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Joy St. Germain : How to Make a Canvas Rug Floor Cloth

How to Make a Canvas Rug Floor Cloth

By Joy St. Germain

Canvas Rug Floor Cloth Floorcloths (aka canvas rugs) are fun and easy to make and you don't have to be an artist to create your own work of art. There's a variety of different paints and paint markers that you can use to decorate your floorcloth. All you need to add is your imagination to create a unique, one of a kind, hand painted original.

Floorcloth Paint

I'm a big fan of artist acrylic paints. Artist acrylic paint is thick, easy to control and it remains flexible after it drys. It also has a high pigment content so the colors remain bright. I've had very good results with Liquitex Basics and Golden heavy body artist acrylics paints. For the jalapeno floorcloth project I used Basics paint colors Mars black, Cadmium red and Permanent green.

Project Instructions

Step 1

Fredrix pre-primed artist canvas is ready to be painted. Unroll it and place heavy books on the corners for a few hours to fully flatten.

Step 2

Flip your floorcloth over and place it on a flat surface. Using a ruler, mark off a 2" edge on all four sides.

Step 3

Make a small pencil mark 2" from each corner.

Step 4

Draw a diagonal line connecting the marks.

Step 5

Cut along the diagonal line to remove the corner.

Step 6

Put 2" carpet tape around all four sides of your floorcloth.

Step 7

Press the corners together for a snug fit. Continue pressing the edges of your floorcloth.

Step 8

Paint a 1" black border along all 4 sides. When dry, place your stencil along your border.

Step 9

Blot off any excess paint so that your stenciling with a dry brush. Hold the stencil brush straight up and swirl the paint into the floorcloth.

Step 10

You can speed up the drying time with a hand held hair dryer. After you finish one section, cover it with a towel so that it doesn't smudge.

Step 11

After the red paint is dry stencil black paint on top for a shading effect.

Step 12

After the border is dry, place the jalapeno stencil in the middle of the floorcloth.

Step 13

To prevent smudging the border as you paint the middle of the floorcloth, place a towel over the border.

Step 14

I used a hand held hair dryer to speed up the drying time before I removed the stencil.

Step 15

After the floorcloth is dry apply 3-5 thin coats of waterproof sealer.

More with Joy St. Germain

Joy St. Germain started The Wildwood Cottage out of her love for art, stenciling and crafts. She's a hands on "Do It Yourselfer" that enjoys creating new and unique crafts. ...

6/20/09