The How To Guide For Applying Vinyl To Wood & Canvas

Wondering why your vinyl just won't stick? There are a few factors in getting vinyl to stick on rough surfaces like canvas, burlap, and wood. Below are examples for each surface and our tips and tricks to get the job done! We recommend putting some type of coating on your project to smooth out the surface. You can use acrylic paint or a clear coating. But watch the type of paint you use: some of the paints out there, especially the newer paints, are great for walls because they resist stains, but they also resist vinyl. Just read the bottle for "stain resistant" first! Let's get started.

What You Need:

Acrylic Paint or
Crystal Clear Coat
Permanent Adhesive Vinyl

Example 1: Vinyl on Canvas

So we've got our canvas here, one side has not been coated with anything, the other side has been.

I used Oracal 651 vinyl in Dark Grey. It has a permanent adhesive that's a little more aggressive. Check out all of our permenant adhesive vinyls to see which one will work best for your project. As you can see, the side that had the clear coat applied (right side) had the vinyl adhere much easier than the uncoated side (left).

Example 2: Vinyl on Burlap

First, I feel I should note, getting adhesive vinyl to stick to burlap is tricky any way you do it. It's best for short term projects. If you are looking for a long term application, check out our heat transfer vinyl. That will work best for you. If you're just intending the burlap project as an indoor decoration that won't be handled much, our adhesive vinyl will work fine.

Just like on the canvas, you will want to coat your burlap with acrylic paint to have the best results. The image below shows adhesive vinyl applied on both the painted side and directly to the burlap. The burlap fibers get stuck in the vinyl's adhesive and makes it difficult to stick on the non-painted side.

Pushing the vinyl down as you are pulling up on the transfer tape will also help with getting the vinyl to remain on the burlap. After the transfer tape is removed, you can smooth it down with your finger as well.

Example 3: Vinyl on Wood

Here I have a piece of wood that I have painted half of. Vinyl should stick decently to unfinished wood, but if you sand and coat it with either paint or a clear coat, it will adhere much easier.

You definitely want to wait and make sure your paint is nice and cured before you stick your vinyl to it. I would give it at least 24 hours.

As you can see, it's going to have a little bit harder time sticking to the undercoated, unpainted wood, but you can get it to stick down. After you get your vinyl on, you can also take your clear coat and spray it over the top of your vinyl. Having a coat over the top will help it stick down also.