I have been saying for literally years that I’ve wanted to start making art for myself again. Since high school, I’ve only made a handful of pieces, and most of them have been gifts for other people. I’m not sure why it’s been such a struggle for me to make art, though I think it may have something to do with the fact that as I’ve grown I’ve gotten better at expressing myself more directly, so I no longer need to get my emotions and ideas out on canvas when I’m actually voicing them.
So, I’ve started my first art piece this year, hopefully one of many to come. I thought I’d share the process of creating this piece on the blog mostly just for fun but also so that if anyone wants to create something similar, the steps will be right here for you to follow!
Maybe you’ve seen some of the string and spirograph inspired art that’s been really popular lately…
I wanted to create something similar but with a colored background and bright eye-popping string. First though, I had to build a canvas. I’ve had the materials for a while now but just got around to putting them together yesterday.
I bought a pre-cut piece of poplar and 4 poplar slats for the sides. I positioned the slats on the wood canvas and marked off where I needed to cut them to fit.
I used a tiny handsaw from our toolkit to cut through each slat one at a time, with a sheet of paper on the floor to catch the sawdust.
Safety first!
When the canvas was assembled, I put some heavy books on top of it to weigh it down and let it sit for a few hours to dry. Then I ran a bead of wood glue around the inside edge and smoothed it out with my finger to add further stability.
Next step, fixing imperfections. I took the sawdust that fell onto the paper and mixed it with wood glue to make a sand-able paste.
Then I spackled it into any cracks, dents, rough edges, or low spots. It doesn’t have to be perfect since it’ll get sanded.
After drying, I applied one more coat of the sawdust spackle. Now it’s drying until tomorrow when I’ll sand it down and add the first coat of paint.
And that is how I made a wood canvas! I’ve been wanting to experiment with painting on wood because it’s so much smoother than canvas. I don’t like all the cloth texture that a fabric canvas has. Anyway, I’ll update as I work on it some more.
Have you ever recreated a craft project from one you saw online or on tv?
