Oil Painting | How to Paint | How to Stretch Canvases

MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT FOR OIL PAINTING

Making Your Own Canvas Panels

You can also make your own canvas panels. The most economical way is to purchase a roll of either cotton or linen canvas, in a width that will not waste canvas when it is cut up. For example, a 50-inch width will give you two 20-x-24-inch panels. It is not advisable to make panels any larger than this size, since larger ones may warp.

Get some "beaverboard" - extra heavy cardboard known as mounting board - and cut to the desired size. Cut the canvas about 1/2 inch larger all around than the size of the board. Apply glue to the back of the entire canvas and mount on the board. After trimming the corners, fold over the surplus 1/2-inch margin. Place the mounted canvas on the floor and put a drawing board on it, making certain that it covers the entire canvas. Place several heavy books on top of the drawing board and allow to press overnight.

Then cut a sheet of heavy brown wrapping paper to a size slightly less than the mounted canvas. Glue this paper to the back of the panel and repeat the pressing process. This acts as a counter-mount and prevents warping, I suggest that you experiment first with pieces of scrap canvas, then if you find this method satisfactory you will want to do several panels at one time. The process is such that it is almost as easy to mount a half dozen panels as to mount one.

Stretching Your Own Canvas

You can purchase canvas already stretched if you work in the stock sizes (8 x 10, 9 x 12, 12 x 16, 16 x 20, 20 x 24, and 24 x 30 inches). If you want a special size, or prefer to do your own stretching, the process is fairly simple. You will need canvas pliers, which can be obtained in any art supply shop, stretcher strips of the size desired, and a box of 3/8 inch tacks.

We will assume that you want to stretch a 20-x-24-inch canvas. Cut a piece of canvas 22 x 26 inches, which will give you a working edge of 1 inch all around the stretcher strips. The strips are placed in a frame position, as square as possible. Place the canvas so that the even 1-inch margin appears around the stretcher frame. Hammer a tack partly in the center of each of the four sides.

Then, gripping the 1-inch edge with the pliers, hammer a tack on each side of the center (about 2 inches apart). Repeat this procedure until all four sides have three tacks. Then keep adding more tacks, working from the center toward the corners, alternately on each side. Gradually the canvas will be tacked along the side of the entire frame.

Until you get the knack of exactly how hard to pull the canvas with the pliers, just hammer the tacks in lightly. Then if you should get any unwanted wrinkles you can easily remove the tacks, tighten the wrinkled area, and retack. The wedges that come with the wooden stretchers can then be hammered into the corners to take up the slack.

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Material & Equipment for Oil Painting
> Introduction & Colors
> Working with Canvases
> More about Using Canvases
> The Paint Box and Palette
> The Palette Knife and Other Tools
> Oil Painting Brushes & the Home Studio
> Care of Equipment & Brush Handling
> More about Brush Handling
> Arranging Colors on the Palette & Color Mixing
> More About Color Mixing
> Color Mixing Exercises