How to make a frame for cloth, or canvas painting

Hi, I wanted to paint a picture of this photo, but I wanted to try and paint it on cloth and  I wanted to paint it way bigger than this 4x6 inch photo.  And no boat!! I like boats but I didn't want it in my painting.

I planned to use acrylics but I didn't have a frame large enough.
What I did have was some of this:

Leftover hard wood flooring from floors put in years and years ago. I had  a number of different lengths and decided to make my own support frame for my canvas.

To do this you will  need :

lengths of wood, a circular saw (ear muffs), ruler, pencil, wood glue and some of these:

I bought these a the local hardware store. As you see, you can use the right angle shaped pieces or the straight. They were the same price so I bought some of both. You need 4 per frame. (One for each corner)

Measure and cut the wood pieces to form your desired frame size. Before attaching the metal corner anchors glue the frame together and leave it alone for a day or so. Some people use clamps but I didn't need to as my frames went together pretty well. I did have to use a circular saw which isn't my favorite tool to use, but after the Appalachian Service Project, last year, I CAN DO IT. Here is one corner glued: (put newspaper under the corners or you will glue the frame to the floor!!

After about 24 hours you are ready to install the corners. I strongly suggest pre-drilling the anchor slots before trying to screw them into the board, especially if you have oak! That stuff is hard! Mark the screw holes of  anchors where you will put them. Be gentle with the frame. Remember it is held together by wood glue only at this point.  Drill the needed holes a tiny bit smaller than the screw diameter.  Use some bar soap on the screws and they will go into the woods without too much  wrist strain. Here is a look:

From here you can use a staple gun to attach a  pre-printed canvas, or cover the frame with a sheet to paint. Prepare the sheet (cloth), to paint , using Acrylic Gesso:

You can dilute this a little but I would paint a number of layers to stiffen up the cloth and make it canvas like.

Use a nice soft brush to create a smooth canvas for your painting. Once it is dried out you can paint at will. Here are a couple of wall hangings I made: First up is the painting of the Rainbow River: It is about 40 x 48 inches.

Crey, my son, thinks the next one is a sunset at Camp Crystal  Lake. He kept this one. I think it is about 24 x 36 inches.

Last, is some fun flowers I liked or saw in a magazine somewhere. This is somewhere in the house here. It measures about 20 x 36 inches.

Go for it !

Have fun. ; > ) Amy