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Stretching Your Own Canvas There are a lot of ways to go about stretching canvas. I've given a very simple method below that works for me. Stretching your own canvas is not hard and can save you a lot of money. You can buy precut wooden stretcher bars from any art supply store or go to a lumber yard and build your own. To stretch a canvas for painting you should have the following: 1. Stretcher Bars - Pre made can be purchased at any art supply store or you can make your own. If you're making a frame larger than 36x36 you may want to use a heavy duty stretcher strips (you might have to go online to find these). Some 1/4 inch masonite 4-6 inch triangles are great for corner braces. You probably will have to make these yourself if you've got some power tools or sometimes a cabinet shop won't mind cutting some for a fee. 2. A staple gun - Arrow and Stanley make good lightweight staplers. 1/4 inch staples are usually deep enough. 3. Canvas-Primed or unprimed canvas 3-6 inches wider than your frame size. Unprimed canvas is much easier to stretch than primed canvas for a beginner. If you want to strectch primed canvas you may want a pair of canvas pliers. First, take your four stretcher bars and join them together at the corners. You can use a rubber mallet to help tap them together tightly. Use a carpenters square or t-quare to square your frame. In a pinch (if you're tall enough) use the upper corner of a wall in your house. Once you have your frame squared you can shoot 2 or 3 staples in each corner (on the back of the frame) to hold them in place. Second, cut your canvas wide enough to have sufficent material to wrap around the back of the frame to staple. I'd say 3 in. minimum, more if your frames are wider than an inch at the edges. Pull tightly and staple your canvas at four opposite points in the center of each stretcher bar. You want to pull snugly, but remember if you're using unprimed canvas it will shrink and tighten the canvas further. Canvas pliers can be used to help pull on the canvas. Work outward from each of these centers. Stretch evenly by moving from side to side and from top to bottom in an even pace. Only add a staple or two on the left and on the right of center for each, working toward the corners. Staple and tighten the cornersuntil the ripples are all gone from front of the canvas. If not, repeat process making sure to work evenly out from each center while moving around the canvas. |