Author and designer Vivian Peritts demonstrates how to turn canvas into a beautiful floor cloth. She transfers her own Fantasy Flower Floor Cloth pattern to canvas, paints the pattern with acrylic paints, then seals the floor cloth with varnish ( figure A). The result is an easy-to-clean decorative mat for a kitchen, a mudroom or a child's room. Design your own floor cloth or use a ready-made pattern.
Materials:
One piece of 24" x 36" primed canvas
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
DecoArt AmericanaB. acrylic paints: Eggshell DA 153, Moon Yellow DA 7, Colonial Green DA 81, Lilac DA 32, Royal Fuchsia DA 151, Lamp Black DA 67
Robert Simmons TolemasterB. paintbrushes: 1" flat glaze, 3/4" flat glaze, 0 liner, 1/2" angle shader, 1/8" angle shader
Aleene'sB. Tacky Glue
Brown bullet-point permanent marker
Brown large bevel-tip permanent marker
Sea sponge
Paper plate
Polyurethane
- Measure and mark a 1" margin on all sides of the canvas. This will become the hem for the cloth.
- Miter all four corners.
- Measure 3" at each of the short ends for the fringe.
- Draw five 5" circles randomly on the cloth. Some can hang off the edge.
- Use the 1" flat brush to apply the eggshell base coat to the main part of the cloth. Do not paint the circles or the fringe area. Let dry.
- Wet the sea sponge, and wring out all the water. Drizzle a spiral of the yellow paint on a paper plate. Using an up-and-down motion, pounce the sponge on the paint several times. Now pounce the sponge on the eggshell background. Let dry.
- Paint five or six wavy green lines from fringe to fringe, using the 1/2" angle-shader brush. Make each stripe approximately 1" wide.
- With transfer paper, trace a fringe pattern on both ends of the cloth (figure B). Use the fringe pattern on wallpaper you may have, or order the rug-and-fringe pattern shown here from the artist.
- Use the 1/8" angle-shader brush to paint the fringe green. Let dry.
- Use the brown bullet-point marker to draw fringe lines over the paint (figure C).
- Fill in the background of the fringe with black paint, using the size-0 liner brush.
- Draw brown dashed lines across each stripe approximately 1/2" apart. Don't try to keep them parallel. Let the lines start and extend beyond the width of the stripe.
- With the 3/4" flat brush, paint the circles with lilac paint. While the lilac is still wet, dab a 1" circle of fuchsia in the center of each circle. With the sponge, pounce up and down on the fuchsia to softly blend it outward (figure D). The center should be darker than the edges. Let dry.
- Outline each circle with the large brown marker. Draw a brown spiral on each circle.
- When the paint is completely dry, apply three coats of polyurethane, letting it dry between coats.
- Fold the hem to the back of the floor cloth, and glue in place with Aleene's Tacky Glue.
RESOURCES :
Pattern for Fantasy Flower Floor Cloth
American Acrylic Paints
DecoArt Inc.
Website: www.decoart.com
Aleene's products and supplies
Duncan Enterprises
Website: www.duncancrafts.com
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