Needlepoint Instruction Sheet by Diane Grant
A fantastic way to add color to your needlepoint pieces is to use colored canvas. For many of our projects, the colors available from Zweigart work well but sometimes we want a color or mesh size that just isn’t available.
It seems like a wonderful opportunity for someone, doesn’t it? But the few companies I know who have tried this have not been successful. Most recently Nature’s Palette which made a wide variety of colors and effects, made a splash but is no longer around.
Initially I thought this was because these canvases were expensive. But after reading Diane’s book I think it’s also because painting your own backgrounds is just so easy!
In this short comb-bound booklet you’ll get step-by-step instructions for painting canvases to make them a solid-color using acrylic paints.
I’ve painted both designs and backgrounds before and many of the tips she had never occurred to me. One of these, painting the back of the canvas as well as the front, will give you results similar to colored canvas from Zweigart. In other words, you’ll be able to move threads without unpainted canvas showing.
I just loved how something easily available, craft or acrylic paints, brushes, and blank canvas can become the basis for unique work. Even if you don’t think you have artistic talent, think of what you can do:
- color the background for a painted canvas (mask off the design first) to use open stitches
- create unique charted designs by using boldly colored canvas
- color the canvas to a standard size to create a background for your traced focal point
- use scraps of canvas that are painted, free patterns, and stash threads to create unique ornaments
- use techniques such as Blackwork, Darning, Pulled Canvas, or open stitches to create backgrounds of more depth
I’m ready to start painting now.
If the idea of coloring your own backgrounds intrigues you, buy this booklet, you’ll be glad you did.
Buy the booklet on Etsy.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Leave a Reply