repair of an oil painted canvas
Lori
it slipped with a tool and made a 1-1½ inch vertical cut in the
canvas. The paint was still wet at the time. The framer put Japanese
Hinging tape on the back. One piece vertical and one piece horizontal.
Within an hour the front of the canvas was 'raised' where the tape is
fastened. Is this fixable? Should I remove the tape? How do I
flatten the puckered canvas? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Lori
keith o'connor
vertical strip and one horizontal strip as a temporary repair sounds like an
'L' shaped tear.
The remedies I have read refer to a dry painting to be laid face down on
glassine paper. Your problem is to prevent any further movement of the
fabric, but the painting is wet and that is your major problem.
Radical solution: because the painting is wet - clean off the wet paint:
stitch the tear: reline that area of the canvas: repaint the area.
In a dry painting you still have to pull the tear together and reline
because the tensions around the tear will eventually show. In a dry painting
you would have to use some type of thermo plastic adhesive. Since the
painting is still wet and if you scrape off the area (front) and dry the
back, you may get away with an acrylic binder.
It may take two people with the canvas on edge to bring the tear edges
together.
Good luck - it's not a job I would want to tackle.
--
take care: Keith
The language of art is not a scientifically accurate language. The language
of art is based upon the application of tendencies and as such creates more
variety of interpretation between people than absolute agreement between
people.
Keith O'Connor
"Lori" <llig...@niemannfoods.com> wrote in message
news:923c968e.04031...@posting.google.com...
max
Japanese hinging tape is usually rice paper or something similar with
a neutral water activated adhesive. The paper is pretty strong, but
the adhesive is not super strong and is designed to be used on paper,
so I wouldn't trust it to hold canvas over time. I'd guess they used
it too wet (a common problem), which might be why the canvas raised.
The traditional way to remove it is to get it wet again and take it
off when the adhesive softens up a bit. Doing this correctly, without
wetting the art more or leaving too much adhesive behind, is rather an
art in itself (as is applying it in the first place). If it were me,
I'd get more of the tape and apply it to similar canvas to practice
removing it before attacking the piece.
It's possible the canvas will settle back in when the water
evaporates, but all my experience is with hinging tape on paper.
If there's someone in your area who specializes in art conservation,
they're usually familiar with the handling of such tapes, and may be
able to give good advice if you show them the piece.
max
Flobby Bischer
you could let it dry then fix, or if still wet can you perhaps glue canvas
on the back then repaint the tear? But yes the wetness of the paint seems
an issue. I'm not crazy about acrylic binder on the reverse of wet oil, nor
am I crazy about wet oil paint to bind it (that will eventually rot the
canvas.)
Second issue: You should get recourse from the framer if s/he made this
mistake and ruined the painting. I would think they'd give you the price of
the work in free framing or something. It is a case that would clearly hold
up in small claims court, not that we want to waste time with that. But out
of the framer's good will something should occur beyond a simple apology.
I might recommend they pick up the cost for a professional restorer to
repair it for you.