|
STRETCHING CANVAS
Not a fun job, assign to someone else if
you can. But here is what works for me.
1). Assemble bars...check to be sure they are desired length up-and-down
on both ends. and the most important is to be sure they are the same
measurement diagonal from corner to corner. Top Right to lower Left and Top
left to lower right. If not then. tap bars until all measurements are
correct. DO NOT GLUE OR STAPLE THEM TOGETHER AT THE CORNER.
2) I personally staple a triangle piece of mat board across all 4 corners
(on the back) to keep
the bars from moving while I am working. You can remove the corner mat
boards when finished.
3) Cover your work area (dining room table?) with a sheet to protect the
table and the art work. They lay your canvas (primed, unprimed or already
painted) face down on the table. Lay your stretcher bars on the canvas.
Line up the bars with the canvas so that you have at least 2 inches or more
around all sizes. I frequently have to sew on some extra canvas to make a
decent amount to stretch after the customer informed me that she had neatly
trimmed it for me..
4) It is GREAT IF YOU CAN GET ON ALL SIDES WITHOUT HAVING TO SPIN THE
CANVAS AND BARS.
5) Peep under to be sure canvas is straight to the bars
especially if it is already painted. If canvas was painted prior to being
stretched, the canvas will NEVER stretch properly. It is best to
stretch then paint.
6) Begin stapling in the center of each side. Each time you
go
to another side.. pull tight. AND EACH TIME YOU PULL TO THE EDGE AND TOWARD
THE CORNERS. There are pliers that are for canvas stretching that are well
worth the investment. Work out from the center of each side. Fig 1
7) STAPLE, either on the edge (easiest) or on the back of the
bars. a Gallery wrap is stapled on the back with sides covered with
canvas/picture.
8) Go from top to bottom, side to side, top to bottom,
side to side. Work your way around the canvas until you get near the corners and then
at the corner tuck the canvas and staple flat. Be sure to lift and
look from time to time, to be sure you are straight and not pulling in
wrinkles.
9) DO NOT TRIM THE EXCESS CANVAS AWAY. Staple it to the
back. Some day you may want to remove it and re-stretch it and you
might need that extra material.
10) Check for wrinkles or puffs on the front. You may
need to remove some staples and redo an area.
11) PRIMED CANVAS is coated with gesso and ready to paint.
Can be acrylic primed or ground marble primed.
12) UNPRIMED CANVAS is raw canvas and should be primed before
painting to protect the canvas from the deterioration of the paint and stop
"bleed through". Painting on unprimed canvas is not a good practice.
13) Keys are the wooden or plastic triangles/wedges that come
with already stretched canvas. You insert them into the corner holes on the
back of the canvas just in case you ever have to stretch-tighten the canvas. Tap in
the wedges in all four corners and it will drive the bars apart and tighten
up a slack canvas. But be careful or you can stretch a standard size
so much that it will not fit into the frame.
NOTE: One common
practice (which is not condoned) is to lightly mist the back of the
stretched canvas and when it dries the canvas will tighten up.
|