How to Paint a Canvas Bag, Ed Hardy Style
It might as well happen every time you enter the mall: A vibrant design painted on an article of clothing or an accessory like a leather purse or canvas tote jumps out at you. The primitive, colorful, hand-painted Ed Hardy art style is eye-catching; but when you flip over the price tag, you catch your breath: $100! If you fall in love with the piece or if you just HAVE to have the brand, by all means do what you must. Or, you can save a ton of money and design your own canvas bag in the Ed Hardy style. For about $10 you can make your own beautiful designer tote bag, the "designer" being you. These canvas totes make great gifts. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Plain canvas tote bag
- Heavy cardboard
- White graphite paper
- Acrylic paint or fabric paints, or fabric paint pens
- Fabric glitter paint or paint pens
- Paintbrushes
- Iron
Instructions
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Select a bag. You might already have a canvas tote, or you might be in the market for one. A lighter shade like tan or olive will serve as a suitable background color, while black is less likely to show dirt and stains from everyday use. Black may make your painted design appear more vibrant. Craft stores carry premade canvas tote bags for less than $5.
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Cut a piece of cardboard to fit snugly inside the tote bag to stiffen it. Your intent is to make the tote easy to paint on and relatively horizontal.
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Consider your design options and size your art. Your accessories reflect your personal taste. For the Ed Hardy style, select a design that is fairly simple and lends itself well to a primitive painting style. Look at Ed Hardy pics on the Internet, and incorporate the style with any motif you like. Look at fabric swatches for ideas. You'll literally find inspiration anywhere. If you're good at drawing, just make the sketch on paper. If you're not so great at drawing, photocopy your design to the size you want.
For greatest visual impact, go big! A 3-inch unpainted border between your design and the edge of the tote bag is plenty. Think of the bag as a canvas for your masterpiece.
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Using a soft graphite pencil or white pencil, outline your drawing on your bag or, using white graphite paper, transfer a photocopy or picture from paper to your bag. Position your picture where you want it, then tape it in place, only on one edge. Slide the white graphite paper between your design and the tote bag. Trace the dominant lines of your design.
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Fill in your design with white fabric paint. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly. Then, using a graphite pencil, sketch details of your design on the dry painted surface.
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Using your reference artwork, fill in sections of your design with color. Make sure the white is completely dry. Add highlights and shading.
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Heat-set your design. If you have ever spilled acrylic craft paint on your clothes, you know it doesn't require heat-setting to become permanent. Textile paint, however, does. Use a pressing cloth and heat-set your design before adding embellishment.
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Add embellishment: Once the design is completely dry, use a paint pen to outline parts of your design in black or white, or with glitter pens. The idea is to increase contrast, as seen in primitive art. At this point, you can add details with glitter paint and dimensional paint. You can also glue on sequins, plastic gems, beads and any other item that inspires you. If you want to, sign your name or initialize it. People will want to know who designed your awesome accessories!
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Tips & Warnings
Your bags are not just art. They are useful for going to the beach, going shopping or using as a purse!
Resources
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
