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I am continuing on my quest to create inexpensive ways to decorate the walls. I recently made some fabric wall art panels to hang in my parents’ guest room which I thought were pretty fun. It got me thinking about other ways I could use fabric to decorate. And since I have been wanting to try incorporating painters canvas drop cloth into a home project, I put those two inspirations together and came up with creating this song lyric wall art on painters drop cloth canvas.
I love how the song lyric wall art turned out. I’m not sure I’d hang it smack dab in the middle of the living room, but it fits right in with the quirky eclectic decor of the guest room. And since the guest room had some walls in need of art, this works out perfectly.
When I first came up with the idea, instead of song lyrics, I was thinking of using an inspirational quote. But somehow in my head that idea turned to lyrics. I thought I’d pick a cool line or two from a song. Then that idea somehow blew up into an entire song and the canvas kept getting bigger and bigger.
I had a really hard time picking the right song. I started with a list of about ten classic songs that I love. The list got narrowed down to Bohemian Rhapsody, Born To Run, Hotel California, and The Boxer. From there I sat down and listened to all four songs and then narrowed it down to Bohemian Rhapsody and Born to Run.
I listened to those two songs at least a half dozen times before picking Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run. Bohemian Rhapsody was just too sad a song. Whereas Born To Run is the kind of song that makes me feel this thing inside of me that I felt when I was a teenager. (And have you seen Bruce lately? For a sixty-something year old, the man has definitely still got it!)
As a teen, I was the rebel kid. I was literally grounded just about everyday of my teenage existence and then I was triple and quadruple grounded for breaking the punishment from the last time I was grounded.
I don’t think I was a bad kid, it was just that the thing that got me in trouble so much was, well, this thing uncontrollable inside of me. I had this hunger inside that just wanted to experience everything. So I fought all boundaries. It’s hard to explain that kind of longing. It’s like some irresistible force that drives you forward to experience life and love and every crazy emotion. And as a teen, it’s all just so intense, which makes it easy to get reckless.
There was also this wonderful sense of freedom I felt when I was young. It was a time before any real responsibility. It was a time in my life where dreams ran wild and nothing was going to hold me back from reaching my dreams. I had not yet built up any cynicism about life. There was only my optimism for the endless possibilities.
And when it came to boys, well, do you remember doing things like memorizing your crush’s class schedule so you can conveniently pass his classroom as the bell rang? (Ahem, not that I did that.) Can you remember the time you thought he might have actually made eye contact with you for the first time? I remember the first time he talked to me and then the first time he kissed me. There’s still that little pitter-patter inside when I remember my first love.
Well, Born to Run is about all these things and that’s why I love the song so much. There is an emotion that goes with it that makes me remember those lost feelings. If you’re not familiar with the song, below are the lyrics. But to really do the song justice, I recommend listening to it on youtube:
In the day we sweat it out on the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through the mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected, and steppin’ out over the line
h-Oh, Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we’re young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run
yes, girl we were
Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs ’round these velvet rims and strap your hands ‘cross my engines
Together we could break this trap
We’ll run till we drop, baby we’ll never go back
h-Oh, Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I’m just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta know how it feels
I want to know if love is wild Babe I want to know if love is real
Oh, can you show me
Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
Girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors and the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the street tonight In an everlasting kiss
1-2-3-4!
The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody’s out on the run tonight but there’s no place left to hide
Together Wendy we can live with the sadness
I’ll love you with all the madness in my soul
h-Oh, Someday girl I don’t know when we’re gonna get to that place
Where we really wanna go and we’ll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run
So that’s the background story of this DIY. Now on to the tutorial. I used the back of an old, yet lightly used, painter’s drop cloth. (You can picked up a new one for around $10 at any hardware store.)
I measured and cut the appropriate size for my project. There’s tons of canvas left over, which is great because I have a whole bunch more drop canvas projects going on in my head that will soon be going on in real life.
I wasn’t sure what medium I’d use to write the lyrics. I tried a paint marker on the raw canvas, but the canvas absorbed the writing and it kind of feathered out.
Then I tried some dimensional paint, but it was hard to make sure the right about of paint came out. Plus, I didn’t like that it was shiny.
When artists paint on canvas, they actually first prime the canvas with a product called gesso. So I thought I’d try priming. Only, I didn’t want to go out and spend $20 on a bottle of gesso. So I got to looking at what I had around the house that might work. I decided to try some polycrylic on the canvas. I had no idea if it would work, so decided to do a small test spot. Using a small paint brush, I applied some polycrylic to a two-inch area just below where I tested the other paints. After letting it dry for a few hours, I went back and again tried the paint marker over the primed area. As you can see above, the lettering on the primed area came out great. The canvas no longer absorbed the paint and there is little feathering. So, using a larger brush, I went on to prime the entire section of canvas with polycrylic.
Then I let it sit outside for a day to dry.
The canvas stiffened a little bit, but it was still very flexible. The polycrylic also darkened the canvas a tiny bit, but it was hardly noticable.
I next used a large ruler and chalk to create some guide lines. Then started writing.
When it was all done, I folded the edges over and taped them down. I used painters tape at first, but it didn’t hold so I went back and used duck tape, which held really well.
To hang the canvas, I slipped a dowel rod through the folded canvas and then tied twine to each end of the dowel. It hangs like a large scroll.
Take a look at the finished product…
There you have it. My DIY song lyric wall art on drop cloth canvas (and my teenage angst story). I can’t wait to share more canvas projects in the near future.
Thanks for stopping by and I’d really love if you pinned this project and shared with your friends!
And check out some of my other favorite DIY’s…
DIY Concrete Planter Hands (in 20 minutes!!)
Fabulous DIY High Heel Planters
xoxo,
~Jenise
This post linked to some of these wonderful blogs and here.
What a great project, I love that you shared the reasons behind your song choice. That one is definitely perfect for you.
What a good thing you tested your markers and paints first, I totally agree about the shiny one not being right.
We have what we call the “Wall of wisdom” in our house in our tiny little downstairs toilet where we have written quotes and saying straight onto the wall. I’m now wishing we’d done a canvas like this – maybe when we move house…..
Thanks so much Julie. Yes, the canvas will work for the next place. Or maybe you do some mini wisdom quotes on small canvases for other areas of the house.
Love this and thanks for explaining the differences between the paint/markers! Thanks for linking up with us at the DIY’ers!
Thank you Ashley and thank you so much for hosting!
WOW! Great project! I wish my hand writing was as pretty as yours then I might just try it! LOL! Hugs and blessings, Cindy
Thank you so much Cindy! You can also try stenciling in the words. Although, that might take quite a bit of time. :-)
I love this! Sadly, I don’t like my handwriting enough to do this though. :(
I seem to remember that in my set design class in college we used watered down Elmer’s glue as gesso when we were making our backdrops, cause we were fancy like that ;)
Watered down Elmers glue…BRILLIANT! And a lot less expensive that using up all my polycrylic. I’ll have to try being fancy too! :-)
This is awesome! Music is such an important part of our life so I’m scoping out just where I could hang one of these! Pinning it!
Thanks so much Jeanette! Let me know when you finish yours I’d love to see and share it with my readers!
The hanging looks great, and you picked a great song.
Thank you so much Heidi!
You have nice handwriting…..if it were me, I would get to the last word and mess it up! Besides using glue to prime your dropcloth with, you can also use fabric markers to write with because they don’t “bleed” like other markers do.
Thank you Elaine. I am planning to do some other projects with fabric, so I will definitely give fabric markers a try. Great idea. And btw, there is a little error in there, but since no one reading it in person noticed it, I figured I’d let it go…not there there’s anything I could do about it. :-)
Nice idea and so cool that you chose Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run is one of my favorites!
Thank you Grace. BTW, I like pie too. :-)
Really cool idea!!!
Thank you so much Carmody!
You are a woman after my own heart! I LOVE this idea and will be using it soon with some of our family’s favorite songs….Fields of Gold…You Are My Sunshine…Time In a Bottle…Young at Heart. Also, you write really well and engagingly!
Thank you so much Ann. You are soooo sweet! I love those songs. I’d love for you to send a picture when you’re done ([email protected])!
Such a neat idea!
Thank you so much Melissa!
This is such a great idea, I can’t wait to show my sister. Thank you for sharing on Four Seasons Blog Hop.
I’m so glad you like it Shawna and thank you for hosting!!!
I think music is so inspirational. I love the idea of using it to decorate so I can be inspired every time I see it. I think I would like it in my daughter’s bedrooms.
Sami
Hi Sami, Yes, I agree. Music is definitely inspirational and holds not only a lot of meaning, but also a lot of memories. I hope your daughter loves hers!
How fun and great tip on priming the canvas first. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday.
Thank you for hosting Erlene!
You did a great job. Thanks for the tips on having the pen work correctly on the canvas by priming it. I will be featuring this tonight at my Sizzle into Summer party. Please stop by and pick up an I’ve Been Featured button. Thanks. http://diybydesign.blogspot.com
Oh my goodness, Judy, you just made my day!!!!!! Thank you so much for the feature. I will be definitely stopping by (would have been stopping by anyway!). Love following you. You always pick such awesome features. I am really honored!!!
How do you get the chalk lines off when you are done?
Hi Michele, I just took a damp cloth (not too damp) and ran it over the lines doing my best to avoid the paint. The paint I used didn’t seem to run, but I still did my best to avoid touching the damp cloth to the paint, just in case. The chalk lines came right off, but I also put them on pretty light. Hope that helps!
Love this! So so beautiful. Great project!
Thank you so much Erica!
BRILLIANT! I just love this project–what a great idea! Thanks for the tip on preparing the drop cloth before writing the words. I’m pinning this for future reference!
Thank you for joining Grace at Home–I’m featuring you this week!
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for the feature Richella! I’m really honored. And thank you for hosting each week!
This is such an awesome idea! :] Thanks so much for sharing this! Maybe I will decorate my new apartment after all! :P
Thank you so much Farrah! I’m finding that there are quite a few things you can do to decorate your walls that don’t cost a lot of money. Another idea you can try is to use patterned fabric. I created some wall panels with fabric attached to cardboard to create decorative panels. You can check those out here: http://diyfunideas.com/super-easy-fabric-panel-wall-art-on-a-budget/
Hope that sends you some more inspiration!
Wow! This is such a great way to enjoy a favorite song! And you have such nice handwriting! Thanks for sharing this project at The Pin Junkie. It’s one of the features at this week’s party! Hope you can stop by to grab a featured button! http://www.thepinjunkie.com/2014/07/pin-junkie-pin-party-75.html
Thanks Bonnie! I stopped by before I even got this comment and I was floored to see that you featured this project. Thank you again! It really is an honor to be featured!
Your awesome project is being featured today at Your Designs This Time!
Emily & Erin
OH–EMM-GEE!!! That’s so exciting! Thank you so much for the feature!
Wow that looks so cute and easy to make. I would love it if you would share a post on my Meet Up Monday Blog Party!
http://jennymaire.blogspot.com/
Thanks Jenny. I’ll be sure to link up at next week’s meet up!
How fun! And funky. I like how it turned out. Thanks for linking it up to Snickerdoodle Sunday.
Thanks os much!
What a great idea and a great choice of song! And it looks really nice :-)
Thank you so much Sarka!
Thank you for sharing this DIY Lyric Wall Art post at City of Creative Dream’s City of Links on Friday! I appreciate you taking the time to party with me. Hope to see you again this week :)
Thank you Shanice and thanks for hosting each and every week!
Now I know the “secret” is priming the canvas. Wouldn’t it be great for classes to sign this as a pledge to graduate!
I think that’s a great idea! :-)
Only one problem for this wonderful project, mis-read words and mis-spellings. Otherwise, The Boss would be well proud.
Shhhh… no one was supposed to notice.