Favorite panels and suppliers?

Terri Ficenec · 03-12-2005, 09:37 PM

Thanks Chris-- that's a ringing endorsement!

Kimberly Dow · 03-13-2005, 12:21 AM

The TX Lady I just painted was on a Realgesso cradled panel - 20x30. I had a non-cradled at first and it does have a slight cup to it - which would be fine once in a frame, but I didnt want to present it to the client that way. The cradle doesnt go all the way to the edges so it doesn't interfere with framing. I really enjoyed this, but next time I will seal it with some thinned titanium first because it does suck up the first layer.

Terri Ficenec · 03-13-2005, 01:21 AM

Kim, was it much heavier with the cradle?

Jean Kelly · 03-13-2005, 01:34 AM

Terri,

A friend of mine is a carpenter and he is making my panels for me. He felt that anything over the 16x20 needed cradleing so I'm letting him be the judge. I like the meditative quality of gessoing my own, and after seeing the prices of the Realgesso and New Traditions, I felt this was the way to go for me. Plus, I will have many panels that I can put linen, canvas, or sand to that ivory finish for oil or pastels.

Jean

Ardith Starostka · 03-13-2005, 01:55 PM

I have purchased a Source Tek Premium canvas Panel. It is a 1/4 inch baltic birch plywood panel mounted with Claessens #13 oil primed portrait linen. I haven't tried it yet but it feels nice to the touch and I think that I will like the texture. They have up to size 16 x 20 but I believe that you can special order sizes. You can even order the plain birch panels and mount your own canvas. I think that I may do this. I ordered Claessens #13 oil primed canvas in a roll a couple of years ago and I couldn't stretch it. I think that mounting it will work out much better for me. Their website is http://www.canvaspanels.com.

Carlos Ygoa · 03-19-2005, 05:34 PM

Another possible alternative to cradling a panel would be to mount it on an ordinary stretcher but using the flat side and not the bevelled side so as to make the contact with the panel complete. Over here they sell stretchers that are not bevelled at all for this purpose. The stretchers can have the cross-bar for added support. I mount the panel to the stretcher using all purpose white glue and either clamps or heavy books to let the glue set overnight. The result is a panel well supported and well adhered to the stretcher, plus the whole thing is still relatively lightwieght since the stretcher doesn't weigh much. I also paint the edges and back of the stretcher black to neaten out everything.
Hope this helps.

Carlos