Silhouette Saturday

I'm back for another edition of Silhouette Saturday. I have been working on more canvas pieces (which is driving my husband crazy -- he hates unframed pieces). Yesterday, I made a really cool piece for spring.

I started with a canvas board. I got a packet of ten on sale at Michaels for $2.99 (so, of course, I bought three packets! I cleaned them out!). While you can't hang these unless you frame them, they work well being propped up for seasonal decorations. I don't like hanging seasonal pieces on the wall (but I am going to get over this aversion, thanks to 3M Command Hooks!).

Anyway, blank canvas. I printed out a cute Spring Subway piece from the Silhouette store. When I weeded it out, I realized I made a mistake. I had wanted to use the negative space so that I could paint some words different colors. Ooops. What to do?

Well, I decide to paint some fun pastel stripes. I hadn't tried this before, so I figured since I already screwed up my original idea, I could always paint over it if I didn't like it. And no, I didn't purposefully paint it in ROYGBIV order, as my wonderful husband so kindly pointed out. I wanted contrast between the colors.

Next, I transferred the vinyl onto the canvas, once my stripes were dry. Have I mentioned how much I love using clear contact paper as transfer paper? It isn't as easy to use as transfer paper, but it is SO much cheaper. I can deal with spending a few extra minutes to make it work (though I will use good transfer paper when I do big pieces, for sure!).

Then, I added the "cover coat" - painting over the entire canvas and vinyl. I chose white for this step. You have to be careful during this step because, sometimes, the paint can bleed through the edges of the vinyl. I had some wiggle room because of the stripes. If paint bled through, it would still work out and not be as noticeable, so I thought, then if it was on a solid base. I used a seasponge to "blot" on the first coat of white paint around the vinyl. Once that dried, I rolled on a few thin coats of white paint.

Finally, once it was almost dry, I used my handy-dandy Silhouette hook and pulled off the vinyl. This is always the scary part. Some acrylics can dry too plastic-y and pull up paint along with your vinyl. However, I took my time and everything that was supposed to be pealed up came off with no extra paint giving way.

The final product? A pretty darn cheerful Spring Subway canvas!! While I wish I hadn't made the stripes so big (especially the green -- you can't see the yellow at all) and would have placed it on a better-fitting canvas, it will work for a seasonal-only-going-to-display-it-for-a-month piece. And now, I think it has inspired me to make a matching stripe-y floral piece.