Squaring a canvas

[JJaston]

Hi All,

I have recently been asked to frame a stretched canvas, the canvas was pre-stretched onto a stretcher.

I took the measurements and made the frame up, but when I offered the frame up to the canvas I discovered the canvas is not square. One corner-to-corner measurement is 99cm and the other is 101cm. Now I've looked at it, it's clear it's not square.

Are there any ways to "square up" the canvas? I have tried adjusting the stretcher but it doesn't seem to want to budge.

It can be manipulated into the frame but once its in the canvas is not tight and there is a ripple in the canvas.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Joe

[JFeig]

This sounds like a case of taking the art off of the stretcher/strainer bars and restretching the art.

Is this project, perchance, of tourist art that was stretched on raw wood vs milled bars?

[JJaston]

I did think of that, my concern is that the art doesn't wrap around the canvas so once it's re-stretched onto the stretcher it's not going to look right.

No, it's a local artist to me, I think it was a cheap hobby craft canvas. I don't think it would have crossed her mind to check they were square before painting. I didn't check before making the frame.

[JFeig]

The only other alternative is to increase the width of the rebates to "hide" the out of square geometry. This might require a wider frame.

Once again, as picture framers, we do not have magic wands.

[JJaston]

Thank you for your help.

I ended up having to router out a large portion of the frame to increase the rebate depth. It worked but it wasn't pretty. Luckily it was all covered up in the end.

Will be teaching the artist how to check her canvas for square for any future projects.

[Justintime]

Sounds like you figured out the answer. Having suffered the same pain once, it's now the first thing I check with a square rule every time a canvas comes in. I have had to use slips in the past when there is no way to remedy the canvas.