Since 2006, I have been painting floorcloths, placemats and more to be used in the home. I had never heard about floorcloths, until a friend and talented artist, Bee Sieburg, introduced them to me. She encouraged me to make them to sell at my family's garden shop, Thyme in the Garden. I learned how to make them by researching all the information I could find, and by trial and error. For more info about the craft, this is a great website featuring a historical perspective: http://canvasworksfloorcloths.com/pages/aboutstory.php
I use a heavy-duty canvas that I buy in a long roll and then cut to size. Each side is primed which is an important step to keep the canvas from buckling. I then hem the edges; I like to use rubber cement for this purpose. The next stage is to paint the design. So far, all of my floorcloths have been one-of-a-kind pieces of art that I put many hours into painting, as I would any painting. This has led to some of my customers deciding to hang the floorcloth as a wall hanging, instead of using it on the floor. I try to assure everyone that the floorcloths are durable because the next step makes it so. After the paint has had plenty of time to dry, I apply several coats of polyurethane to both sides of the floorcloth. I use a clear formula that will not color with age. This protects the painting and creates a product that can take traffic and cleaning. It is easy to clean, just a mild soap, clean cloth and warm water. If regularly cleaned, little to no repairs should be needed for years and years to come. If never to rarely cleaned, a little elbow grease might be needed when cleaning, as well as every couple of years another layer or two of poly to seal up scratches that were made from the grind of dirt.
