I enjoy finding new substates that I can do sublimation with to create things. Last week I made a baby blanket, and I wanted to use an elephant pattern in the quilt, but I could not find any in the fabric store. So I thought, why not try sublimating on some 100% polyester fabric. I used canva.com to design a couple of cute elephants. I bought some light pink plush 100% polyester fabric, and I sublimated the elephants to the material. It turned out great.
So next time you can’t find a suitable fabric in the store, why not add your design to your fabric.
That got me thinking. I wanted to add some artwork to my new craft room walls. So why not make my own. I love positive words to create a happy place. So this week’s project, I will be sharing my take on creating my canvas artwork for my craft room.
Decide of Design
As I was trying to determine what I wanted on my walls, I researched Pinterest for ideas. I settled on a few positive words of encouragement.
- Happy
- Creative
- Thankful
- Fearless
Then I remembered that I had purchased a sublimation package from Design bundles with some paint splatter backgrounds. So let’s combine both and create some wall art!
Sublimation Wall Art Supplies
- 100% Polyester Fabric. I used Sportswear Gabardine Fabric from JoAnn’s
- Art Canvas. I used 10 x 10 Canvas
- Staple Gun and Staples
- Sublimation Ink
- A-Sub Paper
- Printer
- Lint Roller
- Heat Press
- Butcher Paper
- Heat Resistant Tape
Check out the video tutorial below or follow the step-by-step instructions below! You choose how you want to learn to do this project!
Determine Size
The amount of fabric you will need depends on the size of canvas you will be using. I decided that I wanted to do a set of 4 – 10 x 10 canvases. I used canvases that were 5/8 in profile, so I added 3” to 4” to my measurements for my fabric to allow for enough excess material to pull the fabric around the canvas. So for a 10” x 10” canvas, I cut my fabric 14 “x14”.
Create a Sublimation Design
As I stated at the beginning, I used Canva.com to create my design. You can use any software to create your design. I would only recommend you size your design based on your canvas size plus 1 inch. So I made my design 11’x11.”
Print Sublimation Design
Make sure you have a printer that can print the size of the design you need for your canvas. I printed my design on my Epson sublimation printer on 11 “x17” sublimation ledger paper. I also used Cosmo Sublimation ink.
Sublimate Design on Material
The first thing I like to do is press my material in the heat press, and then lint roll the fabric.
I sublimated at 375 degrees for 60 seconds.
Add Design to Canvas
Now it is time to cover the canvas with the printed design. Lay your print on the counter with the design facing down. Center the canvas on the fabric.
Pull one side of material around the canvas and staple on the back.
Then pull the fabric tight on the opposite and staple. Repeat these steps for the other two sides.
Then you can add additional staples as needed. I recommend at least three staples on each side.
The larger the canvas, the more stapling you will be doing. The corners are a little tricky. I like to apply hospital corners to the canvas. I pinch the corners, add a staple, and then wrap the corner material to one side and wrap and staple. Repeat for the other three corners.
Trim off the excess fabric on the back to clean up the back of the canvas.
Hang Design
There are a couple of options to hand you design. You can use Command Strips since the canvas is so light weight or you can use eye screws, and wire or D-hangars and wire added to the back of your canvas for hanging! Make sure you add the hanging wire to the top 1/4 of your canvas and that your wire doesn’t surpass the top edge of your canvas. Your wire should be as tight as possible, allowing just enough slack for hanging.
If this project inspired you, then check out some of my other projects for more inspiration!
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