How to stretch a canvas yourself

Life at Les Trois Chenes Bed and Breakfast, Limousin, France, is ever-varied, and today I have a commission to paint a portrait, so the first thing to do is to prepare the canvas!

But why not just go and buy one? They are cheap and, at least here, they are readily available. Well, you may not be so lucky. You may not have access to ready-made canvases. Or you may need a large canvas or one with unusual dimensions, or even an unusual shape.

You might also require a canvas that is sturdier or better quality than those sold cheaply, or you may want to make canvases in large quantities – all valid reasons for stretching a canvas yourself.

You will need:

• Canvas stretchers (or canvas pliers) which you will have to buy from a specialist art retailer or buy on-line
• Tacks
• Medium-sized (2 lb) hammer
• Pincers 
• Medium sized flat-headed screw-driver.

You will need the following tools:

• Saw and a 45° guide. This can be a simple wooden guide, a metal guide or a sophisticated rotary saw – they are all equally serviceable, and the choice depends on how often you will want to use the guide, how much you want to invest and how confident you are with machines
• 2lb hammer, and corrugated fasteners for wood 10mm deep x 30mm wide
• a heavy duty stapler to secure the canvas, which can be used instead of tacks, and this is the more usual method. The problem I have come across is that as a woman with quite small hands, I don’t have the hand-span to be able to easily use a stapler that is strong enough to do the job.

I was taught to make this type of frame at art college and 25 years later I have found that my canvases are perfectly ok. It is quite crude compared to the classic frame which has wooden wedges that can be used to tighten the canvas if it gives a bit over time. To make the frame you must use beveled wood or nail a quarter dowel around the edge. This is to keep the canvas from touching the wood. Go to any carpentry shop or business which prepares wood with large machines, and get 2 x 1 inch wood beveled on one side. You will also need to get the same wood planed down to the inner depth of the wood for cross-bars. You will need a cross bar when the dimensions of your stretcher are more than c. 70 cms.

Cut the 4 corners at 45° angles to fit together. Cut the crossbar straight across, and fix by hammering in two fasteners on the front face as shown, and one on the back, in between the front ones. There is a bit of a knack to this so have a few trial goes on scrap wood first.

Choosing the canvas

The general rule is that the larger the stretcher, the stronger, and therefore the more expensive the canvas. The canvas is sold by weight, but there are also variations in weave and texture. The best thing to do is visit your supplier and take their advice. If you are working with large quantities, it is worth buying a large roll of strong canvas in bulk, as this also gives you freedom to make stretchers of varied sizes. The texture is a matter of personal choice. I prefer a more robust texture in general.

The canvas needs to be about 15cm larger in both dimensions than the stretcher.

Whether you are using tacks or staples the method is much the same, except that the tacks you put onto the edge of the canvas but the staples can be put into the back. With the latter method you achieve a much neater edge and you can, if you wish, exhibit the paintings without framing.

1.      Start in the middle of one side. Make sure that you have placed the canvas centrally over the stretcher. Put one tack, as shown, into the centre of one side, but don’t knock it right down. Turn the stretcher over and put a tack into the centre of the opposite side. You need to pull the canvas using the canvas stretchers and pull it quite tight. This is trial and error. If you haven’t already done this start with a small trial stretcher until you get the tension right. Too slack and the canvas will flop and touch the wood, too tight and the stretcher will be put under strain and the canvas may tear. Check from time to time that the canvas has a nice bounce, but isn’t tearing at the tacks.

2.      Repeat on the other side, and its opposite. Make sure that the canvas is central and the excess is about even on each side.

3.      Put two tacks on either side of the first tack about 4cms apart. Turn to the opposite, side and repeat. Do the same on each side. Continue now to turn the canvas round adding tacks or staples, one on each side until you reach the corners. Place the corner tacks about 3 cms from the corner – near enough to support the canvas but far enough away not to damage the wood. By this time the canvas should have a nice spring if you clap it with the flat of your hand, and it shouldn’t come into contact with the cross-bars.

4.      If it is too slack, this is where the pincers and screw-driver come in, as the only solution is to take out the tacks and start again. If you have left them out you can pull them with the pincers. If you have knocked them right in, you will have to lever them out with the screwdriver.

5.      All that remains to be done is to tuck the corners in neatly and secure them with tacks from behind.

Unless you are a Rembrandt painting for posterity, then a good-quality emulsion paint or water-based primer should be adequate for priming. I would give two coats, one coat diluted with a little water so that it brushes on easily and thinly. Then give a second coat to give a good, even surface without losing the texture of the fabric. Remember to read the instructions given on the tin with regards to the time you need to leave between coats.

You are now ready to go.

Other articles which may interest you:

Best Gifts for Painters and Artists Part 1

Best Gifts for Painters and Artists Part 2 - charcoal, conte and oil paint

What is pastel? The history of oil pastel and chalk pastel

Painting Limousin

Learn to Paint in France

Materials

• Corrugated fasteners a3fxn eBay
  
• Canvas and art materials Atlantis Art Materials London

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