I have a guy that brought me a 3x4' canvas piece (like for Oil painting) and wants me to paint it Biege and paint his simple Windmill logo on it in Black.. This is out of the norm for me.. What should I use for the Biege? Do i need a special paint? it's raw canvas.. Am I over thinking it? Posted by Jim Moser (Member # 6526) on :
I think you could use one shot on it like any other substrate..... maybe put a coat of gesso on first to seal it....
Posted by John Arnott (Member # 215) on :
Prine with acrylic gesso, then paint acrylic latex biege. letter with 1 shot or any water base paint. I'd use flat black like water base acrylics.
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
Gesso first. Try thinning it enough with water to make it as smooth as you need and maybe double coat it.
Artist acrylics are not nearly as dense or opaque as Lettering, but much more flexible. They are also not nearly as easy to do detail with and do not brush like Lettering. Nix Poster as it will crack.
If you use latex for the beige, use a flat version as the one shot will stick better to it. The gloss has alot of non-stick things in it, I have seen over the long haul, of necessary.
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
We used to do a lot of canvas banners before the advent of vinyl.
Seal and undercoat with a good waterbased primer. First coat watered down because the canvas will soak it up like a man dying of thurst in the desert!
You can do this with a brush but I prefer a foam roller.
Top coat your beige with any waterbased gloss enamel. You can probably get a 1/4 pint mixed at your local paint shop.
I have never used one shot on canvas. It's too stiff and tends to crack. Use waterbased! A little harder to letter but remains flexible.
If the banner or whatever is going to be rolled up, simple baby talc it down to provent it sticking to itself. The talk fills the pores up and is easily wiped off with a damp rag. Advise the customer to do the same each time he stores it. Posted by Mark Baty (Member # 9776) on :
Coat it with two or three coats of laytex, sanding between coats, then letter with Dolphinite, or OneShot (poster colors). Thin your oil paint with terps; it will be more flexable. We used this method since the 50's. Before about 1960 all we had was canvas banners. Mark
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
Right on Mark!
Old methods still work Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
We tried an interesting technique for some Christmas gifts- canvas on wooden frame- used acrylic paint for the base coat, made a vinyl mask, put a thick coat of drywall mud over the mask, pulled the mask off, once mud is dry, finished painting and aging with wood stain- made a great 3D relief painting with very little cost...
Posted by Gonzalo (Peewee)Curiel (Member # 3837) on :
Boy! Do I have some work ahead of me just trying to figure out the technique to choose!!! Thanks guys for all the suggestions!
Posted by Rich Stebbing (Member # 368) on :
I would coat-out canvas with a waterbased "block-out white", such as Bullseye 123 or similar. Then the beige and black are really up to you! A piece that small not being folded or rolled like a banner should be just fine. Although, I would paint biege with a semi-gloss latex to get a somewhat smooth surface, and paint black with anything waterbased or oil. Nothing to it.
Posted by Joe Crumley (Member # 2307) on :
Peewee,
Here's another one for you.
During a backpack across central Mexico, when I was young, I came across a one man sign shop. After introducing myself and a short talk, Armondo told me he had a canvas banner to letter. With a light weight cotton cloth in his hand he pushed it down to the bottom of the horse trough. We let is soak over lunch. Then we nailed and stretched it up against the outside of his little shop. With the sun blazing it wasn't long before it tightened up and he went to work.
Using oil paint he lettered away. I was amazed. The water kept the paint from bleeding. He kept it fairly wet during the process by flogging with a big wet brush. Now it wasn't as clean as stickers but a lot more fun.
Paint away.
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
Sometimes coating out is not an option. When I once lettered some covered wagons, the owners did not want the canvas painted. They wanted only lettering on the raw fabric.
If you can't coat out the background, keeping the canvas damp and lettering with lettering enamels works. Actually, as I recall, we used to mix one part oil-base poster color with two parts lettering enamel. The poster speeded up drying while the lettering enamel gave it durability. You can use a sponge to dampen the fabric ahead of the lettering. Not soaking wet, but wet enough to allow you to cut a clean line. The paint sits on top of the wetness rather than bleeds. Rolling it up for storage, just like a vinyl banner, helps prevent cracking.
Of course this was all before latex paints became popular in the sign world. I would think that the flexibility of latex would lend itself well to painting fabric.
Brad in Kansas City
Posted by Joe Crumley (Member # 2307) on :
Thanks Brad,
I thought I was the only sign soul who had that kind of experience. I'm not sure it has much applicability today. But still it was fun.
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