How to Tighten a Stretched Canvas
When you buy a stretched canvas or stretch one yourself, do you sometimes see buckles in the canvas that you want to get rid of?
Most pre-stretched canvases come with wooden or plastic wedges to use to tighten the frame. Or, you buy some when you get the stretch rails to do it yourself.
Well what if you don't have any of these wedges or you prefer not to use them?
I was watching Jerry Yarnell on PBS yesterday and he demonstrated a very interesting alternative to using these wedges.
As Jerry explained, the canvas is a cotton which will shrink if wet with water.
You have to wet the back side where there is no gesso sealing the cotton.
You spray a fine mist into the gaps between the canvas and the wood.
You only do a little at a time and keep checking to see if the canvas is tightened enough.
He did caution that if you spray too much, the canvas could shrink to a point of cracking the stretchers so do it sparingly.
If you would like more tips on varying art subjects and mediums, go to my website
Most pre-stretched canvases come with wooden or plastic wedges to use to tighten the frame. Or, you buy some when you get the stretch rails to do it yourself.
Well what if you don't have any of these wedges or you prefer not to use them?
I was watching Jerry Yarnell on PBS yesterday and he demonstrated a very interesting alternative to using these wedges.
As Jerry explained, the canvas is a cotton which will shrink if wet with water.
You have to wet the back side where there is no gesso sealing the cotton.
You spray a fine mist into the gaps between the canvas and the wood.
You only do a little at a time and keep checking to see if the canvas is tightened enough.
He did caution that if you spray too much, the canvas could shrink to a point of cracking the stretchers so do it sparingly.
If you would like more tips on varying art subjects and mediums, go to my website
Posted by Judy Filarecki at 7/11/2009 7:44 PM 
Categories: stretched canvas, artist canvas
Tags: stretched canvas jerry yarnell artist canvas
Categories: stretched canvas, artist canvas
Tags: stretched canvas jerry yarnell artist canvas
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