I’m a huge fan of ikat patterns of all shapes and sizes and I bought this plate from Target a long time ago and have been wanting to copy it’s pattern forever. I got some spending money and went straight to Michaels and bought this HUGE canvas. I picked out some of my favorite colors of paint and got started. It was a learning process and I changed it even after I thought I was done so read the WHOLE post before starting.
Here is my video and I HIGHLY suggest watching this before you try to paint this pattern 🙂
Here’s how I did it:
This was my inspiration, a small plate from Target.
First I drew super light pencil lines to make a diamond pattern. I didn’t do any measuring because I was okay with imperfection. That’s why an ikat pattern is so easy and great!
This is an example of what my pencil lines looked like because I couldn’t get them to show up on camera. My diamond rows weren’t super straight but I liked it that way.
I started with my first color I wanted to use and started painting with a small foam brush. I would make quick up and down strokes all around the inside of one row of diamonds. I would skip a row and then do the same color again. I didn’t fill in the middle of my first colors because I was going to paint other colors inside of that one.
Then I painted another color on the inside of my first color following the same up and down brush strokes. Each diamond shape is going to be different but that is the beauty of ikat patterns.
Now I just started my next row of colors. I kept layering colors until I got the look I wanted. Each of my rows had about 3 or 4 colors in each diamond. I thought of each diamond as it’s own little piece of art and didn’t want any of them to look the same.
Here I was about half way through the layering.
When I was done painting the colors were a little too bright and “in your face” for me so I decided to tone it down a little and give it a more vintage feel. I put about 5 or 6 tea bags in hot water for a minute or two. Then I rubbed the tea bags directly on the canvas once the paint was dry. I paid special attention to the edges and corners.
The left side of the canvas is before the tea treatment and the right side is after. If you like the brighter colors, skip the tea 🙂
There was a lot of tea left on the canvas. I let it dry and then wiped it off easily with a damp cloth later.
All done…or so I thought…
So I hung the canvas up and stared at it for about a month. One minute I would like it and then I would walk back in the room five minutes later and hate it. It just wasn’t messy enough for me. I decided it needed something more but it took me a while to decide what to do. It’s really hard to change something once it’s “done.”
I knew I liked the colors so I poured them back on the plate and just started adding layers and layers of paint.
**I was gonna put on a show for Cole while I painted but he was watching the horse races 🙂 I had to stop and take a picture because I thought this was so funny!
I had mixed original colors for the first time but this time I used some of the colors from before and some new colors like coral.
I just started using the same up and down strokes with a regular paint brush and wasn’t paying attention to “staying in the lines” like before.
I just started layering all kids of different colors until I finally got the look I was going for. The messier the better 🙂
This reminds me of when the chalk drawings washed away in Mary Poppins for some reason 🙂
I had to do the tea treatment again because I did like the vintage look it gave the painting.
Now I’m really all done and the painting really makes me smile every time I see it. It’s super cheerful and gets me in the mood for Fall 🙂
Want more “ikat” inspiration? Check out my chevron ikat suitcase!
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Did you use oils or acrylics? Love this. I’ve been thinking about something similar (but with different colors) for my master bath.
I just used acrylic paint. Yeah I kinda want to do another one for my new house 🙂 I love the look! Please share pics of your painting! I would love to see them