"Creating a hand-painted floor cloth is a fun and easy project that you can do for yourself," artist Paula Joerling says. "The materials that you will need are acrylic paint, some assorted brushes, chalk, scissors, a larger ruler and a pencil, water based polyurethane and, of course, canvas." Paula uses a pre-primed, double-sided canvas. It's primed on both sides, and double-primed on the one side she will paint. The floor canvas is available at most craft stores and comes in precut sections or on a roll. "So if you just tell them at the store that you're making a floor cloth they should be able to help you find what you need. The canvas can be cut into any shape with a mat knife or a sharp pair of scissors." In her DIY demonstration Paula used a 24" x 31" piece of canvas.
"You can cut the canvas into any shape your imagination dictates," Paula explains. "If you'd like a larger floor cloth you could use a piece of linoleum, the kind you might buy from a home improvement store. Use the back of the linoleum not the decorative side and prime the back with a priming paint before beginning your design."
"It's a helpful to sketch out your ideas on a piece of paper and experiment with color before you start working on your floor cloth," Paula advises. "It will aid you in deciding what design you like best and what colors will work with that design." Paula suggests that it might also be fun to use one of your children's drawings as a template for your floor cloth design.
To begin, Paula puts two coats of her chosen base paint on the floor cloth and allows it to dry thoroughly. She then takes a piece of chalk and, referring to her sketch, draws her images onto the cloth (figure A). She then paints her design onto the canvas, using the chalk marks as a guide. "Don't worry about staying exactly on the chalk outline that you've made," says Paula. "You can wipe off any traces of the chalk lines with a damp cloth after your design has dried."
After allowing the paint to thoroughly dry, the final step is to apply three coats of water-based polyurethane to the entire floor cloth (figure B). Paula reminds us to remove any chalk lines before you apply the polyurethane.
After the polyurethane has had the opportunity to dry the floor cloth is ready to use.
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