Create an Impressive DIY Gallery Wall With These Easy Projects
Fill a wall with art you make yourself! HGTV Magazine walks you through nine easy how-tos.
The Ultimate Gallery Wall
Display your DIY masterpieces in the arrangement shown above to create the ultimate floor-to-ceiling collection.
Washi Tape Lines
1. Cut pieces of washi tape in varying lengths. 2. Stick each piece of tape to white heavyweight mixed-media paper at an angle, overlapping some of the pieces. Washi tape: Masking tape in assorted colors, $4 per roll, mt-tape.us
Abstract Leaves
1. Cut rounded leaf shapes out of tissue paper (for opaque leaves, use two pieces of paper; for sheer leaves, use one). Cut out a stem and a few mini stems. 2. Adhere the tissue paper to a pre-stretched canvas using decoupage medium and a foam brush. 3. Coat the entire canvas with a thin layer of decoupage medium. Let dry. Tissue paper: 20" x 30" paper in fuchsia, $3 for a set of 8 sheets, papersource.com; Decoupage medium: Martha Stewart Crafts decoupage in gloss finish, $10 for 8 ounces, michaels.com
Color Blocking
1. Using a pencil, draw a rectangle in the center of a piece of white heavyweight mixed-media paper. 2. Cut colored paper into enough small rectangles to fill the large rectangle. Adhere the colored rectangles to the white paper with a glue stick. Colored paper: Color-Aid 4½" x 6" paper, $59.50 for a set of 220 sheets, dickblick.com
Graphic Stamps
1. Use a pouncer to coat a stamp with crafts paint. Stamp four rows of your design in the center of a piece of white printmaking paper. Let dry. Stamp: 1½" x 2½" leaf-pattern rubber stamp, $18, creatiate.etsy.com; Crafts paint: Pool by Martha Stewart Crafts
Geometric Watercolor
1. Using a pencil, lightly sketch a design of pentagons and hexagons on a piece of white mixed-media paper. 2. Tape off a third of the shapes — they shouldn’t be ones that touch each other — with narrow delicate-surface painter’s tape. Fill in the shapes with watercolor paints. Remove the tape while the paint is still slightly wet, and let dry. 3. Repeat step 2 two more times, taping off another third of the shapes each time. Watercolor paint: Angora 36-pan watercolor set, $29, amazon.com
Gold Word
1. Type a word you like, and print it onto white copy paper using a laser printer (if you don’t have one, a copy shop can print it for you). 2. Apply reactive gold foil over the letters, following the package instructions (the instructions require a laminator; if you don’t have one, you can use one at a copy shop). Foil: Heidi Swapp Minc 12¼" x 120" reactive foil roll in gold, $10, michaels.com
Splatters and Stripes
1. Tape off the edges of two pre-stretched canvases. 2. To make the splatters, pour high-flow acrylic paint in a bowl. Put on a rubber glove, then dip your fingers into the paint, and flick the paint onto one canvas. Let dry. 3. To make the stripes, dip a dry paintbrush into high-flow acrylic paint, and brush it across the other canvas. Let dry. High-flow acrylic paint: Golden high-flow acrylic in carbon black, $15 for 4 ounces, aifriedman.com
Shibori-Style Print
1. Cut a piece of indigo-color rice paper into a square. Affix a stencil to the paper with repositionable spray mount. 2. Using a pouncer, fill in the stencil with crafts paint. Remove the stencil while the paint is still slightly wet, and let dry. Stencil: Resonance wall art stencil, $40, cuttingedgestencils.com; Rice paper: 25" x 37" Thai unryu paper in blue, $3.50, mulberrypaperandmore.com; Crafts paint: Wedding Cake by Martha Stewart Crafts
Marbled Paper
1. Cut white printmaking paper into three pieces. 2. Fill a large rectangular plastic container halfway with water, and let it sit until it reaches room temperature. Pour several drops of two or three colors of nail polish into the water. Immediately drag a toothpick through the polishes to marbleize them. 3. Wearing rubber gloves, place a piece of the cut paper flat on the marbled water, and quickly pick it up. Let it dry flat. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the other two pieces of paper. 5. Have a mat cut with three windows. Trim the papers to fit, and tape them behind the mat. Nail polish: Maybelline New York Color Show Nail Lacquer in assorted colors, $4 each, maybelline.com