Favorite panels and suppliers? - Page 2

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.

Linda Brandon · 03-13-2005, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terri Ficenec

I've ordered the Dibond panels from NT, but I'm curious about your comment regarding putting masking tape on the edges -- is the canvas not wrapped around the support?

I don't know about the Dibond panels, but the Gatorfoam panels are not wrapped around the support; the linen is cut at the edge of the Gatorfoam.

I've had a few clients recently who prefer a "contemporary" gallery wrap style, that is, they don't plan to use a frame. New Traditions built a wonderful custom panel for me, with linen-wrapped edges and with a grid cradle on the back. I think the size was around 38" x 40". I had a cradled gesso realgesso board (similar to Kim's but not as large) where the grid is on the back but doesn't run along the edges. The owners put screws and wire along the grid for hanging and I think it looks very "arty" floating on the wall.

I wish I had taken photos of the backs of these to show you.

The problem with uncradled panels generally for me is a marketing issue: do you want to hand a flat thing to your client and send them away with it? If it is a standard size then you can pop it into a standard sized frame, at least to unveil the painting to them, with the possiblility of selling them the frame. If it isn't a standard size, then it gets a little trickier. Maybe one answer is just not to offer non-standard sizes unless you already have a frame available for it.

I always seem to have a million things going on at the same time and I keep vowing to make some rules about things like sizes to make my life easier, but ..... I don't.

Kimberly Dow · 03-13-2005, 04:44 PM

Terri- It wasnt that much heavier. I have had cheaper frames that were lightweight that I dont think would hold it well, but for all real wood frames it would be fine.

Kimberly Dow · 03-13-2005, 06:18 PM

Max at Realgesso saw this and suggested I cut and paste from his site - I think this is the post he was referring to..

He has a forum at his site realgesso.com that answers a lot of these questions. And I suggested he sign up here if Cynthia doesnt mind to answer any questions.

Gord wrote:

If I put a larger panel in a frame(20" by 24"),would the frame act as a cradle or are the boards warp free( linen put on the board after the gesso)?

How large can a linen on panel be before I think about cradling it?

Is there a bulk order size that would warrant a discount(this was posed to me by a business who is interested).

What kind of weight would 20, 16" by 20"s be?

Theres no hurry to answer Max.I won't be able to order until late Jan.
Gord, if properly done, the picture frame does indeed act as a cradle, we usually recommend cradling sizes above 16x20. A note: The linen panels exhibet less warping than do the gesso panels.

There are price breaks on quantity orders as well as wholesale volume discounts, have that business contact us at [email protected]

20 - 16"x20" weighs approximately 54 lbs.

Kimberly Dow · 03-13-2005, 06:21 PM

Here is the one he meant - I think -

Question: At what size should I have my panels cradled?

Answer: Any flexible surface that has different coatings on front and back, be it, gesso, sized canvas, and/or paint, is going to tend to cup one way or the other. The direction and severity of this cupping is dependant on the coatings used, their thickness and the degree in which they expand and contract. The floating cradle we use is designed specifically for the coatings that we have developed and their method of application. We generally recommend cradling panels that are over 16"x20", however, the need to cradle a panel becomes more apparent on a panel that has a much more radical aspect ratio, for example, a 16"x20" panel has an aspect ratio of 4:5, a panel with the dimensions of 12"x16" has a A.R. of 3:4, making it more "radical" and thus is more likely to cup.

Question: Will framing an uncradled panel be sufficiant in preventing cupping?

Answer: Yes, on panels 16"x20" or smaller the overall cupping will be almost inperceptable when framed.

Question: How can you frame a cradled panel?

Answer: In exactly te same manner you would frame a 1/4" panel. The cradle is 3/4" in height making the overall thickness of the cradled panel 1". The cradle strips are set back 1/4" from the panels edge, facilitating framing by conventional methods.

I hope this answers some of the questions you might have regarding cradled panels. Please feel free to post regarding this or any other ground/support related questions

Terri Ficenec · 03-13-2005, 11:01 PM

Jean, the 16x20 was the cutoff recommended by realgesso, too... so there's probably something to that. I'm noticing that the Source Tek panels that Ardith mentioned recommend cradling over 12x16...

Ardith-- hadn't heard of those... let us know what you think!

Linda, what a neat idea to hang it using the cradle! Can picture how nice that would look.

Thanks Kim, that's good to know! I'm hoping my panels get here SOON so I can try them out!

Jean Kelly · 03-14-2005, 12:14 AM

Hi Terri.

I'm waiting impatiently for some of mine also, at least I have a project to work on in the meantime.

Jean

Julie Boyles · 03-19-2005, 12:20 PM

Kim,

When you say you will seal your panel with thinned Titanium, do you mean acrylic titanium? I used one of these panels recently and my first layer sunk in also. I didn't mind too much because it was my under painting. But when I started to put on my first layer of paint, some parts sunk in and some didn't, making it very difficult to use. I have several more panels I would like to use and I have some acrylic titanium white paint. I just wondered if this might work.

Thanks,
Julie
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Kimberly Dow · 03-19-2005, 02:08 PM

Julie,

What Max told me about sealing them is that there are different ways - and it's what you prefer.

The way I want - because I like painting on a very white surface, is to use (no acrylic!) Titanium white thinned with turps. You can use any color I imagine. From what I see, if you thin it too much though you'll still have the sinking in - so not too thin. Im going to practice with it with the small samples he sent me.

Another way he suggested was to put linseed oil on it and rub it in with your hand. The heat gets it in there good - then wipe off the excess. I will try that on a sample also, but knowing that the extra oil means you'd want your paint to to be oily on top of that - in other words - after doing that you couldnt have any turps (even just a bit from washing out a brush) on top of that.

He told me a couple other choices I believe -
but my memory is no good. Bill W did it a different way to seal it as well on a thread here.

Max reads these threads and can answer these better than I. Im hoping he will join here to answer some of these, but if not - you can email him at [email protected]. He also has a forum on his site that answers some of this.

After I experiment - I'll let you all know my results though.

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