New Life for Custom Frame Shops – Stretching Large Canvas
Over the past 10 years a number of established custom frame shops have closed their doors citing a drop in sales, lack of attrition of skilled craftsman and even retirement. Many frame shop owners attribute it to high prices in wood moulding and other associated costs. Some shop owners have managed to prolong their existence by offering specialized services such as framing sports memorabilia and cross-stitching.
In that same 10 year span there has emerged an incredible interest in giclee prints and in particular gallery wrapped stretched art on canvas. The first industry to monopolize on this was large print shops that clambered to bid on the print-on-demand business. Large retail giants like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond offer affordable giclee prints with gallery wraps and they ship all over the world. Art in this form requires no decorative wood moulding and is inexpensive to produce. There are now a large number of print-on-demand services that can stretch tens of thousands of art on canvas in a production environment.
All of these giclee prints had to be stretched by someone. Had we relied on skilled craftsman to stretch these canvas by hand the industry would not be where it is today. There still are a number of smaller print shops that elect to stretch by hand, for reasons unknown, but for the most part the large print shops use several canvas stretching machines. Some of our larger customers have as many as 10 Gallery Stretchers running around the clock.
We have been producing the Gallery Stretcher, a fully pneumatic canvas stretching machine, for a little over 9 years and for the most part our customer base has been large print shops – this is no longer the case. We are now seeing a surge in sales for the ProMod-8, which is capable of stretching a full 8′ x 8′, by small custom frame shops.
It seems that artists are looking for someone to digitally archive their work, print it on archival canvas, spray laminate it and stretch it with a nice clean gallery wrap. Apparently, they are being commissioned to do large pieces to fill commercial office spaces and residential homes. Until now, it was not practical or economical for them to reproduce their art on such a grand scale. Some custom frame shops saw the opportunity to satisfy this need and now they are fulfilling all of the artist’s needs. As an added bonus, frame shops with a canvas stretching machine are picking up the business that other custom frame shops turn away. Apparently, custom frame shops have been turning away canvas stretching business because it typically requires a skilled person to do the job. Another reason is the amount they have to charge to make it worth their while. Some frames shops equipped with a canvas stretching machine can now offer this service while the customer waits.
Our machine has evolved over the years and we constantly strive to meet the needs and demands of the industry. Recently, we custom built a 10′ machine to stretch acoustical panels for airports. Aside from the shipping and crating cost it was a huge success. Although we are limited to a continuous section of only 10′, we are able to interconnect our machines to produce an even larger stretch.
Please contact us for your specific needs.
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