Stretch Your Dollars!

As a Custom Picture Framer I would dread seeing a customer walk through the door with an unstretched canvas. My mind would race with fantasy thoughts of animated canvas pliers nipping at my fingers. I purposely avoided stretching canvas never realizing how much money I was turning away at the door. It was far too time consuming to stretch canvas using a pair of canvas pliers. Now I offer this service while they wait.

Several months ago I decided that there had to be a better way of stretching canvas, I wanted to create a device that would apply even tension along the full length of the stretcher bar at one time. Canvas pliers have been around for a long time, they are not fast but they can apply tremendous stretching force on a canvas one bite at a time. A pair of pliers, in its most basic form is a fulcrum. The mechanical advantage is determined by the amount of force applied by the operator. It stands to reason that if I am able to hold the canvas in-place along the entire length then I should be able to apply a force to the base of the stretcher bar to get a tight uniform stretch.

I made a 3’ long wooden clamp to secure the canvas I then forced the stretcher bar over a fixed fulcrum. It worked! It worked very well, not much to look at and it resembled a medieval torture device but it worked. I then decided that most custom picture framers, artists and printers of fine art giclees might benefit from this design so I set out to improve on the design and it’s look.

The evolution of this design was lengthy and financially draining, but it was also very gratifying. Instead of looking like a torture device, it now looks like a ride from an amusement park. What once was operated by 2 hamsters and a banana on a string has evolved into a fully pneumatic bench mounted thing of beauty. It is able to produce gallery wraps and regular stretches as fast as you can feed canvas into the clamp and squeeze the trigger of a staple gun. I can stretch an 11" X 14" canvas in just over a minute; I can stretch a 40" X 40" canvas in less than 3 minutes. It only requires 1.5" of excess canvas past the image to get a tight stretch and all of the stapling is done from the front. I designed this stretcher to be mounted on the side of a typical workbench so the operator could slide and rotate the artwork face-up.

There are several canvas stretching machines on the market, some manual and some are pneumatic. I am not suggesting that any of them are inferior or better than the other I am suggesting that you explore your options. Artists, printers and custom picture framers are missing out on the "cash cow" by sending their customers away. It is far too easy to stretch a canvas with the proper tools, why send a customer away to be stretched by a competitor.

Dave Weaver http://www.canvas-stretching-machine.com

The best solution for printing large sized pictures

The best solution for printing large sized pictures

An artist takes great pains to make a painting and the entire process is quite toilsome. In spite of giving lots of time and energy in making a picture, an artist often does not get the worth he deserves. Some of the artists keep their artwork under priced intentionally. Painting on canvas can be really expensive. To recover the cost and get proper value of his artwork, an artist can resort to duplicating his art by printing on canvas.

In recent times, the Large Format Printers and affordable scanners have made getting one’s original artwork printed and scanned to paper and canvas a straight forward job. Even a few years back, scanning an artwork was costly. Getting it printed on canvas was even more costly for people. But with the advent of technology this has been simplified. There are a number of specialized Giclee Printers that enable an artist to take reprints as and when required.

Nowadays printing on canvas has become easier as the prices of the Giclee Printers have taken a nosedive. An experienced operator can take extraordinary printouts in these printers. However, for stretching an artwork on a canvas certain steps are required to be followed. The artwork requires to be scanned. Then it needs to undergo color correction and retouching. Thereafter, it gets printed to paper and canvas. If the output is on a canvas, it can be extended. Ideally, an artist or painter should not leave the task of stretching the artwork to the consumer. It is not possible for a common person to know How To Stretch Canvas.

For the artists who want to produce multiple copies of their artwork by painting on canvas and stretching them, a Canvas Stretching Machine is a worthy choice. A veteran Custom Picture Framer can stretch canvas by hand but it is a very time consuming process. Some Pneumatic Canvas Stretching machines are sold in the market that can be used for printing to canvas. The professional quality canvas stretchers can make gallery wraps. This is a well known process that envelops the picture around the stretcher bar sides.

David Weaver is a retired Engineer Officer, Custom Picture Framer and the co-designer of the Gallery Stretcher-60, a Canvas Stretching Machine.

How To Choose The Right Canvas Stretching Machine.

A veteran Custom Picture Framer would readily admit how tedious and time consuming it is to stretch canvas, to say nothing of the beating their hands take on a daily basis. There are some die hard veterans that will boast that they can stretch a large canvas as fast as any machine, doubtful, but it does pose an interesting question- Are you ready for a Canvas Stretching Machine?

With the advent of large format scanners, printers, archival ink and an enormous interest in printing art on canvas (giclees) there is a high demand for canvas stretching. Custom Framers, Commercial Printers and artists now find the need to stretch what they produce. So what should you look for in a Canvas Stretcher?

There are less than a dozen canvas stretching machines currently available on the market, both pneumatic and manually operated, but only a few are equipped to produce "gallery wraps", a technique that allows the art to wrap around the stretcher bar and the staples are hidden from view. If you do not have a need for gallery wraps then you can narrow your search, there are only 5 known canvas stretching machines that can produce gallery wraps.

To make an informed choice ask the manufacturer these questions:

How easy is it to load the art and reposition it? Do large pieces of art require assistance? Is the stapling done from the front or the back? Do you have to remove the artwork to make the folds? Is the artwork facing upward to reduce scuffs and marring? Is the operator free to move about when applying staples? How quickly can an operator stretch a large canvas? Can a 30" X 30" canvas be stretched in a minute, including the alignment? How portable is the machine?

The answer to these questions should help you make an informed choice, only you can justify the need for a Canvas Stretching Machine. However, if you stretch 20-30 canvases a week then you might consider such a purchase.

David Weaver is a retired Coast Guard Engineer Officer, Custom Picture Framer and the co-designer of the Gallery Stretcher-60, a Canvas Stretching Machine.

Giclee Prints - Cracking, Scuffing & Flaking

Large format Giclee Printers are much more affordable than they were 5 years ago, in the hands of an experienced operator the output is extraordinary. There are several steps to this process, regardless of the equipment, the artwork must be scanned, color corrected, retouched and printed to canvas or paper. The output, when printed on canvas, can be sold “as is” or it can be stretched. If you leave the stretching to the customer you are sending money out the door.

Stretching Giclees For those of us that stretch canvas there are a number of problems associated with stretching giclee prints. The most notable and perhaps the most annoying problem is “cracking” along the edges of the stretcher bar. A giclee print is nothing more than a thin layer of ink on the surface of the canvas. The ink does not penetrate the surface of the canvas and is easily separated when external forces are applied. The type of canvas, the weave of the fabric and the elasticity of the material all contribute to this problem. Scuffing and flaking can also occur when the artwork is moved across an abrasive surface.

Solutions that work

All giclee prints on canvas should be sprayed with a protective lamination with some form of UV protection. This will not eliminate cracking or scuffing but it will reduce it. The primary purpose of the lamination is to encapsulate the artwork; if the lamination has elasticity when it dries it will be less likely to crack.

If you are using canvas pliers you must avoid over-stretching the canvas. The primary disadvantage with using pliers is that the stretching force is not evenly distributed across the length of the stretcher bar. A typical pair of canvas pliers is only about 3” wide.

Avoid laying the artwork face down, scuffing occurs when the artwork moves against an abrasive surface (cardboard can cause scuffing).

A nice slow uniform stretch across a soft round corner over the entire length of the canvas is the primary solution to cracking. A canvas stretching machine would be the preferred tool, however, if you are forced to use canvas pliers try to emulate the machine.

Stretch the canvas slowly. Imagine the ink moving on a separate layer above the canvas, if the canvas moves quickly over a hard edge the thin layer of ink will tend to follow along that same plane until the canvas changes direction. Some of the ink will follow the canvas while some of the ink will “lift away” but stay on the canvas.

The stretcher bar should have a prominent “radius”, the larger the radius the less likely it is to have any cracking. Imagine pulling a strip of paper, with one hand, over the square edge of a wood table while resisting that pull with the other hand, note the drag. Imagine pulling that same strip over a rounded edge, very little drag. The hard edge is more likely to cause the paper to fray or part.

Summary In conclusion, treat the surface of the canvas with a spray lamination with some form of UV protection. Apply even stretching pressure along the entire length of the stretcher bar and stretch slowly. Be sure to use a stretcher bar with a prominent radius and avoid placing the artwork facedown.

About the Authors:

David is a self-taught Artist, Custom Picture Framer and Inventor. Greg Moulin is an accomplished Graphic Artist and owns the Frame Warehouse in Reynoldsburg, OH.