Here's my situation. I bought a tent trailer that is in fairly good shape, but needs remodeling. One thing I dont like is the canvas color, kinda grey and green. What I'm wondering is if the canvas can be painted or designed somehow relatively cheaply. The part I worry about on the paint is that the canvas does a lot of folding, so any thick coat of paint would crack. It will also stay folded for long periods of time. So I guess I just want to stain the fabric, but also be able to do it and incorporate some design into it.
Here's the trailer
http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?& ... 7401973105
canvas paint
canvas paint
"I gotta have more cowbell"
Bruce dickenson, legendary rock producer
Bruce dickenson, legendary rock producer
Yeah, although I've heard that there are types of paint recommened as less/non-cracking, I dunno enough to speak to that; I'd say stay away from painting unless you can be sure it won't flake or crack.
I dunno if it would work on your canvas, it might be treated, but have you considered dyeing it? It's hard to get specific patterns, but there's some wild tye-dye type stuff that could be done.
http://www.dharmatrading.com
is a great resource for dyes.
I dunno if it would work on your canvas, it might be treated, but have you considered dyeing it? It's hard to get specific patterns, but there's some wild tye-dye type stuff that could be done.
http://www.dharmatrading.com
is a great resource for dyes.
Probably the main factor in fabric+paint=crackage is how absorbent the canvas fabric is. I'm assuming that since it is on an RV, it is likely to be waterproof/water-resistant, which makes for a challenge getting anything to stick/absorb.
My experience with plain cotton fabric leads me to recommend FLAT latex house paint. Awhile back, I bought one quart of every color, Crayola 8-pack-style, and I've used my paint for more projects than I can count. If you remember your basic color-mixing rules, you can get any shade you might want to use. The cool thing about latex paint is that the latex base makes it flexible (within reason, of course).
The KEY part in preventing in cracking/flaking is to work the paint into the fibers. If you glop it on, the paint won't make good contact with the fabric, and will be more likely to flake off later. Go over every area you paint several times with the brush while the paint is wet (not necessarily with more paint on your brush, just grind in the paint that you already have on the fabric). Be careful about seepage on the other side, though. Drips and dribbles on the inside aren't very fun when they are accidental.
Ivy did well to reccommend Dharma Trading. They sell a kind of paint designed for screenprinting T-shirts called Versatex. It'll be more expensive than latex paint, but probably more flexible. Downside is that it will flake if there is a lot of paint on the surface of the fabric, so it isn't very useful for brush application.
I'd only dye the panels if you can remove them from the RV body. Test the canvas to see if it absorbs water. Or, even better, do you have any idea what fiber the fabric is made of? If you knew that, then you will be able to see 1) if it is dyeable, and 2) what kind of dye works the best.
:)
Katherine
My experience with plain cotton fabric leads me to recommend FLAT latex house paint. Awhile back, I bought one quart of every color, Crayola 8-pack-style, and I've used my paint for more projects than I can count. If you remember your basic color-mixing rules, you can get any shade you might want to use. The cool thing about latex paint is that the latex base makes it flexible (within reason, of course).
The KEY part in preventing in cracking/flaking is to work the paint into the fibers. If you glop it on, the paint won't make good contact with the fabric, and will be more likely to flake off later. Go over every area you paint several times with the brush while the paint is wet (not necessarily with more paint on your brush, just grind in the paint that you already have on the fabric). Be careful about seepage on the other side, though. Drips and dribbles on the inside aren't very fun when they are accidental.
Ivy did well to reccommend Dharma Trading. They sell a kind of paint designed for screenprinting T-shirts called Versatex. It'll be more expensive than latex paint, but probably more flexible. Downside is that it will flake if there is a lot of paint on the surface of the fabric, so it isn't very useful for brush application.
I'd only dye the panels if you can remove them from the RV body. Test the canvas to see if it absorbs water. Or, even better, do you have any idea what fiber the fabric is made of? If you knew that, then you will be able to see 1) if it is dyeable, and 2) what kind of dye works the best.
:)
Katherine
'No one will see. The sun but rises. Please. Dance with me.' They did not want to dance. But, celebrating they knew not what, they did. -A Medicine for Melancholy, Ray Bradbury
