Very Simple Diy External Background

[daizeUK]

I would like to have a go at painting my own background.  My idea is to have nearly black, to show the fish off, but with a suggestion of plants painted on in very dark green to give the illusion of a dim plantscape rather than a jet black abyss.
 
This rough sketch is the sort of thing I had in mind:
 

 
Anybody think this would be a worthwhile design for a background?
 
The other thing is I can't think of what to use as the media.  I'm looking for something of similar stiffness to commercial aquarium backings, i.e. not a black bin liner.  I've tried a bin liner and it shows up the creases and folds.
 
Any ideas to where I could scavenge a piece of plastic or waterproof card, 60x40 cm of any colour that might suit the purpose?
 
Or failing that, a way to make ordinary painted card reasonably waterproof (perhaps a coating of pva glue or spray varnish?)
 
I know that I can buy a plain black aquarium background of this size for around £4-5 but I'm just investigating whether I can make do with any odds n ends lying around before I mess up a perfectly good shop-bought backing

.  Any ideas appreciated.

 

[techen]

I quite like the black and faint green. Would look really good

 

[khial]

coincidence, i sat down with my little girl earlier and tried to do the same thing, black background....keep us posted if you get any ideas,,,complete it

 

[Tuxyu3]

Sounds like an interesting idea. You could try an arts & crafts shop for some materials but i am unsure whether they are likely to have them or not, i do not tend to frequent such places

 

[Zikofski]

looks like a very very good idea, you can also pain some card, or even a thin peice of wood, but to be honest i think it is best to go and buy some black backing from the LFS but get extra, in case you screw it up you have spare

 

[daizeUK]

I tried a rough proof of concept on a piece of black A4 card using my kid's poster paints today but it didn't work out too well, mainly because the card is too thin and paints too watery so the card warps easily.  I also had some problems with the darker shades of green as they just get absorbed into the black card and fade to invisible.
 
I could potentially try a thicker card and perhaps acrylic paints, that might work better.  But I think the end product has to be gloss, I don't think matt will look right.  I'm going to try a spray varnish tomorrow on my test card to see how well it turns out.
 
I've got a cheap plain black aquarium background on order as well so I will see what I can do with that.  I'm pretty sure that water-based paints won't stick to a gloss surface so I may have to try enamels on it.

 

[Zikofski]

what you can do is cut out templates for the various colours and spray pain or just pain over a other piece of card? this may work and help a bit not sure but the glass at the back of the tank will help with glossy ness will it not?

 

[the_great_white]

plexiglass will give you that gloss finish, but if you paint it on a piece of plexi glass, just be sure to paint it from the foreground first and put the unpainted side towards the aquarium

 

[Yanks15]

Why not just paint right onto the glass? You can always wipe it off if you don't like the design.

 

[daizeUK]

Zik - I think templates and spray paint is a very good idea.  I was considering it but I wanted to see how effective cheap paint would be first.  I found a spray can of dark green paint at the back of my craft cupboard, think it's empty unfortunately.  I'll have to go looking for two or three cans in the right shades of green.
 
I'd rather not paint directly on the aquarium glass as (a) I don't want to mess it up (b) I'd like to be able to swap backgrounds if I change my mind (c) resale and (d) I'd have to empty the tank to move it away from the wall
 
I sprayed a coat of varnish over half my test card to compare gloss versus matt but it made no appreciable difference through the glass.  However it did give a good degree of water resistance, so varnished card might be a viable option, if the card was thick enough and jet black.  As you can see, the test card is not deep enough black (the right side is varnished):
 

 
I think the next step is to look for some green spray and try it out on some black aquarium backing.

 

[Zikofski]

nice still looks good mind you just looks like grass in a fog

 

[Titchie]

have you thought about air brushing ?

 

[daizeUK]

It did cross my mind.  I used to have an airbrushing kit when I was a teenager and quite frankly found it a load of hassle, I guess I just never really got to grips with it. 

 

[jack1]

Nice background - like the addition of the green plants - not too much - you could try painting the green plants on glass and then add black background using paper or thin plastic see through paper - good idea

 

[daizeUK]

Yep that gives me an idea, I have a roll of clear masking film which might be perfect for the job.  I'll have a play around with it.