DIY Canvas Photography Backdrop ($20.34)

Posted by Terri Ann
November 15, 2007

I read a great blog entry, on the Strobist blog last month about making your own backdrop by dying a canvas drop cloth that you can pick up for under $10 at Home Depot.

Note: Don't be scared of dying. This was my first time, and it didn't hurt. Though next time I WILL use gloves.

Since I had to grab silver spay paint and painters tape for update some old lamps that have been lying around the house I decided to grab a 6' x 9' drop cloth while I was there.
I ran to the craft store in the plaza and bought 4 packets of black Rit dye, then it was off to the house to get to dying.

Dying a Canvas Background Steps

Step 1: Gather Supplies

Canvas Dying Products

6' x 9' Canvas Drop Cloth be aware many drop cloths have large seams that will show after the dying process
4 packets black RIT dye
1 empty cranberry juice container (for dissolving the dye powder)
1 cup of salt

Yea, about the one cup of salt, I'm winging it here...

Step 2: Pre-wash the canvas

This will remove any residue on the cloth and get the cloth wet as is instructed by the Rit directions. I used warm water and detergent.

Bottle Filled with Dissolved Dye This was also a good time to dissolve the dye and add the salt to that mix. I used an empty cranberry juice bottle because 8 cups (two per packet) takes up a lot of space.

Step 3: Dye it up!

After the canvas was done with it's first wash I set the washer to warm wash/cold rinse and started it up again. I dropped in the dye mix and let 'er rip. As instructed by the Rit instructions I made sure to reset the agitate cycle before it got to the rinse/spin.
After the machine went through it's rinse cycle I pulled out the canvas and ran a piece of it under the tap in the sink to make sure it was running clear. It wasn't so I ran ti through another cold rinse cycle. After that it was to the dryer.

Step 4: All Done!

I pulled out my canvas and it's more of a warm/cool almost violet hinted gray. Maybe I'll dye it again to see if I can get a deeper black. For now though this will be a great out-of-focus background to help make my subjects stand out better.

Total Cost: $20.34

$9.98 (6' x 9' Canvas)
$10.36 (Rit Dye 4 @ $2.59ea.)

Took less than 3 hours. Over the next week we'll what kind of photos this backdrop will help create.

Dyed Canvas, Folded Dyed Canvas, Hanging

References

On our next episode and trip to home depot maybe there will be a DIY background stand in our future.

Next time...

I'll be posting a great way to hang you new backdrop soon!
and next time I'm going to try dying a more earth brown tone as the yellow canvas will probably take that better than the black.