sagging canvas

[Mike Sellers]

one of my canvas prints sags a little. I read somewhere it is possible to tighten up by misting the back with water. Anyone ever try this? Does it need to be distilled water?
Mike

[John Nollendorfs]

Mike:
It really depends on the canvas, how much it will tighten. I just use plain tap water.

[framah]

That trick is usually reserved for canvases with paint on them. Inkjet prints tend to not like water and do not have a gesso coating to shield the ink from the water soaking thru and messing with the ink like a painting has.


The better solution is to dry mount the canvas to a substrate so it lays flat. It is the preferred framing method for canvases whenever possible.

Misting may or may not work. You could always make another one, right?

[dgberg]

The product to use is Tight'N'Up. Blick sells it.
Has an adhesive base with water and works quite well.
Spray on the back and when dried, the adhesive will hold the canvas quite taut.
We only use it on the real large ones and occasionally use a hair dryer to speed up
the process.
We see the seasonal change in the 40 or so canvases in our gallery and pretty much leave them alone.
They sag in the winter and get very taut in the summer.

[enduser]

On cotton or mostly cotton based canvas we wet the back and hot iron with a domestic iron.  Worked dozens of times with no visible ink change due to the heat.  In fact the pigment inks we use seem very heat resistant - we've done many fabric prints on linen and cotton fabrics and the fabric is separated from the paper backing by a hot iron.  Very successful.

[stcstc31]

or use Proper stretch bars with keyed corners, which are DESIGNED to be tightened

strainer stock, the stuff that is glued and pinned corners is NOT proper stretcher material

[Paul2660]

Strainer stock works fine for me and has for hundreds of prints, large and small.   And in this style of market, strainer stock is by far the most common form of framing material used.  There are good and bad brands and some can give over time, which will allow sag.  I use the Larson brand, part number is 6011.   Strainer works much better with larger prints, say 36 x 72 or 36 x 96, 24 x 76 or 30 x 76.  If the frame is made correctly.  I am very familiar with the the keyed style of frames, I much prefer the strainer stock style of frame.

With strainer stock, you need to make sure you have added both a center bracer bar, 20 x 30 and on up, and on anything larger than 24 x 36 I add corner bracing. 

Other issues may be the canvas itself?  or stretching methods used?

I print on Breathing Color canvas, either Lyve or Crystalline and use the Stretch relief pliers for my work.  Many feel that they are too expensive, however they give you excellent control on the canvas and a very tight stretch.  I don't feel you can get as tight a stretch with standard pliers like the fletcher style.  The results with the stretch relief will rival a machine stretch. 

Just one more opinion to consider.

Paul