Canvas Printing As An Alternative To Buying Artwork
The art market is experiencing what can only be described as a boom at the moment, despite the economic gloom and predictions of job losses and hard times ahead. The demand for all sorts of artwork from English ceramics to Russian sculpture has never been so high. Prices at auctions and in galleries seem to be climbing and climbing and show no sign of slowing down.
The demand has had a knock on effect in the high street as well. Combined with the influence of TV makeover programs, the current trend for works of art has led to an increase in the availability of paintings, prints and canvases. Original artwork and limited edition prints can be expensive though so the increased interest in canvas printing is not as surprising as it might at first appear.
Buying artwork, whether it’s original or a replica print, is still quite expensive and if it is a print then the expense seems to be less justifiable than if you were buying an original item. With this in mind people are looking at creating their own artwork with their own images. Canvas printing is not a new phenomenon but after years of being relatively exclusive, due to the expense, the process and service is now as much part of the make up of the high street as photo printing or buying a photo frame.
There are several ways to create your own canvas printing and the service is now widely available on the high street, online and via mail order. But there are two very easy routes to getting your own print.
The cheapest canvas printing option is to do it yourself. Buying all the materials is straightforward with most things being available in any good DIY or hardware store. Making a stretch for the canvas is simply a case of buying a length of decent wood, cutting the desired lengths and making a shaped structure. The benefit of doing this yourself is that if you want an irregular shaped canvas then that is possible. Many of the high street retailers that offer the service only cater for square or rectangular shaped designs.
Canvas is easy to get hold of and even thick cotton sheet will be good enough for the canvas printing. The messiest part of the process is sticking or transferring the image onto the canvas. The easiest way is to print your image onto standard copy paper and glue it onto the stretched canvas. This is not strictly speaking canvas printing but produces a satisfactory result.
True canvas printing involves actually transferring the printed ink onto the canvas and there are chemicals available for this. They are either applied to the canvas or the image and then the two surfaces pressed together.
There are kits available for this approach to canvas printing and they take out all the hassle of having to buy all the materials yourself. They also come with comprehensive instructions. Although this type of canvas printing is easy to do and the results can be very successful, its biggest failing is that it is messy and sometimes the image reflects this.
Dominic Donaldson is an expert in the art and design industry.
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