Help, Saggin Linen!

[Lisa Gleim]

Thanks Tom & Michelle! I will search the forum again but I think Michelle is right, I need to just mount it on panel. aaaarrrgghhh!
Lisa

[Richard Bingham]

Was this a canvas you stretched and primed yourself, or was it pre-primed roll canvas which was mounted on stretcher bars?

Correctly done, a "home-made" canvas is usually more stable than those made up from pre-primed roll stock. As Tom notes, seasonal changes in ambient temps and humidity normally affect linen, and adjustments made in "slack" times may be too much. It's actually the major complaint against using linen, which seems most prone to be affected by climate change, and depending on the locality where you live, and where your paintings may be placed, other fabrics may be a better choice. Polyester is incredibly stable and unaffected by changes in the weather. Hemp is also far less reactive than linen.

As Tom notes, Bill Whitaker's suggestion to insulate stretched canvases from behind will not only ameliorate seasonal sagging, but will greatly extend the life of stretched canvases generally.

Perhaps spraying alcohol on the backside of a sagging canvas would re-shrink it, but I think that would only depend on the water content of the alcohol. Rubbing alcohol has a considerable percentage of water in it. Spraying the back with plain water would be a temporary fix, as the canvas is certain to sag once again when that added water has dried. Using an alum solution for the spray can be effective and "permanent" if sagging is minimal. A tablespoon in a pint of water works well. Alum will considerably toughen the glue size.

Mounting to a panel can be problematic: what kind of panel should be used? What kind of adhesive to use? Mounting to a panel may also obviate the main (only?) advantage of painting on a stretched canvas, i.e., the light weight of larger pieces.

[Lisa Gleim]

Hi Richard,
Thanks for that. The linen is pre-primed which I cut and stretched myself, as I have been doing so for the past 16 years. It was nice and tight when I originally stretched it months ago. It sagged a bit and I tightened two sides. Now it is sagging again. The sagging isn't obvious, no ripples or buckles it is just very floppy when I paint on it.
Where can I find Alum?

[Julie Deane]

Lisa,

How big a canvas is it? There are other options, depending on the size.

[Lisa Gleim]

Hey Julie,
It is a 30x40

[Julie Deane]

Lisa,

If you don't mind the weight, you can glue a thin piece of furniture-grade plywood to your stretchers and then glue the linen to it. I've found good success in doing that with smaller pieces, but I'm not sure how the weight would be for 30 x 40. You could try getting the local lumber place to custom cut you some out of 1/4 inch to see (you might need thicker for this size canvas). You will need to add some bracing.

Here are a few links that I have found helpful:

http://www.ampersandart.com/featured...ed-artist.html

http://www.amien.org/forums

I'm working my way up to the larger sizes (only done to 16 x 20 so far), so I haven't tackled a 30 x 40 inch canvas - yet. I feel it is helping my skill level to practice first. My first attempt was pitiful, but the improvement was rapid. You also might want to try your hand at some smaller sizes to get a feel for the task before doing this large a canvas.

For my 16 x 20 inch canvas, I glued my plywood panel to my stretchers. I used Golden's GAC100 to seal the plywood. I also made sure that my pre-primed linen was smooth on the back - I found that if I didn't use something like sandpaper to smooth off the nubs, they would show through on the front. I then applied Lineco archival glue to the panel, flipped it over and positioned it on the linen, turned it back so that the linen was facing upright and used a 6 inch wide brayer to get the linen smooth. I then weighed it down with a board and heavy weights and let it dry overnight. It came out very nice - the surface was perfectly flat: I folded and stapled the linen around the sides of the stretchers like I would normally do with a canvas.

For the Dibond, you would need to research the right type of primer to use. I thought I had that info, but can't lay my hand on it at the moment.

If you need to get a piece of Dibond quickly, I have two 36 x 48 pieces and I will be happy to sell one to you for what I paid. I'm about an hour north of Atlanta.

Hope this helps.

[Tom Edgerton]

There are some other threads re: applying canvas to panels, and some methods get very exotic, such as aircraft aluminum, etc.

To Richard's point, I did my first portrait on canvas adhered to masonite, a 30x40 canvas (a "moderate" size), and it weighed a bloody ton. Haven't done it since.

Interestingly, Scott Burdick painted a demo here in Greensboro this year, and he is painting on canvas adhered to "gator board," a stiffer, harder version of foamcore. It's extremely lightweight and stable. He has done some very large paintings on this material, and they come to him with the canvas already applied. You might want to e-mail him and ask what manufacturer they come from--memory fails me now. And if you want to resize the canvas slightly, you don't have to restretch it, you can just cut it down.

[Richard Bingham]

Alum? Look in the spices section at your supermarket. McCormick packages approx. 2 oz of alum in a small jar . . . kind of a rip for the price asked for that amount, but then, you don't need much. Your local pharmacy may also have it.

Gatorboard is certainly a workable choice for panels to use for canvas supports. Available in 4'x8' sheets in thicknesses from 3/8" to 2", it's amazingly flat, rigid, stable and light in weight. Only drawback I see is that styrofoam core, which won't add much Old World ambience to perceptions of what a "fyne arte" oil painting should entail . . . you'd probably want to camoflage this aspect for the sake of your clients' peace of mind . . . styrofoam has a way of being negatively associated with fast-food packaging.

I believe "New Traditions" is one maker of canvas panels on foamcore board.