me a ruddy brilliant nosy around Emma's new living room. We all love a good nosy around don't we?

I immediately noticed a gigantanormous canvas above her fireplace and thought to myself, "I need one of those."

Lo and behold that clever lady totally made it herself and not only did she make it herself, but she also posted a flippin' DIY tutorial on how to do it.

God I love the blogging world sometimes, I really do.

So I promptly went out and bought a tiny canvas because I was too chicken to do it on a massive one for my first attempt, dug out all the yellow and grey match pots I had bought to make over some coasters when I was performing major revamping on my Ikea Lack Table, and some Frog Tape.


I dutifully taped off my pattern.

Big huge important note.

I actually found this hugely difficult. I don't know if my brain just doesn't work in the same way as most people's but I found it really hard to make triangles.

I know.

I would make so many and everything would be good and then there would be a random confusion of tape and I would be left with a gap that most definitely had more than three sides. I don't know. Maybe it's just me but if anyone else attempts this please will you let me know if you have the same difficulties as me? Because I really don't want to feel alone in this one.


I immediately started slapping colour on with really very little regard for what I was actually doing and with no major thoughts about colour placement. I decided I didn't want two triangles of the same shade next to one another and then pretty much closed my eyes and hoped for the best and somehow it all seemed to work out, even though I only had two shade of yellow and two shades of grey.


I very patiently waited for the paint to dry, painted my second coat and patiently waited for it to dry and then went about peeling off my Frog Tape which apparently doesn't bleed.

Lying fuckers.


It bled all over the place as you might be able to see on one of the grey triangles in the above photo.

But apart from that...

Ohmygod I loved it. I loved it. I loved it so much that I was furious that I'd bought the world's smallest canvas to do it on and wished I had one three times the size.

The absolute best part of this project is the speed of it. For people who are insanely impatient like me, this is so incredibly satisfying it's hard to put into words. I started this in the late afternoon and it was all finished by the time I went to bed. Amazing.

In fact it was so quick that when I next had a few hours I sat down and made another one for my nephew's bedroom.


As long I'm keeping myself busy, right?

I had a similar cock up with the Frog Tape on the second canvas but as long as you have a small brush and some white paint (and a steady hand) you can get any wibbly edges tidied up pretty quickly.

How much would these make awesome presents for people? They would think you were a) a genius and b) had spent hours on it when in fact neither are true.

Brilliant.

So go and show Em some appreciation for her canvas which really is a work of art, plus her pictures are much better, mostly because she hasn't taken them with her phone, or at the dead of night because she was too over-excited to wait for better light to take a photo.

I've a lot to learn when it comes to this blog photo stuff...

12 comments:

  1. They look great, goes to show that often the simplest ideas are the best.

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  2. Now that I think about it, I can see that doing triangles would be awkward. It's one of those things that looks easy but when you think about making the actual shapes...mind blank. I love how it turned out though, I want a go! :)

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  3. Love them, all about the straight lines! Have you thought about using a thick black marker & metal rule to outline the triangles and to cover the bleeding from the tape?

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  4. When I used frog tape to mask my walls I used the following trick...
    1. mask
    2. paint over edges of the tape with the colour you are not masking (ie here you would have used white) this creates a barrier if a little does bleed underneath.
    3. wait for it to dry (sorry)
    4. paint over with desired colours and remove tape when paint is still wet.
    TaDah! neat edges :)

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  5. I have canvases and I have acrylic paint. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO doing this!!!!!!!!!x
    You've done a GREAT job!x

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  6. I'm with Hazel, the only thing I've ever found that works with masking tape is to peel off before it dries. And even then it usually bleeds and messes up anyway.Stupid tape.

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  7. This looks AMAZING, totally envious right now!

    Maria xxx

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  8. Love it - we have a nice big space on our bedroom wall that I've been thinking could do with a canvas in it!

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  9. FROG TAPE IS SHIT.

    That is all.

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  10. Actually not quite all...

    The canvas looks bloody lovely! I am super impressed - I would also be baffled by the triangleosity of it all. Patterns and my brain do not get on.

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  11. The geometric touch feels so minimalist, neat and tasteful! Such cute creation and color combination, and oh, the versatility, too! It can be hanged anywhere! How you created the triangular shapes seemed hard, but the effect is fantastic nevertheless. Thanks for sharing!

    Faye Fowler @ Master Copy Print

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