EMERGENCY HELP!!!!

[Johnny9]

Guys,

Really need your help this morning, I have a canvas that has been stretched around stretcher bars, the problem is it is twisted...
What is the best & easiest way to straighten it out, don't want to remove the canvas, just a way of fixing it....

Really need fast help on this please, customer wants it today!!!!!

Cheers John.

[prospero]

Hi John.

Are the stretchers keyed?

Only way I can think without actually seeing the thing is to screw some steel 'L' mending plates onto the corners. If you bend them in the middle in the right direction, screwing them on might persuade the corners in the right direction.

[Nigel Nobody]

John,
Sounds like one or more of the pieces of stretcher are twisted. The only way I know to fix it properly is to remove the canvas and make a new stretcher with straight pieces. I've tried a few times to fix a twisted stretcher, but none of them worked satisfactorily.

You didn't say whether it came in like that or you supplied the stretcher and stretched the canvas.

[Johnny9]

Hi Prospero,

No the corners aren't fixed at all, it's just the casvas staples & the corner triangle wedges that are holding it together,
if it helps I can photograph it and post it???

[Johnny9]

Hi Nigel,

No I didn't provide or stretch the canvas, I just need to get it straight and get it straight today
so any help.......... Don't think taking it off is an option...... As it will look a bit messy as it is not going to be framed.......

[mitretight]

Hi Jonny9,

Like nigel nobody, I have tried a few times to straighten a warped canvas but have always ended up re-stretching.

[prospero]

Is it a 'Gallery Wrap' ? If it is, I can can understand you not wanting to remove it as they are a pain to get back in anything like the right place.
These things frequently come on very manky stretcher bars. Are the bars a sort of soft wood, slightly greenish?

You could try cutting a piece of chunky MDF (12mm?) to fit inside the stretchers at the back and screwing this to the bars with mirror plates. Bit of a crude solution, but if push comes to shove......

[mitretight]

Would fixing a 3mm sheet of mdf to the back of the piece help??

[Johnny9]

I'm open to anything really, I have thought of the backing board solution.......
Also going to try & twist the frame & underpin it, the joints aren't fixed, it's the canvas fixings that is holding everything together...

[Jonny2morsos]

It sounds to me as if there is something fundamentally wrong with the construction of the stretchers/frame.

As you say you did not make the stretchers/frame yourself how have you got involved in putting it right?

If it were me I would return it to the customer and politely point out the flaws and suggest they return it to whoever sold it to them.

[mikeysaling]

no mention made of a frame here ! think i agree with j2m

[jinxie]

I'm open to anything really, I have thought of the backing board solution.......
Also going to try & twist the frame & underpin it, the joints aren't fixed, it's the canvas fixings that is holding everything together...

The whole point of stretching canvas onto stretcher bars is that it can move and the wedges can be hammered back in the corners to re-tighten the canvas. If you use your underpinner to join the bars or use a backing board this would not be possible in the future and could lead to problems. New bars and re-stretch is the only answer. Sorry.

[Johnny9]

Problem sorted, pinned frame & it all came square......

Thanks for all your help again....

Johnny.

[mikeysaling]

i'd do the lottery tonight!!

[Johnny9]

I Wish!!!!