Stretching Canvas
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Stretching Canvas(Excerpts from ART HARDWARE: The Definitive Guide to Artists’ Materials, by Steven Saitzyk © 1987) Fabrics like canvas are stretched to the maximum during the manufacturing process and this tension has to be maintained, if not increased. If this is not done the fabric will attempt to return to a more relaxed state as the humidity changes or if water-based paints are applied to it. The result can be buckling, sagging, or distortions of the painted surface. It is therefore best to fasten a canvas securely before painting. Fredrix Artist Canvas, Inc. offers instructions for stretching canvas; this is a simplified version of its recommendations, with some modifications. Check the squareness of the auxiliary support, and verify that it is adequately reinforced. It can then be placed over the canvas, aligning the vertical and horizontal weave. There should be at least three inches of excess material on all sides so that the canvas can be held and wrapped around the edge of the auxiliary support. Wrap the canvas around at the center of one of the longer sides of the auxiliary support and then tack or staple it to the back of the support. The opposite side of the canvas should be pulled (canvas pliers are often helpful at this point) and tacked down in the same fashion. Repeat the procedure for the centers of the adjacent sides. At this point, there should be a diamond-shaped wrinkle. Return to the center of the long side. Choose a point one or two inches to one side of the point where the canvas is already tacked, and pull the canvas and secure it as before. Working outward toward the corners, tack down the opposing side, followed by the adjacent sides. The diamond wrinkle should disappear as the corners are reached. About two inches from the corner, tuck, fold, and tack the canvas in place. If you are using stretcher bars as an auxiliary support for raw canvas and there are minor wrinkles, the corner may now be expanded to remove them. If the canvas is fixed over a frame or panel, all or part of the canvas must be restretched to remove wrinkles. With raw canvas, dampening and drying will remove most minor wrinkles, but they may return when the canvas is prepared for painting. Wrinkles in prepared canvas should not be removed by expanding the corners or by dampening, both of which can cause cracking and weakening of the bond between the support and the ground. Care should also be taken not to stretch lead-primed canvas too tightly because fine cracks can develop. (Excerpts from ART HARDWARE: The Definitive Guide to Artists’ Materials, by Steven Saitzyk © 1987)
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