Paintings are often created on canvas. What do artists and collectors who deal with artworks need to know about canvas? Common canvas types are made with linen and cotton. Linen canvas was used by The Old Masters and it is available for contemporary artists today. Linen is woven from flax yarns. Cotton fabric is a versatile substitue for linen but when it comes to making paintings, artists develop individual preference. Although it is possible to paint on raw canvas, most paintings are created over one or more coats of primer. Linen canvas can be sized with organic glue due to its extra fine and stretchy qualities before it is primed.In order to paint the canvas it has to be stretched. Farbric can be stapled to a panel, stretched over a stretcher and then sized or/and primed to be as tight as a drum, or stretched after priming. The last method is most commonly used by professional artists and recommended when a painting is going to be moved and needs to survive the longest.

Raw fabric is very flexible, but the more coats of paint is applied the more stiff it gets. At the point when canvas becomes a work of art it is less durable and need to be handled with care. Paintings must be rolled with the paint layer facing out. This way the surface of a painting wont crack by being bent. Curving too tight or bending painted canvas will result in cracking of the film of paint. Place canvas with its painted side flat down over a clean smooth surface and then roll it up into a moderately wide tube. Place a piece of masking tape in a couple of places to prevent the tube from unrolling. Roll medium and large paintings over cardboard tubes to prevent them from bending bent during storing and moving.

To stretch a painting or a primed canvas over a stretcher, unroll it over a clean smooth surface first. Painting will conveniently unroll with its backside facing upwards. Place stretcher in the middle of a canvas and begin stapling using a staple gun. Normaly artists allow from 3 to 6 inches of canvas on all sides to wrap arround a stretcher. An artwork can have painted sides and even fold marks from previous stretching. Both factors will make it easier to tell how a piece should be wrapped. The trick to stretching a canvas tight and straight, is placing first staples directly in the middle of each bar of a stretcher. Now a canvas is fastened looking like a cross. Next begin to staple only a half of each side with a few inches left unstapled close to the corners. At this stage canvas should be stapled in the following order - bar 1: half side stapled with few inches left before the corner, next half side is skipped altogether. Follow this order leaving the unstapled halves betweed the stapled halves. Once ready, begin to finish up the unstapled halfs moving from the middle of each bar out to the corner. Keep cheking for any waves or crookedness in a paintings surface. Finish stretching by carefuly folding and stapling the corners. Remember that staples go on the back of the stretcher bar and not on its side. Stretching clamps can be found in art supplies stores, but be careful do not pull the canvas to hard, it may tear. Do shop around, many frame shops and art supplies stores price-up their goods or/and services.

Best stretchers are made by professional carpenters specializing in building goods for artists. These stretchers use light dry wood and never warp. Disassembled stretchers, raw canvas, primed canvas as well as fully assembled canvases can be found at the art supplies stores. Buying direct from wood shops and warehouses is always more cost effective.

by Maxim Grunin MFA