diy song lyric wall art
Today I'm sharing a little diy project that I did last summer that was super quick and easy to do: song lyric wall art.
I was inspired by this post on A Beautiful Mess, a blog you should definitely check out if you are into crafts, diy or cooking. They share some great ideas on how to make simple home improvements and personalise your home.This diy in particular, really stuck with me. I spent ages thinking of what songs I could do, how I could make it look a little more me and how I could do it.Last summer I had a lot of weekend mornings to myself as the boyf was at work, so this was one that I completed on a sunny Saturday morning, done and dusted before he got home.
(photo taken this morning on a non-sunny weekend morning!)
Materials used:
- Medium sized canvas
- Pencils
- Masking fluid
- Small paint brush with a pointed tip (that got wrecked!)
- Watercolour paints
- Large paint brush
- Rubber
1. First I chose my song and wrote the lyrics in pencil onto my canvas. It took me a while to figure out how large to write the letters, but I wanted it to look a bit abstract from afar and only legible when close up, so I kept the writing quite small. (It also meant I could fit more of the song onto it!)2. Once I was happy with the pencilled lyrics, I used the small brush to go over the writing with masking fluid. I started from the bottom and worked my way up to try to avoid smudging the pencil with my wrists, but it meant I had to be doubly sure the fluid was dry before I went onto the line above. As it took a while to mask out all of the lyrics, it completely ruined my brush, as too many layers of the fluid had built up on the bristles, leaving it coated in rubber - so make sure its a brush you are willing to sacrifice if you go this route. If anyone has any suggestions for a better tool to use with masking fluid, please let me know!3. After all the lyrics were masked out and the fluid was dry, it was time to paint. I wanted a loose rainbow pattern, so used a few watercolour paints and swooshed it over the canvas with my large brush. Watercolours and canvas don't really go well, the paints sit on top and don't really sink in, which I knew, but thought that it would be fine as it wasn't a detailed or precise pattern... it took me four or five layers and lots of paint to get a strong colour on the canvas!4. As soon as your paints are dry, its time to peel off the masking fluid. I find the easiest way to remove the fluid is to roll over it with the pad of your finger or with a putty rubber, to create little gunky balls that can help pull up the rest of the fluid.5. Once all the fluid has been removed and you've basked a little in the glory of your fabulous canvas, the last task is to rub out the pencil marks left visible by the removed masking fluid. Then it's ready to go up on display.
(how adorable is my penguin?!)
For the next canvas I'd definitely use a different medium, acrylic paints work best, but I'm not very familiar with them. I've been experimenting with gouache this weekend, so I will probably try these, but I think I might come across the same problem of it sitting on top of the canvas rather than sinking in!What do you think? Is it something you would try?