Stretching and Priming a Canvas

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Күн бұрын

Step-by-step process of stretching unprimed cotton canvas on commercial stretcher bars, then priming the surface with acrylic gesso. Prepared for Painting students at the College of Central Florida.

Пікірлер: 14

@skopas 3 жыл бұрын

..good vid, thanks. ;)

@scholarthefuture7284 3 жыл бұрын

Thanku I will do it tomorrow! 😇

@BGrammstein 3 жыл бұрын

I've read that it's not adviseable to prime a raw canvas directly with gesso as the paint could crack overtime, but rather to put a coat or two of gelatin/rabbit skin glue (with light sanding inbetween the coats) as a sealant (size) underneath the gesso/primer. There's also some great recipes for homemade oil emulsion primers instead of the gesso, which you can adjust to your own taste. Great video!

@trclutter 3 жыл бұрын

That’s probably the best for oil painting, but this was for my painting class which uses only acrylic paint, and it is sufficient for that use.

@marye8624 6 жыл бұрын

thank you. Where do you buy the fabric? at the fabric store, not the art store? What kind of cotton raw canvas? Seems to be different weights of fabric. Thanks!!

@trclutter 6 жыл бұрын

I usually order it from an art supply company, as we don't have good stores for that in my area. There is a HUGE difference in the weights and weaves. I don't even recall what I used here; it was leftover from another project. Some art supply courses or manufacturers will send you a sample of the different canvases they produce.

@jarlsoars1150 3 жыл бұрын

If you staple the corners wont that prevent you from being able to apply wedges in the future? You'd have to remove the staples from the corners otherwise the splined joints wont move when tapping in the wedges. Maybe that's why you see antique canvases tacked on the edges and not the back generally? Also, I've heard that if you gesso the edges first it'll help prevent your canvas from slopping in the middle...I have no idea myself, just wondered if you knew that to be true or not?? That's a good tip you mentioned...about not trimming the excess on the back. I know from first hand experience because I had three really nice paintings re-stretched by a local gallery(artist removed them for some reason so had them rolled up in storage). After I had located the 'strange' dimensions of the new stretcher bars online it came down to some tight and tedious decisions on what part of the painting to favor and lose...because the original canvases had been trimmed and there wasn't much to work with for tacking to the new bars. So we made sure that the signature was visible and even though not much of the original image was lost...it was still slightly awkward once it was done. Thanks for the tutorial.

@trclutter 3 жыл бұрын

Some people tuck those edges into the corners right away and then tap in further if they need tension later. If I was going to do that I wouldn't worry about the stapled corners anyway, because the staples can easily be removed and replaced in that one area without much effort.

@lolprinses 6 жыл бұрын

How do you know what side of the canvas fabric needs to be facing up?

@trclutter 6 жыл бұрын

With most canvas it doesn't make a difference. If it is pre-primed then of course the priming side faces away from the stretcher bars. If there is a different texture one each side then just choose whichever you like better.

@theroadtocosplayandcomicco5840 4 жыл бұрын

I accidently bought pouring medium ( thought i grabbed gesso ) can I still prime my canvas with it ?

@trclutter 4 жыл бұрын

I've never dealt with pouring medium, so I can't say for certain. You might check the manufacturer website for details on that.

@noursamar6762 2 жыл бұрын

Can 100% cotton medium weight bedsheets be used for priming large canvases that are 10X2 meters? These large size acrylic canvases will be stuck to wall with glue. Would pre-washing the cotton roll prevent further shrinking upon glueing them to the wall?

@trclutter 2 жыл бұрын

The weight of a sheet is pretty light. Since it is not really made for that purpose I wouldn't suggest it. However, people have used lightweight cotton muslin to stretch flats for theatrical productions for decades now, but those are just temporary.