Looking for that blank canvas feel

May 26, 2007 1:08 PM

How to recycle old paint canvases? I'd like to do some sort of photo transfer onto them, but how?

I was thinking of applying a skim coat of plaster or gesso, but I'm more of a watercolorist and don't know too much about canvas on oil as a base (I found these canvases on a street in the trash.) Is there a photo-transfer technique that wouldn't involve ironing or removing the canvas and then re-stretching it across?

posted by DenOfSizer to media & arts (6 comments total)

I'm had some success using a blender pen to transfer images onto stretched canvas.
posted by logic vs love at 1:57 PM on May 26, 2007

I don't think xylene (it's what's in blender pens, mostly. and cheaper to by as paint thinner, and use a rag instead of the pen) would work great if you're re-gessoing these canvases. You need something pretty porous to do a good xylene transfer. Then again, you might as well attempt it. It might turn out kind of cool.
Pretty much any chemical transfer (acetone is another common one) is out, unless you're reprepping these to have a semiporous surface (will the plaster do that? I have no experience with prepping canvas with plaster).
Anyway, there are still a ton of options for photo transfers that don't involve ironing and wouldn't require you to take the canvas off. A matte medium tranfer immediately comes to mind.

You know what? instead of listing a bunch of examples of stuff that could work, here are a few links with techniques and ideas. So there's the legwork and typing done for me.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 4:31 PM on May 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

There was a local blog a few years back that talked about using photocopies of pictures blown up at Kinko's and the stuff they use for t-shirt phototransfers to transfer the image to (blank) canvas. I have no idea how the paint already on there would react, but it may be worth a shot. The t-shirt transfer stuff is pretty inexpensive and, so long as you let it set for a good while (at least 24 hours, then scrape the transfer fluid off), it'd be an interesting experiment.

That blog no longer seems to exist, but I found her Flickr account here if you feel like shooting off a random e-mail.
posted by Ufez Jones at 6:16 PM on May 26, 2007

You can do a toner transfer using any solvent (those pens use xylene, acetone, mineral spirits, plain old rubbing alcohol, etc.).

Copy your photographs on a laser printer or copy machine, put face down on your canvas, apply solvent, and use pressure to transfer the image onto your canvas (a wooden spoon would work, so would a baren or a printmaking press).
posted by bradbane at 6:26 PM on May 26, 2007

There's always acrylic gel medium transfer (should be okay on gesso, but not directly on any oil paints--it might not stick properly). I've used this guy's method successfully. And here's an example of a gel medium transfer method I use all the time.
posted by lovecrafty at 8:00 PM on May 26, 2007

Acrylic on oil doesn't work well. The other way round is fine. You can buy oil-based gesso to re-prime the canvases.
posted by Cuke at 4:34 PM on May 27, 2007