First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

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Jag62
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First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Jag62 »

Hi all,

I have received my first canvas stretching job, to stretch a recently painted oil on canvas 90cm x 90cm.
I'd much appreciate advice on stretcher frame requirements, whether support bars are necessary, should I order pre-cut of self assemble, best supplier, etc.
Also how to safegaurd the artwork during the process & not crack anything.
Lastly what should I be charging for this work.

Many thanks,

Neil
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pramsay13
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by pramsay13 »

I normally order stretcher moulding and cut and join them myself.
At that size I would be thinking about a support bar in the middle.
As long as your surface is clean you shouldn't have an issue with the the artwork, it will only crack if it has not been prepared right by the artist.
I had one that was cracking even as it was being unrolled. I told the customer to contact the artist but it had come from Canada so she just wanted me to stretch it and it didn't bother her that is was cracking and even peeling off in some places.
I would be around £120 to stretch something that size.
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prospero
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by prospero »

If you have never stretched one before I would recommend that you get keyed bars. Get fairly chunky bars, not
the standard skinny ones and you may not need cross-braces. Using a rigid, non-expandable frame depends on
getting it dead flat first go. Re-tensioning would be impossible if it sags or has a wave.
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Jag62
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Jag62 »

Many thanks, really appreciate the advice.
Do I need to ensure that the entire painted surface is on the front or is it acceptabe if some of the painted surface wraps around ?
If some painted surface wraps around is there a way to neaten the edges as this will be unframed or is it just accepted that there will be some blank canvas & some paint on the edges ?
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Gesso&Bole
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Gesso&Bole »

If this is not going to have a frame on it you need to be sure that the image is actually going to be suitable for this type of presentation.

Customers will have seen 'Gallery Wraps' which tend to be on deeper stretcher bars, and are very often used with pictures/photos printed onto canvas. These are usually designed to have a significant 'bleed' area that goes around the edge of the stretcher, often mostly sea or sky so the image is not 'interrupted' too much. Otherwise they are printed with clean straight edges and a white border that goes around the edge.

You mention that yours is an original - is it square, and does it have straight line edges? Or is the image suitable to go around the edge?

If you are going to end up with uneven (visually) edges this can draw attention to the edge, not the artwork.

My personal feeling (as a picture framer) is that it will probably look better in a frame, but we are there to serve our customer. And give them what they want once we have exhausted every effort to persuade them to do it how we say . . . .
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prospero
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by prospero »

I take the view that if it was intended as a 'Gallery Wrap' then the artist should have paint it on stretchers and finished the edges.
Trying make a gallery wrap out of a normal painting is to my mind a bit iffy. Depends on the painting of course. Deep blank canvases
intended for this are mostly machine-stretched and have nice neat corners.
I have in the past refused to do this on certain canvases. It's a fad that I hope will die out soon. :roll:

On a few no-value canvases I have painted the edge black, putting it on thick to conceal the staples. A major faff and very messy.
And the paint can take weeks to dry. Anything that is considered 'Fine Art' should not be treated this way IMHO.
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Jag62
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Jag62 »

Many thanks everyone. I'm waiting for the painting to come in. Owner says she's asked artist to leave plenty of canvas around perimeter to allow for stretching, whether this means the picture is square or not remains to be seen. I suspect that it's unstretched to make easier for artist to post their work.
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Gesso&Bole
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Gesso&Bole »

This is one of those situations where it may be necessary to direct the customer firmly, in order to avoid a no win situation for you.

Could you persuade the customer to achieve a similar clean modern look with a floater frame?
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Re: First Canvas Stretching job - guidance please

Post by Justintime »

If you haven't done this before or been shown, I strongly suggest having a few practice runs with some bars and a piece of canvas.
I trained on quite small ones and doing one 90x90 takes more time and patience.
Its really important to get good tight neat corners without cutting off the corner fabric too.
For the sake of your wrists I can recommend the Arrow T50 rechargeable stapler (unless you have a compressor) and used with care canvas pliers can help. Always stainless steel (or better) staples, standard staples will rust.
How recently painted is the oil painting? They can take months to dry.
I use Lion's bars, they recommend support bars over 700mm I think.
It is very important when measuring for bars to leave enough canvas over the back to actually stretch it. Too little and you will struggle.
I would be about £110 for this.
Justin George GCF(APF)
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