Painting Canvas

[M Kuhn]

I have read of painting canvas several times and I have a haversack that is white.
I would like to paint it a more subdued color such as grey or brown.
I have seen some fancy designs painted on canvas as well and am wondering what kind of paint is generally used for painting canvas.

 

[necchi]

I cain't advise ya bout' paint,
But I didn't care for my nice white canvis "haversack" either. I took drastic measure. Mixed some dirt and water in a bucket,, aka; mud, an stuffed the whole thing in there to soak for a few hours.
Pulled it out an layed in the sun to dry, then rinsed all the mud off with the garden hose later and dried again.
Got rid of that white look :grin: . I had to "steam iron" it flat to get the wrinkles out an then did some bead work on it.

Gee's, now that I look at it, it's beginning to show a bit of "patina" :haha: those bead appliques are hand peyote stitched by Sam "Poppa Smurff" the pic doesn't do justice to the work.

 

[ohio ramrod]

The best dye for canvas or muslin that I have found to get a nice brown color is to soak a few days in unpasturised apple cider. This was discovered when the wife tried to "wash" my strainer cloth for the cider mill. No amount of washing could get it even remotely white again.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I painted the canvas for my haversack with boiled linseed oil with pigment added. I didn't have any powdered pigment handy so used artists oil paint. It took forever to dry but is somewhat water proof and has now faded just a bit and giving it a nice used appearance.

Scott

 

[M Kuhn]

Thanks Scott, That's what I'm thinking of, I wonder if you used japan dryer or something added to the linseed oil if it would dry quicker, They sell that and several other types of dryers at the art store that also carries the pigment in my area.
I've also seen some artistic floral type designs painted on them as well.

 

[Ranger1759]

Just remember linseed oil, 1. takes forever to dry
2. is very flamable. so if you plan to use your bag around a campfire, but careful! I've used bees wax and powder pigment with success. double boil bees wax, once liquid add powder pigment, powder paint from an art store will work also...and just use a paint bruch to paint the wax on...nice color and waterproof.

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I pretty much painted the canvas per instructions in Mark Baker's A Pilgrim's Journey Vol. 1, with the exception of using oil paint for the pigment instead of traditional powdered pigment. Always wondered if the Grumbacher oil paint lengthened the drying time.

Scott

 

[AeroncaTAL]

I've wondered/worried about that myself, so I tested a piece of the painted canvas I had left over. It took a heavy impingement of flame from a torch to ignite the painted piece, and it would tend to burn out quickly. When the flame was sustained, it seemed weak. A regular piece of canvas seemed to ignite more easily and burn more regularly than the painted canvas. I'm not implying that the canvas I painted is flame proof, but I do not think that it is going to ignite at the slightest spark...

Scott

 

[tg]

Over on the trekkers forum and another that I cannot recall at present the most common thing seems to be painting canvas with oil based red barn paint, the dried product is similar to the pic of the haversack above done with Bakers method, the re-enacting community seems to pretty much accept this method as being close to original methods.

 

[Cutfingers]

Try soaking it in strong coffee or tea. I've had good luck with this method.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I knew there had to be a good use for coffee ,since they sell so much of it. :bow: