The Framers Forum

I have stretched a few canvasses successfully with usual equipment- canvas pliers etc- but I have been given a print on canvas to stretch and on first inspection the canvas seems very non pliable. I can see it might be difficult to get a nice tight and square wrap round to the back. (It's not going to be framed) .
Any experience/ comments would be helpful.

John

You can only take what you are given and do the best you can. One thing I would check being that it has com from a source
unknown to you is that it's been properly finished with a decent protective coating. I had a very bad experience with some
canvas prints that someone had done at a local printers. They weren't coated at all. Something I discovered after leaving a big
fingerprint on one. They were worse than a pastel. Stretching a canvas is a fairly violent process so the prints need to
stand up to handling.

Sometimes you can arrange the corner folds so the laps are at the top/bottom, leaving a clean edge.
Or use a minimal tray frame.

If it was oil on canvas a little gentle misting with water makes the canvas more supple. But heaven knows what new fangled chemistry is at work with what you have to deal with.