Lucky's Completed Canvas

I've already posted a few pictures of Lucky's room that showed that her once blank canvas:

is now a piece of art filled with a picture from this photo shoot:

I just love this canvas!  I've had this project planned in my mind for months and months, so it feels great to see it hanging finally.

 

 

 

 

To complete this project, I first painted the edges of the canvas a bright pink color.  You can see the edge color better in this picture:

Next, we edited and sized the picture we chose to fill the 30" x 40" canvas appropriately.  We sent the picture to our local Staples and requested a blueprint black and white print out sized to 30" x 40".  When I went to pick it up, they told me that they were now charging the 'color price' for large photo print outs since they were getting inundated with orders and their printers were breaking.  I told them that in the past I had paid about $5 for a black and white paper print out in a similar size (for a project I have yet to share:)) and wouldn't be paying the $60 price they wanted to charge.  They told me they would charge $5 one last time as a courtesy...phew.  Lesson being...call around and get a quote first:).  I have a feeling that places like Kinko's still offer low priced black and white print outs.  

When I got the picture home, I realized that the print out was a bit larger than the canvas, so I outlined the canvas onto the back of the picture with a pencil and cut off the excess paper.  When it came time to adhering the paper onto the canvas, we first tried using a spray adhesive that I had on hand, but it didn't adhere for more than a couple hours.  It was a big bummer.  Then I went to Michael's and picked up some of this:

Aleene's Crystal Clear Tacky Spray

$6.99 at Michael's (less with a coupon:))

It seems to have worked extremely well thus far, but I should note that we were planning on sealing the paper/canvas combo this past weekend, and when we took the canvas outside to spray, it started bubbling up like crazy.  I ran the canvas back in and put it in front of the fire to warm it up.  Thankfully the bubbles all flattened.  I'm assuming this happened because we didn't achieve 100% adhesion on the entire large canvas.  The edges seem great, but there are places in the middle that must not be held as tightly and the colder outside temperatures made it more apparent.  One tip that might help in the future is to place books on the back of the canvas (edges and middle) after spraying to make sure the paper is sticking to the canvas appropriately.  I had turned over the canvas and put books on top of the wood frame parts of the canvas, but not the middle of the canvas.  Or maybe just keep the frame flat on it's back, picture side up and let gravity take care of it?  I'm not sure, but our canvas is not sealed now, which is a little bit of a bummer.  I may attempt to seal it again in the spring when it is warmer out, but for now, I'd prefer an unsealed canvas to a sealed, but bubbled up canvas:).  If anyone has any tips on spray adhesive or sealers, please pass them along!!