Very dry canvas

[Dodger]

I have just taken in two "Balinese Paintings" done on canvas 1050mm x 700mm.
They are currently "stretched" over an out of square, flimsy packing crate type timber held on with rusty nails partially hammered in and bent over.
It is acrylic on canvas, but the canvas is extremley dry, with only about 10-12mm of unpainted edge.
Due to the nails having been placed at odd spacings, it has resulted in varying stretching pressures causing a light waviness in the canvas. As the canvas is so very dry, I was wondering if it would be OK to lightly spray the back with distilled water to give it a little bit of flexibility before I re-stretch it over stretcher bar and place it in the chosen frame?
As I have not had a job like this before any and all advice would be most welcome.
Dodger

[fttom]

NO!!! Don't do it! Dodger, there was a thread on this sort of thing a couple of months ago, and the concensus was to leave it alone. You will probably do more harm than good trying to get this thing off of those stretchers. Measure the frame to fit the small side of the stretchers, then chisel out the big side to get enough room to put the picture in the frame. They are too fragile to try and stretch in the normal way, and will tear if you try. If I remember correctly, either Rebecca or Hugh suggested that it could possibly be lined and then stretched, but I'm not sure. Your best bet, though, is to leave well enough alone, just frame it as it is, and make the frame fit.

[Jana]

If these are "tourist art" or purely decorative, why not remove them from the flimsy stretchers and vacuum mount them? If the customer wants them flatter, that might be a way to approach the problem.