This DIY project has been on my mind for a while! I was inspired by all the block print textiles I have seen lately, and I love a good art DIY project, so I thought I could create my own block print textile and frame it as art! I am always looking for different mediums of art to hang on our walls. For a while we were very heavy in the picture department, and while I love pictures, I have been craving something a bit different and have been slowly changing out art around our home.
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I had two square Ikea Ribba frames that were not being used and a beautiful light blue linen fabric that I found in the remnants section at my local craft store years ago. My wheels started turning and I thought why not try to use the fabric to make a textile block print art to hang in the extra frames I had? If It didn’t work out I would still have some extra fabric and could figure out another use for the frames. Well, I’m happy to report I love how this little project turned out. It took me less than an hour to complete and now I have these beauties hanging in my entryway. They are far from perfect, but that is something I love about them. They add so much texture, are unique, and I think they feel higher end since I floated the fabric over the mat. Plus, I created my stamp using something many of you already have in your pantry – a sweet potato! Scroll through to read more about the process!
THE SUPPLIES
- Frame (ideally one where the fabric can float over the mat to create extra texture/movement)
- Sweet potato (for the stamp)
- Acrylic paint
- Linen fabric in color of choice (something light is best, unless you want to use white paint!)
- Paper bag (I used one for both painting and then used it to help secured the fabric in the frame)
- Super glue
- Tape
THE PROCESSC
I trimmed the fabric to the exact size I wanted to fit into the frames. For my frames the mat opening is a 11 ¾” square so I cut my fabric to be a 13” square – large enough that the fabric would overhang the mat a bit.
I carved the sweet potato into my desired stamp shape. I chose to go with a simple square, with vertical lines. You can choose any pattern you want, but my piece of advice is aim for something on the simpler side. The sweet potato was easy to cut and carve for this stamp pattern I used, but anything more intricate would have been a bit difficult. Just remember that anything you carve out will be negative space the rest will be dipped into the paint and show up as the “stamp”. Make sure the stamp size you choose can be evenly spaced across the fabric. My stamp allowed for exactly 5 stamps across and 5 stamps down each of the 13” squares of fabric.
Tip: In an effort not to waste the sweet potato as a food source I cut the least amount off I could for the stamp and cubed and roasted the remainder of the sweet potato for a breakfast hash.
I cut open a paper bag to lay on the kitchen table underneath the fabric squares while I stamped on the paint to ensure I didn’t get any paint on the table. I like to make things as easy as possible, so I just squirted a little bit of acrylic paint on the bottom edge of the paper bag and used this area to dip the stamp.
When I dipped the stamped I ensure all areas of the stamp had paint coverage, but also took care to make sure there wasn’t too much paint on the stamp (i.e. you don’t want the negative spaces filled with paint). I decided to rotate my stamp every other stamp so each stamp faced the opposite direction of the one next to, above, and below it. I love how this created nice interest in the print as whole!
The beauty of using linen fabric and of using a stamp is that there are variations to the print – some stamp squares are more saturated with paint and some are less saturated. I personally like this look and the uniqueness it adds to the print.
Once my two squares of fabric were stamped and had completed dried (only took about 10 minutes to dry) I then worked on adhering the fabric to the mat in the frame.
I took two things into consideration while doing this: 1) I did not want to damage the mat and 2) I did not want the fabric to be permanently adhered to the mat.
Since the fabric is a bit flimsy I came up with the solution of super gluing the fabric to a scrape of the paper bag I previously used for painting purposes to make the fabric a bit sturdier to hang in the frame. I made sure the paper bag was bigger than the square of art.
I took the mats out of the frames and flipped them over on the kitchen counter, so the back of the mat was face up. I then taped the paper bag to the bag of the mat on all four edges, with side that had the fabric glued to it face down.
Then I flipped the mat back over and carefully pulled just the edges of the fabric through the hole in the mat. I then used small pieces of tape (rolled up with the stick side facing out) and lightly adhered the edges of the fabric to the inside edge of the mat. I tested the tape on the mat to make sure it wouldn’t damage the map, but I think I adhered it lightly enough that this won’t be a problem. I did this step so the edges of the fabric would not be flopping down inside the frame.
The Final Product
Then I put the mat back into the frame and hung my new artwork up in our entryway! I truly am so happy with how they turned out! I kept pestering Nathan as I was doing the project – are these looking alright? Does it look silly? But he really likes them too, so I call that a win!
