How to display an unstretched canvas

[shadowblade]

Stretching a canvas and displaying it unframed is the obvious way to display a canvas print, but hardly the most durable. After all, without the protection of glass, it is subject not only to more light, but to atmospheric pollutants (fumes from cooking, smoke, ozone) and to dust and dirt, and, without a rigid backboard, constant flexing and bending of the print (in response to changes in temperate and humidity) could lead to damage.

What is the best way of displaying a large, unstretched canvas? The way I see it, there are a number of options:

1. Tapestry mount. This removes the problem of canvas stretching over time, but is just as unprotected as a stretched canvas. Also, IMO tapestry mounts look wrong for photographic prints...

2. Frame and mat - just like a paper print. This is obviously great protection, but would a larger print be too saggy and wavy to make an attractive matted print? Would a hinge mount across the entire top of the print solve this problem?

3. Mount it to a rigid backing, then frame/mat it. For archival purposes, you'd need to use something like Dibond, anodised aluminium or titanium, or acid-free, buffered matboard as the backing, but what about the glue? Something like Glamour 2 is acid-free, durable and suitable for mounting prints to a mount board, but hardly reversible. Rabbit-skin glue is hygroscopic, which doesn't suit canvas. PVA glue is acidic. Lascaux 360 or Lascaux 303HV is reversible with solvents and often used for fine art, but how would these solvents interact with an aqueous inkjet canvas sprayed with Timeless or Eco Print Shield?

What is the best way to do it in order to maximise the protection of the print, while displaying it in an attractive manner (i.e. not full of bends and sagging parts due to insufficient support)?

[dgberg]

Spray them and you can forget about most of your worries.

[shadowblade]

Spray them and you can forget about most of your worries.

They'd be sprayed anyway, since they're canvases.

But how would a spray stop them from sagging or make them any easier to mat and frame? It doesn't add any rigidity.

[dgberg]

That's because you do not mat and frame canvas. (But I guess you could?)
Sorry you did not have coating listed in your first post.
Here are some of the ways we mount canvas.
Stretched on 1 1/2" or 2" deep frames as gallery wraps.
Canvas wet mounted to Gatorboard
Canvas wet mounted to Gatorboard in metal or wood frame.
Canvas wet mounted to Dibond as standout
Canvas wet mounted to Multiply

[Some Guy]

Spring-loaded stretcher bars maybe?  http://www.wunderbars.com/  Not available in the USA yet as far as I can find.

Other than that, just flat-mount like Dan suggests, especially if you think they might sag due to humidity conditions.  My framer does that a lot now for inkjet prints.  Oil painters that use oils that can take a year to fully dry can be a mess even with current stretcher bars, hence the Wunderbars above.  The oils don't always play nice with some glues for flat-mounts nor dry mount presses and can pop loose or bubble up.  Inkjet prints can stick pretty well.

SG

[shadowblade]

Small matted/framed canvases look pretty good, especially with some texturisation using Timeless and an artists' brush. But I'm worried a large canvas treated the same way would sag under its own weight when hinge-mounted to a mat board.

What do you use to wet mount canvas, that's both reversible and non-damaging to the print? After all, once you've sprayed both sides of the canvas, you're basically mounting a plastic sheet, not canvas/paper.

[dgberg]

You do not spray both sides of the print.
Do not hinge mount it. Wet mount it to gator with Miracle Muck and then if you want put your mat board and frame over the mounted canvas.
Miracle is reversible but I cannot see any reason to do it.
Inkjet prints on canvas are so cheap. Why all the worries about reversible,sagging etc.
Have a problem,print another. Canvas and ink is less then $2.00 a square foot.

[shadowblade]

You do not spray both sides of the print.
Do not hinge mount it. Wet mount it to gator with Miracle Muck and then if you want put your mat board and frame over the mounted canvas.
Miracle is reversible but I cannot see any reason to do it.
Inkjet prints on canvas are so cheap. Why all the worries about reversible,sagging etc.
Have a problem,print another. Canvas and ink is less then $2.00 a square foot.

Because clients pay thousands of dollars for prints and expect them to last, or the prints are made for galleries or public or private collections (some of which are hundreds of years old, e.g. some prints I made for the curators of a mediaeval Indian temple), or they're limited editions. They have to be archival.

[enduser]

Sounds a bit like you're jumping in with products worth thousands of dollars before gainig the experience you need from your own efforts.  It's not feasible to expect people here in a few posts to tell anyone exactly how to produce fully archival and very expensive works just by writing about it. You need a period of experimentation of your own.

My reading of Dan's posts over the years tells me that doing what he says to start with will be your best bet to get up to speed quickly.

[shadowblade]

Sounds a bit like you're jumping in with products worth thousands of dollars before gainig the experience you need from your own efforts.  It's not feasible to expect people here in a few posts to tell anyone exactly how to produce fully archival and very expensive works just by writing about it. You need a period of experimentation of your own.

My reading of Dan's posts over the years tells me that doing what he says to start with will be your best bet to get up to speed quickly.

That's because I normally print paper. Non-archival canvas is easy, too - I just send it off to the framers to get stretched, and don't particularly mind how they do it. But archival canvas is something entirely different.

By the way, the thousands-of-dollars prints I've made were all paper. But people have been enquiring about canvas, too. I've refused to do high-end canvas prints up to now, because I haven't liked any of the canvas media I've seen until I saw the Kernowek fabrics the other week. But, having seen those fabrics, I think they could be worth a shot. Trouble is, I have no idea about how to approach canvas from an archival point of view.

I suppose I could just print and spray the canvas and let customers figure out what to do with them, but I'd like to know about the process myself, too.

[shadowblade]

I guess the question is:

If you make a print on canvas (for the texture or surface quality of that particular canvas), how would you go about framing it, if you didn't want to stretch it or mount it to something? Assuming you started with a heavy, 400gsm canvas, could you stiffen it so that it can be displayed just like a paper print and framed without forming waves (a bit like what happens with large prints made on thin paper)?

[huguito]

I have dry mounted, as an experiment, canvas to matt board, the couple of samples I did look very nice.
I am going to try dry mounting to a piece of gator just to try something else as well
You can over matt it to cover the edges or matt around and show the edge of the canvas.
No ripples or waves

[bill t.]

Bleeding edge framing, but only if you cut yourself.  The really good part starts at about 5:40.

Artwork held in position by thumbtacks on the back of the frame would be a step up.

[bill t.]

Here's how it's done with tapestries, or possibly even paintings.  Hooks at the top, sewn-in weights at the bottom.  Reinforcement panels at the top and bottom.  Have often considered doing a large piece this way, perhaps 2 or 3 sewn together 44" strips.

Have seen gallery installations with images presented as un-attached, side-by-side 44 inch prints hanging independently from the ceiling.  You need to have the right subject for that to succeed.

This guy does architecture really well.  I even like the tilted lampshade and crud under the table, which is not inconsistent with his overall style.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29591209@N06/11646008703/sizes/k/in/photostream/