Last stretching questions - Honest!
Niall
Sorry for milking this one...
but this should finish off all my queries!
Should I prime the back for both oils & acrylics?
I did home made stretcher bars and it worked fine
but I am concerned about the future tension
(as there are no wedges)
I saw a tutorial on the net by a professional artist
who builds her own stretchers and she did not seem concerned
about this, and even mentioned not pulling too tight as the
canvas will shrink when primed. Her canvas was huge, so
can i assume that the level of shrinking increases as the canvas size does
(i.e Pull small ones tight but not so tight for large ones)
Will wetting work repeatedly or just shrink it once?
Can I wet the rear of a finished painting to create tension?
It would really suit me to make my own
stretcher bars as I have all the proper tools in work
and can make & assemble the bars in minutes
for a fraction of the cost. The art shop
is miles away and I work Saturdays, so I need time
off to buy stetchers. Also I can cut to any size.
Many thanks to all on their advice so far
Niall
Roy L. Ballou
says...
>Canvas shrinks when primed (and you should wet it, not soak it, first, as
>we've discussed). You shouldn't pull even small canvases really tight
>because of this. Some experience will help here.
This is the only point I disagree with.
I stretch my heavyweight canvas as tight as
I can get it regardless of size. I do
NOT use canvas pliers - only my hands -
on the smaller sizes. That is, canvas
under about 3 ft on the longest side.
Larger canvases - the ones that require
the heavy duty stretcher bars - I use
canvas pliers on. Someone with less hand
strength might need canvas pliers for
even the smaller sizes.
CAVEAT: Trying to get flimsy or lightweight
canvas too tight can result in ripping it,
especially if using canvas pliers. There
isn't much danger of ripping with the heavy
duty canvas.
And as for 'soaking' canvas, here is something
of a corollary from stretching watercolor
paper. Watercolor paper is usually soaked
for fifteen minutes or so by submersion in
water. Then it's as
saturated as it will ever get and the amount
of shrinkage is maximal as it dries and
stretches. When later painting
one need not worry about buckling because
one will never again wet the entire sheet of
paper while creating the painting. Same sort
of logic applies to wetting canvas all the
way through before priming. That does NOT
equate to priming both sides of the canvas.
If thoroughly wetted, the acrylic gesso primer
will penetrate to the opposite side anyway.
Bob C
> <clip> ... That does NOT
> equate to priming both sides of the canvas.
> If thoroughly wetted, the acrylic gesso primer
> will penetrate to the opposite side anyway.
>
When treating canvas, the first coat I put on is acrylic matte medium
diluted with water. This "sizes" the canvas in addition to providing a
base layer of protection that pretty much penetrates all the way through
the canvas.
- Bob C.