Stretch It Yourself
Stretch It Yourself
Walking into a gallery and talking to the owner as you both wander around looking at all the fantastic canvases might give you the impression that you have to get an expert to stretch your canvases for you; while it’s advisable if you plan to exhibit the work to a high standard, it isn’t essential. With a small amount of training anyone can make their own canvases and for a decent price. All you need is the following: a frame, some canvas, some decent pliers with a wide surface area—canvas pliers especially for the job can be bought from artists suppliers—and a staple gun.
1) Cut the canvas so it’s a few inches bigger all the way around than your frame. You can always cut it down afterwards, but don’t cut it more until it’s at least semi stapled down.
2) Lay the canvas down and put the frame on top, then pull the top piece over and staple it in the middle of the frame. Always staple the back of the frame and not the sides.
3) Do the same with all four sides, until each side has a single staple or two in the middle.
4) Now you need to pull with the pliers and put more staples in the first side you started with. Don’t staple either side of the first staple, work in one direction first, pulling the canvas taught.
5) Once you’ve done this on all four sides it will start to get more taught, like a drum. Continue until the canvas is very tight, leaving a couple of inches so the corners are free.
6) When you get to the corners, fold them over so that the canvas forms a neat corner, then staple. For more advice on making a good corner it would be advisable to consult a specialist website, of which there are many.
Before I log off, I am making an effort at figuring out something for my best friend as a gift. When I was having a chat with her the other day she said that she would like a new set of running clothes. Does anyone know of a close place to get them?