When I got into bushcrafting from the primitive scene I tried to find a good tarp at a reasonable price, at the time I didn't know about the venders that I know now, so I kind of settled on buying a Kelty tarp or the one offered by The Canteen Shop, but they were both out of stock, and being like most folks I wanted one now.
So I looked around at the local big stores like REI, EMS. Dick's Sports. and Bass Pro, nothing in stock and all on back order, but a friendly clerk at EMS suggested I might try a Foot Print tarp for one of their larger tents, they were on sale, so I bought an 8' x 10' for $30.00, it wasn't ideal in that it didn't have all the tie downs found on tarp shelters, But I've used it for a season now and it's working out very well.
Another tarp that I use is a bit heavier but it works, it's a light weight canvas painters tarp that I bought at Lowe's for about $20. bucks, I washed it in hot water and ran it through the clothes dryer twice to get all the sizing out of it and shrink the weave to make it water resistant, then I dyed it in a bucket of three gallons of hot water and a large jar of the cheapest instant coffee that I could buy over night.
Then I wrung it out best I could and hung it outside to dry, the next day I washed it again in the cloths washer and in the dryer it went for one more trip.
when dry I used two cans of tent sealer on it, then sewed in some ties made of paracord, it's 7'X 9' and it also works great.
On day hikes I take the canvas tarp, on over night trips I take the foot print, if it looks at all like it might rain I take both.
It would be nice to have a 10'x10' tarp that weighed a couple of pounds, but for a hundred and forty bucks, I'll stay with what I have, and maybe invest in a decent 2-man backpacking tent.
