Tear to old painted canvas

[BBJ322]

A customer has just dropped a corner sample of moulding through their stretched canvas leaving an L shaped tear approximately 40/50mm each way. The canvas is quite old old and originated from India/Pakistan and i assume oil painted and grubby.

Can anyone advise the best means to progress? Is it a repair to send to a conservator?, or something that I should be able to attempt myself? I have read that one can glue canvas to the rear but advice please on glue choice, methods used would be great.

I am sure that I am not the first to be faced with this situation.

John

[JFeig]

Yes, it is a job for a painting conservator.

[Steve N]

you are not qualified/experienced to do a repair like this, you can cause more problem if you attempt to

[Not your average framer]

I do jobs like this, but it is time consuming and only worth doing where the painting is worth enough to justify the realistically relatively high cost of doing this.

Usually, just cleaning and re-varnishing an average sized canvas is going to cost about £100, or more and that is a lot less work than repairing a split in a canvas.

Most people do not understand what is involved in a job like this. Most split canvases cost more to repair than most customers are willing to pay.

[prospero]

Yep, leave it alone. At least it wasn't your fault.

I am always a bit windy of people offering up samples. They get very exited. It makes me cringe when they plonk them down
on top of limited edition prints and start sliding them about. We as framers know not to reach for things over the artwork.
Joe P hasn't had the (bitter) experience. There is a way of doing things.

[BBJ322]

Thanks to you all for your advice.

I was already thinking this was not something I wanted to tackle, and it was reassuring to hear that you were all in agreement.

John

[cleaver]

Yes, some of the best advice I've seen on here starts with the words "You're not a...." as in: "You're not a picture restorer" ..."you're not a paper conservator"..."you're not a contortionist" (whoops, wrong forum ).

But the one I'm going to get tattooed on the inside of my eyelids is: "Don't let someone else's problem become yours" (Take another bow, Prospero )

[poliopete]

Quoting Peter's excellent advice and adhering to it is very important if in business these days. But I can't help remembering some of the things we did for our customers when we had our shop.

Our business was a typical husband and wife affair with additional help from a part time worker. Possibly the biggest difference with our shop was how constantly busy we were with custom framing.

Back then cleaning, repairing and re-varnishing old oil paintings and the frames was very good business. Bleaching out the foxing from antique prints and maps was a regular job as was whacking down cheap Hongkong Oils with impact adhesive on to mdf Please note I am not advocating doing any of this today. I remember how nervous my wife was as she hold two corners of the painting as I eased it down and pushing it flat

Like other frame shops we had our fair share of tapestry's, embroidery and x stitch etc in for lacing and framing. This was mainly my wife's area of expertise. She was blessed with not only beautiful eyes but with eyes like the proverbial "out-house rat" and could spot a missed stitch from the other side of the shop. As there was normally enough thread/wool/silk hanging spare on the back of the piece she would fill in the gaps and the customer was completely unaware

What I am suggesting is going the "extra mile" for customers is no bad thing when building up our business as long as you know your limitations and don't bite off more than you can chew bearing in mind we live in litigious times and when practising a new technique, practise on your own stuff and not the customers.

Peter.

[cleaver]

I merely referenced those quotes to set the OP’s mind at rest, regarding feeling obliged to tackle things he may not be comfortable, qualified or insured to undertake.

I wasn't suggesting that he/we should be unhelpful or negative as a default position. On the contrary: I believe it's infinitely more helpful to be realistic and honest about one's areas of competence, rather than have a go....and possibly ruin someone's item.

As a newbie framer, I find it hugely reassuring that vastly experienced and respected fine framers such as Mark, Prospero (Peter), and SteveN can still say ‘That’s a job for a specialist, not me’.

Have a lovely week, all

[BBJ322]

Wise words! Times they are a changing, but for the better? Who knows?

John

[Steve N]

The times are a changing , with' everybody and their Aunty ' ready to do a 'hatchet job' on your reputation on social media if you do any damage to their items or even worse taking you to court, just ain't worth tackling something you have no experience with