veteran burner seeking advice on potential piece for 09

[Deadjuliet88]

hi. i was just looking for some advice.
the art piece i was thinking of creating would essentially be just a big piece (10 feet x 10 feet say) of canvas, grommeted as like a tarp, to be hung horizontally paint side/face-down about 15 feet high. upon that canvas will be a painting using acrylic paint.

my questions and advice seeking are as follows:
what kind of canvas is the sturdiest to withstand the playa? is there a particular thread count? will acrylic paint hold up in the sun? begin to crackle? acrylic hold up in the rain? and will it crack and fold during transport? if canvas is grommeted, does it weaken the canvas? would latex paint be better? tempera?? if i was to fire retard the canvas pre (or post) paint, would it jeopardize the integrity/strength of the canvas/paint?

thanks :)
prease help!

[misfit]

http://tarps.com/canvas.htm is where i purchased my tarp. i used an airbrush with fabric paint diluted. had no problem with cracking... no sun degragation and it held up nicely during the rain.

[gyre]

Springbar may have some advice.

[Toolmaker]

Canvas is "graded" by weight. A lower number is a heavier/thicker material.

[Zulegoona]

Acrylic can stick to it’s self if folded face to face so roll you painting instead of folding it if you can. The heat should keep the paint flexible even if you had really built up areas. If you do plain on thick paint canvas prep is even more important to make sure it all stays stuck.

[sattelite5812]

Rolling as opposed to folding is a good idea. However acrylic might not hold up so well if it rains.... oil based paints are better for that purpose, and also remain quite flexible

[Sail Man]

hi. i was just looking for some advice.
the art piece i was thinking of creating would essentially be just a big piece (10 feet x 10 feet say) of canvas, grommeted as like a tarp, to be hung horizontally paint side/face-down about 15 feet high. upon that canvas will be a painting using acrylic paint.

my questions and advice seeking are as follows:
what kind of canvas is the sturdiest to withstand the playa? is there a particular thread count? will acrylic paint hold up in the sun? begin to crackle? acrylic hold up in the rain? and will it crack and fold during transport? if canvas is grommeted, does it weaken the canvas? would latex paint be better? tempera?? if i was to fire retard the canvas pre (or post) paint, would it jeopardize the integrity/strength of the canvas/paint?

thanks
prease help!

I hung a sail from my sailboat at the Detroit/Chicago Decomp and it was painted on by numerous people with acrylic paint. The sail is made of Dacron, and so far, so good. The real test is how well it will hold up once I sail with it. I have a 2nd sail that I was thinking of bringing with me to the next burn to have the same thing done, with a larger "artist" base to draw upon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30355977@N02/2907609476/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30355977@N02/2907612076/

These are 2 pics of the sail. I can't fig. out how to post them here, their on flickr, but from the links you can check other pics.

As you can see I just hung the sails with rope from 2 adjacent trees. On the playa you may need to erect a structure to hold the "canvas" up. I would recommend hanging it up sideways as opposed to flat as it is more natural to work with it. Just remember to bring a ladder or 2 for people to use if its a big canvas. Other things I learned, bring water to use with the paints, have a few extra cans available for that, cut up old cardboard boxes to use as poor mans palette's. Bring plenty of brushes. I also bought large markers to let people use as well. We painted on only 1 side, and it shows through on the other side as well, although not as bright.

Now, if anybody out there can tell me, or warn me, the one question I have that hasn't been answered yet, is that when I sail with them, and water get's splashed upon them, which is inevitable will that cause the paint to run?

[gyre]

There are also oil based acrylics.

[accordionMan]

I would recommend that you put a few C shape cuts in your canvas to allow some of the wind to blow through or you might have some ripping or a giant sail pulling your posts out o the ground.

[Deadjuliet88]

i was looking into ... army duck canvas... #10 or so. do you think if i went with a lighterweight canvas---such as artist grade #7 or even army duck canvas #12...the wind would make it through better? i'd like to avoid having to make any incisions into the canvas...
it will be flat...as in a shade structure, like the roof over your head. it's also going to be grommetted--double thick.
i'm definitely going to use standard acrylic paint. if i purchase canvas unprimed, would standard gesso work to prime it...or should i get the canvas primed....and if so, are there better primers to paint over with acrylic??
so many questions :)
thanks everyone!

[accordionMan]

For the past two years, I've seen heavy duty tarps that were used as shade structures rip where the grommets with rope or bunge cords were attached to the supports.

In one case the canvas was old and brittle. Not an issue for you.
The other case, the grommets were placed too far apart causing lots of stress on each connection.

I would place them about every 18 inches... enough to let the wind through but not enough to put lots of stress on them.


Also, since you will be folding over your edges so that you have a double thick seam, I would think that it would work very well.

I wouldn't go with the lighter weight canvas... the wind wouldn't flow through it... especially since you plan on gesso and painting it.

[matisse]

Back in 2003 I gessoed a 10 x 15 foot canvas drop cloth from a paint store, and mounted it on a frame, and my sweetie painted it on the playa (we hung it on the side of a 24' truck) - the paint held up fine. She used house paint.

In other years since we have made a series of canvs walls around our camp using canvas drop cloths. We fold over 6" of two edges, and slide 1x2 clear douglas fir into these two edges, and then stretch the canvas between poles. Because the wind pressure is taken by the full edge of the canvas they never rip.

[Deadjuliet88]

gosh, i haven't been back here in a while.

the vision has grown and now i'm hoping for 2013.

we'll see.

gosh, i love this place.