DIY – Hot Glue Painting

Hello all! =)  I’m bringing to you my first DIY (do it yourself) project!  I love the DIY projects that I find online, but I did NOT know how many pictures were necessary to get the point across!! I love to take pictures (of me…) and I love to create all types of things… but putting the two together was a little… well… it interrupted my focus lol.  But I am learning!

My inspiration for this projects came from Pinterest, of course!  Visuals like the following influenced my design:

chipboard letters placed on canvas and then painted over with a gradient from dark to pale blue

hot glue gun used to create text on a bottle, and then painted over

I wanted my end product to be more abstract.  Earlier this year my boss salvaged 3 old posters in nice, sturdy industrial frames from my job after my workplace had an interior renovation – she knew that I could eventually repurpose them.  (Check out my classmate’s , Alexis Caldera, post about The Multicultural Center’s renovations!)

one of the posters that was originally in the frame

back of frame

empty, partially deconstructed frame

I decided to use these for a hot glue gun project.  I made three mock up drawings of how I would like the paintings to look….

original sketches

… and I just went for it.

Materials include:

-Poster board* backing as the canvas.  It was already included with the frame, so I just dusted it for prep.  You could use a regular cloth canvas for this, as well.

-Acrylic paint

-hot glue gun (plugged into an electric outlet, of course)

-a hard surface (that will not melt) to place your HOT glue gun on

-several hot glue gun sticks

-drop cloth (or something to serve as a protective cover for your floor)

-large paint brush or large foam paint brush (one per color – or be willing to get up and rinse the one you use completely free of a previous color)

-small flat paint brush

-paper towels/old towel (for little clean ups)

-patience… patience would be very good.

*The thing to remember about painting on poster board or cardboard is that it will buckle (curve and bend) after it has been painted – a liquid has been added to a paper-like surface.  The trick to this is allowing the paint and sealer to dry, then lying the painting on its face and placing heavy objects (textbooks!) on the back of it so that it will flatten.

I tried two different methods to obtain what I wanted, and both worked well.

Basic instructions:

Spread your drop cloth out over a wide space.  Work on one board at a time.

Method 1:

Use the hot glue gun to draw designs on your canvas.  Let designs cool.  Remove any stray glue strings (you have to look for them carefully).  I found it useful to use a small flat paint brush to brush over the purposefully placed glue, as it moves any stray glue strings.  Once it is dry and clean, apply paint (watch for build up around the glue)!  Let the paint dry (how every long the instructions suggest) and apply the sealer (in a well ventilated – preferably outdoor – area).  Once again, let it dry per the instructions.

Method 2:

 Paint the canvas fully.  Once the paint is dry, apply hot glue gun designs.  Allow the glue to dry and remove stray glue strings as instructed above, and apply another coat of paint.  Continue with sealing as instructed above.  – This method allows for the color you choose to show better, as it is not very easy to cover the glue with the paint.

Once they’re dry, hang those bad boys up!  And voila – you have your very own work of art! (said with a fancy type of accent)

I’m not sure if it is the fact that it is so dark, or what, but the dimension of the glue is hard to read on the blue.  But the lighter colors turned out very well.

The paintings in my apartment =)

And this post has turned from merely a DIY to a DIY and DIY rant, but that’s quite alright.  I do hope that the DIY portion of it is helpful to you!  Please leave feedback as to how helpful it actually is, and if you try it, let me know how it goes!!!

Ci Vediamo!