If you are like me and have kids who like to paint on canvas, you may be approaching a critical mass of canvases at your house. I have a lot of canvases for projects that I do, and my kids come in and use them as well. And as much as I love my kids and all their paint projects, over time, even they don’t want to look at them anymore. And I don’t like to throw things out if I can reuse them. And so, after discussions with my kids, we have agreed that certain projects can be lost forever, but the canvas can be saved and reused. And this is how to reuse an old canvas came to be.
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Supplies Needed for the Project
Let’s review what we need to make this project a success:
- A used canvas – as we want to reuse a canvas, we need to use one that has already been used. In my case, I am using some old paint projects my kids did and no longer want.
- Paint – I am using regular primer that I have laying around the house from previous projects. But you want a thick white paint. Primer works well. But you can also buy thick acrylic paints or furniture paints as well. I wanted to keep the price down so the reused canvases wouldn’t cost more than a new canvas.
- Paintbrush – ideally, a larger paintbrush to get the job done faster.
- Sandpaper block – Depending on the state of the canvas when you get it, you may need more than one grit type of sandpaper.
- Patience – this project requires patience as it might not happen in one coat of paint.
Ok, now that we have everything that we need, let’s get this project started!
How to Reuse an old canvas
The first thing we need to do, is find a canvas that we want to reuse. It can be one with an old painting that we did or, it can be one that our kids used in one of their million projects. But we need at least one old canvas that we want to make new, so we can make more art on it.
Preparing the Canvas for reuse
Once you have your canvas ready, it is time to prepare it. I know this sounds silly, but it is a bit important.
If the canvas has numerous layers of paint on it, or if you have glitter on it, or if it is uneven for whatever reason, you will need to sand the top surface of the canvas.
You do not need to be aggressive with this. You want to gently rub the sandpaper on the canvas to smooth the surface.
You can place a book on the underside of the canvas to help hold it steady and to avoid falling through the canvas and making a hole.
You can sand as much or as little as you want. Just be mindful that sandpaper can eat away the canvas and you can be left with a hole, so be mindful of how hard and how long you are sanding.
Painting the Canvas For Reuse
Now for the fun part. It’s time to paint!
This is easy. Simply apply your paint over the canvas. Make sure cover the whole canvas with paint. Try to avoid leaving drips on the edges or the top.
Once your canvas has one coat of paint, wait for it to dry.
While waiting, I wrap my paintbrush in cellophane so it doesn’t dry out.
When the canvas is dry, inspect your work and apply another coat. You will most likely need at least 2-coats of paint.
Repeat the above until you can no longer see the paint shining through the top white paint.
And that’s it! You have Successfully Completed this project! You are now ready to reuse an old canvas for a new project!
Things I learned while trying to reuse an old canvas
This was a learning experience. My goal was to not throw out old canvases as we go through a lot, and I don’t like to waste money or art supplies. So, here is what I learned:
- If you try to use dollar store acrylic paint to cover up old paintings, you will use numerous coats of paint and still not have good coverage. By doing it this way, you may spend more on paint than on a new canvas.
- My kids like to paint and then accentuate with glitter. Glitter is hard to get off canvases, even with sandpaper. So, if you have glitter left on a canvas, it might not come off. You might be stuck with glitter outlines on your “new” canvas.
- As an added bonus, most glitter likes to bleed through white paint, even primer. So 2-3 coats of primer may not be enough to hide the color.
- If your kids used Sharpies or other permanent black markers to write their names on the canvas, that would be very hard to cover up. You could be looking at 7+ layers of paint to hide it.
- Using sandpaper to smooth out the old paint is a great idea, but be careful not to rip the canvas. Sandpaper can tear through most things, so keep that in mind. You might need to go easy on the sanding and thick on the painting.
- I had several canvases I was doing at one time. So this project took a bit of time. It was faster than doing each one individually, but it still took a few days. Was it worth it? We will have to wait and see if the kids want to paint on them in the future.
Frequently Asked Questions – How to Reuse an Old Canvas
How long does it take to repurpose an old canvas?
This question doesn’t have an accurate answer. The time required to repurpose an old canvas relies on several factors, including:
- How thick is your paint for covering up the old picture?
- How many coats of paint do you need to apply?
- How long does it take to dry?
- How much texture is visible on the canvas when you start?
The responses to the above questions will help you understand that this project may take an afternoon or a few days.
Is it worth it to repurpose an old canvas?
This is a trick question. For me it is worth it to clean up old canvases and reuse them because we would otherwise go through a lot of canvases and a lot of garbage. This way, I can have fresh canvases to reuse for my project or let me kids reuse them (if i can convince them to use old canvases).
And from a waste standpoint, I am saving on wood and canvas going into the trash.
How much does it cost to repurpose an old canvas?
The only thing that this project cost me was time. I had all of the materials at home so I didn’t need to buy anything. But if this is your first time trying to repurpose an old canvas, or you do not have paints already, it will probably cost you in the order of $20, but then you will have enough supplies to repurpose and reused many many canvases.
Do you feel guilty for reusing canvas?
Honestly? No, I don’t. My kids paint a LOT, and some are better than others. As they paint more they are getting better. In the future when their paintings are much better I may have some guilt, and I may not even paint over them. But there are a lot of canvases that are just blobs of paint and nothing more. So, those are good to be reused.
Did you enjoy learning How to Reuse an old canvas?
Did you enjoy learning How to Reuse an old canvas? Let me know in the comments below. Let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make this project better.
If you enjoyed this project, check out some of my other canvas projects here.
If you want to learn more tips and tricks for crafting, check out these articles here.
