Today we had our canvas stretching demo to coincide with our current sale on heavy duty stretcher bars, canvas, and linen. We went through everything from why to go with a hand-stretched canvas over a pre-stretched off-the-shelf one, to the process of building one, and alternative methods for creating an out of the ordinary custom canvas. Below is a condensed (as best I could) version of the demo.
Why make your own canvas?
The first question everyone wants to know is “will it save me money?” The answer is tricky. If you are not a stickler for quality and usually use the most inexpensive canvas, or if you paint infrequently, no it won’t. Our studio series canvas, while still a good quality and suitable for any form of painting, isn’t up to par with a professional artist’s standards. It uses lower grade materials to save cost for beginning painters who may not be ready to make the investment in higher quality materials. If you are painting large scale, in high volume, and/or with high quality materials you can save a lot. Buying material in bulk usually comes out to not only be a better value, but with canvas it allows you to get more usable pieces with less waste.
The other point is that by stretching your own canvas you can get something to your standards which most closely resembles your vision. You can use alternative materials or methods to make something truly unique. For many artists the stretching process is a meditative process where they can feel out a size of canvas that best suits their composition rather than picking a standard size canvas and trying to squeeze their art onto it. By making the canvas from a handful of materials into a complete piece of art the artist is intimately connected to the entire life of their piece.
Step 1. Picking out your materials. First you must pick stretchers to match your composition as well as the physical demands of what you want to make. If you want to paint something small or intend to frame your work, you may want to go with light weight stretchers. If you are painting larger work or want to hang your work without a frame you may want to turn to heavy duty stretchers. For your surface there are several different grades of canvas and linen (read more here). You will also need a primer. For this demo we used Utrecht Professional Grade Gesso.
Step 2. Building your frame. Stretcher bars have interlocking corners. They are meant to lock tight and maintain a squared corner. When putting them together do not use glue or nails as it may be necessary to use corner keys to expand them in the case that frame shrinks or expands due to humidity. To get them to fit snug you may need to use a rubber mallet in order to tap them together. It is a good idea to use a triangle to make sure the corners are squared. A crossbar should be used to brace any side of a canvas 30” or longer to prevent the side from bowing. It should be fastened in the middle of the bar either with nails or using a “T” plate. Using heavier bars can also combat bowing but a crossbar may still be necessary.
Step 3. Cutting your canvas to size. When cutting your canvas you don’t want to cut the exact size of your image. You need extra material to pull around the sides of your bars. If you are using light duty bars, add an extra 1.5” all around (3” to your image) and for heavy duty bars, add 3” all around (6” to your image). Measure it out on your raw canvas. DO NOT CUT IT OUT WITH SCISSORS! This will leave an uneven edge that will continue to fray. Put a small cut in the edge of the canvas and then tear it. The material will tear right along the line in the fabric and will always come out with a clean edge.
Step 4. Stretching your canvas. Place your canvas down on a clean surface. If there are any creases you can iron them out. Place your canvas frame with the beveled edge face down. The beveled edge ensures that you don’t get “ghost lines” from the canvas touching the edge of the bars. Make sure the frame is lined up and centered with your canvas. You should be able to use the lines of the fibers to make sure the bars run parallel to the grain of the fabric. On the stretcher bars you mark the center of the bar. This is going to be your starting point. Fold the canvas over the edge of the longer side and using a heavy duty staple gun, staple the canvas down. Do the same for the opposite side. Repeat the process in the other direction. A note about canvas tension: you should pull till you get a decent amount of resistance, but you don’t want to get too much because this could cause the frame to warp or the canvas to tear. Keep in mind that when you apply primer the canvas will shrink and become tighter. If you are stretching a small canvas you may use your hands. If stretching a larger canvas or stronger linen it is advisable to use canvas pliers. Be careful when using them as they make it very easy to stretch a lot of tension.
Most people teach that you would repeat this process moving out from the first staples until you reach the corners. The problem with this method is that as you get closer to the corners the tension goes increasing and you start losing canvas. By the time your reach the corners your overlap around the back might be significantly shorter than the center or you may not even have enough to finish. For this method I pull the canvas to the corner before I start down the sides. I fold the canvas over the edge to make sure that my overlap at the corner is the same length as it is in the center of the bars. Because there are so few staples it is easy to pull the canvas this far. I then staple the corner. From there you put staples on either side of the first staple you did, approximately 2-3” apart. Then do the same on the opposite side, then in the other direction until you get close to the corners. If one side is significantly longer than the other you may need to staple it twice before switching directions so one side isn’t too far ahead of the other.
The order in which you want to apply your staples.
Step 5. Folding the corners. When you still have about 2 more staples till you reach the corner, stop to work on the corner. Because you have already put a staple in the corner most of the tension should be distributed and it should be easy to work with. First decide which side is the top or bottom. Your fold is going to make a small bump under the edge that can easily be hidden from view by folding it onto the top and bottom of your fame. Pull and staple all the way up to the corner that will be the visible side. Pull the canvas around the corner toward the side. With the other side, pull your canvas down and create a fold in the canvas that will line up with the edge of the corner. This will create a small pocket in the fabric and two flaps. Pull the fold in between the two flaps so it is tight, and then pull the two flaps over the back making sure to keep the fold line straight and tight. Make sure to keep the flaps pulled tight, and then staple them down. Repeat for all corners.
Step 6. Priming. Priming serves several purposes: it acts as a white base to for you to work on and let your colors appear their truest, it gives your paint a way to adhere to the canvas, and for oil painters it acts as a barrier between the acids in your oil and the canvas. There are several different ways to prime a canvas, but the most common is using several layers of gesso. We used Utrecht Professional Grade Gesso to do this. Utrecht gesso is of a high quality and a thick consistency. Many gessoes are watery and suffer from lack of titanium and zinc (the pigments that give gesso its white color) and do not have a significant body. For the first layer of priming you use a mixture of 1 part water, 2 parts Utrecht gesso. Watering down any further can cause the gesso to dissolve or lose its ability to cure properly. The purpose of this first layer is to penetrate the fibers of the canvas. This ensures proper adhesion to the canvas. You should begin by putting a generous amount of primer in the center of your canvas then spreading outward evenly. This ensures that it is drying evenly. Keep brushing it out and around to push it into the fibers and keep any parts from drying too thick or with visible brush strokes. If brush strokes are visible you can use sandpaper to buff them out after applying a layer of primer. You should apply at least 2 layers of gesso (3 if you are painting with oils), but the more the better. Do not over-prime unless you are trying to achieve a completely flat surface (this is an advanced method of priming and does take a lot of practice). You can also prime for oils by putting down a layer of Utrecht Acrylic Sizing and applying Utrecht Oil Priming White over it. This method is also an advanced method of priming and not necessary to paint with oils.
Some additional examples of hand-stretched canvas and primed panels.
If you do decide that stretching your own canvas is for you, come on by and we can help you to get the materials you need and answer any additional questions you might have. Just remember that through August 15th we will have heavy duty stretcher bars, canvas, and linen on sale. And if you decide stretching isn’t for you, we also have great sales on our Studio, Contemporary, and Masters Series stretched canvas.
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