Painting My Own Backdrop
I knew that I had to have a good quality backdrop for my photo booth at the Palisade Sunday Farmers' Market. I began looking online and struggled to find one that was big enough and had no creases. Many of the backdrops I found had reviews that said they had creases that wouldn't come out, even with an iron. After a week of searching, I realized that I wouldn't find a backdrop that was exactly what I was looking for.
So I began researching how to make my own backdrop. I need the backdrop to be 9 feet wide and at least 12 feet long. I began to look up artist canvas that were primed. They ended up being pretty expensive (around $200) and that didn't include any other supplies that I would need. Since I'm experimenting to see if this will even work, I want to try this out with a more affordable option. Instead, I bought a cotton canvas drop cloth at Home Depot for $35. Then I bought paint and rollers to begin the project.
I got home and took the drop cloth out of the bag. There were so many creases! But I knew I could iron them out. I didn't expect it to take an hour and half to iron them out. I rolled the canvas up and pinned it as I ironed it. It was a lot of material to manage and the creases took awhile for me to iron out.
I began painting the canvas the following day. I mixed a bit of water with the paint in the paint tray so it would be easier to paint the canvas. I them mixed some white paint in the paint tray to make a lighter blue. I dabbed this over the solid blue to add some texture and dimension. I had a feeling that my cat would walk on it at some point but didn't want to lock her up in a room for a full day. She did walk on it but I caught her right away and cleaned her paws off. Then I dabbed over where she walked and it was fixed pretty easily.
It took about 24 hours to dry. I carefully rolled it up and it's ready to use in my photo booth at the Farmers' Market!
