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Wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions on flattening a painted wooden panel, 8mm thick and approx. 800mm x 400mm. It is significantly bowed and is painted and the customer wants it flattened and float framed and I need to be careful with the paint as it chips very easily...is this possible!!??
Would be very grateful for any help, suggestions, tips
Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about but you could try taking the same type and quantity of paint and paint away merrily on the other side and see what happens if nothing else you will feel better for having done a bit of painting
Sometimes what the customer wants and what's possible, can be two different things
What is the panel made of , how old is it/ how long ago was it painted, what condition is the paint in, you could find in the course of flattening the panel, the paint might well flake off,
got to go customer has come in
Steve CEO GCF (020) Believed in Time Travel since 2035
Large panels or boards should really have a backing cradle or brace fitted before priming and painting to reduce bowing. I have heard of artists painting the back to balance out the bowing, no idea how successful this is in practice...
Is it bowed out or in? How far? What sort of wood?
This is a common occurrence and can be hard to correct. 8mm is fairly hefty.
For a start I would do what David suggests and apply a heavy coat of paint to the back. I have my
doubts as to if it will work but it may improve things and won't do any harm. We hope.
The best plan is to steer clear altogether. Whatever you do, impress upon the customer the risks involved.
If they want it floated then float it in the bent state.
It was painted in 2015, the paint seems to be in good condition, relatively thinly spread and is on what i think is birch panel, this one is actually 6mm thick...when lain flat on surface bows out about 15mm outwards. If i apply a lot of pressure it can be pushed down.
Maybe I should ask if she wouldn't mind me trying painting the back. Doubt she will want to take it to conservator she is reluctant enough to pay me at best of times...
if it all of it is in good condition, then you could glue it to say 6mm plywood, cut smaller than the painted board, so creating the floated effect, then when you frame it you can screw into this from the back. When glueing, use a board at least the same size as the painted board, placed on top of the board then pile weights on top and leave to set
Of course you will have to discuss all the pros and cons with the customer, letting them choose whether to go ahead with it
Steve CEO GCF (020) Believed in Time Travel since 2035
Steve N wrote:if it all of it is in good condition, then you could glue it to say 6mm plywood, cut smaller than the painted board, so creating the floated effect, then when you frame it you can screw into this from the back. When glueing, use a board at least the same size as the painted board, placed on top of the board then pile weights on top and leave to set
Of course you will have to discuss all the pros and cons with the customer, letting them choose whether to go ahead with it
Thank you Steve N! this sounds like the best option if she really does want to do it regardless of the risks. I will just have to discuss pros and cons like you said...i am kind of hoping she wont want to it sounds rather risky
I remember back in my school days in art class. The teacher got hold of some of this
then new-fangled acrylic paint. One girl did a painting on a bit of thick card and laid the paint on thick.
When she came back for the next art lesson the painting had bowed. In fact it had curled more than bowed.
The two ends were touching, making a cylinder. With the painted surface inside. The teacher suggested
painting the back with an equal thickness of the same paint. I don't recall whether it worked or not though.
prospero wrote:I remember back in my school days in art class. The teacher got hold of some of this
then new-fangled acrylic paint. One girl did a painting on a bit of thick card and laid the paint on thick.
When she came back for the next art lesson the painting had bowed. In fact it had curled more than bowed.
The two ends were touching, making a cylinder. With the painted surface inside. The teacher suggested
painting the back with an equal thickness of the same paint. I don't recall whether it worked or not though.
I have a really bad feeling about trying to solve this by painting the back. This is not only doing something to part of the origin artwork and without any assurance that this will work, but it may limit your remedial courses of action if it does not work. This is not the sensible thing to do!
A much better course of action is to paint the back with several applications of ordinary tap water and place the artwork under weight while the back is drying out. This may need repeating a few times, but 15mm of bowing including the thickness of the 6mm board is not particularly all that bad, so don't panic!
I would not recommending trying to flatten this board all in one go, so not too much weight at first and do not assume that it will stay flat afterwards without a cradle, or bracing. I also would recommend that the cradle, or bracing is not permanently fixed to the painting on board.
Reversibility should always be the name of the game with original artworks. How is this to be framed?
BTW, I am a skilled and experienced conservator and restorer, so I do know what I am taking about.
Mark Lacey
“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
If it's solid wood the I wouldn't try flattening it. It's pretty much gone where it wants to go and
very risky. If it were a plain piece of timber then if could maybe be done by steaming and leaving
under weight. But not with art applied to it.
Even plywood would be a be tricky.
Particle boards (MDF/hardboard) might respond to back painting.
I've had artists who had the bright idea of mounting canvas to MDF panels - gluing it down and
wrapping the stuff over the edges. OK on small panels, but on a larger one the drying glue combined
with the canvas will bend the board. Even something like 19mm board. Had one like this which bowed
about half an inch. No way to flatten it. I think I framed it leaving a gap.
It's all about the restoration of Holbein's "The Ambassadors". The one with the spooky skull.
This painting is in the National Gallery and is huge. Also it's painted on joined wooden planks. There was a doco
on the box a few years ago about it's restoration. In Victorian times they had a go at stabilising it by fixing a sod-off
big wooden frame to the back. Which apparently didn't do a lot of good. It was in the restoration dept for about three
years during which time all the previous bodges had to be made good.
At art college, I wrote an essay about that painting, and how the technique could be used in advertising. Fast forward a few years, and I saw them using the same technique on Formula 1 circuits, and now on most sports fields/arenas... Should have patented the idea!!!
Not quite exactly the same problem, but I did have someone bring in a painting to be re-framed. The painting was of the reverse side of a curved piece of glass, which had obviously been made as a curved piece of glass and the original framer had made some shaped wooden slips to support the shape of the glass. Before the frame had the back removed the customer had no idea that the curve of the glass was in fact deliberate. The slip frame was actually quite nicely done and really looked the part.
It was constructed in such a way that I did not want to try and separate the slip frame from the outer frame, which was clearly a nice bit of antique workmanship. However the customer had other ideas, so as a compromise the original frame became the inner part of a larger stacked frame. I didn't want to do this because the outer part of the stacked frame was a modern moulding and didn't look right with the original frame, but at least I didn't put my lable on the finished job.
This was digressing a little, but maybe this bowed painting could be framed in it's bowed condition as another solution to the problem.
Mark Lacey
“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
but you could try taking the same type and quantity of paint and paint away merrily on the other side and see what happens 
if nothing else you will feel better for having done a bit of painting 
With the painted surface inside. The teacher suggested
