Art on canvas problem

osgood

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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An artist customer has a piece of canvas exactly the size of the artwork and want's me to present it in some way, either framed or frameless.
As it has no surplus canvas available to staple it to a stretcher, I am a bit stumped.

The customer doesn't even mind if it has to be bonded to MDF, but I'm not too sure what type of glue would be suitable.

Yes, I know that artwork should not be glued down, let alone to MDF, but this would be a last and final resort only so that the art is not hacked up thrown in the dumpster!
 
3M Prospray!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!

In the past I have used many diferent adhesives for holding the trusty old display pieces etc on canvas. The most successful for me was an adhesive called "Stick It Back" used for readhering wallpaper that was coming away from the walls. This is a very flexible almost silicon type of glue and is manufactured in NZ by Holdfast. This was very good stuff and I know of several works that still survive without any visible signs of deterioration some 6 years on.
Try http://www.holdfast.co.nz
 
Why does the canvas have to be stretched? What about all those paintings on Masonite, canvas boards, Upsom boards, wood panels, etc.? I'll bet the Mona Lisa is on Fredericks portrait linen stretched on Fredericks wood bars. I'm just about positive that Leonardo da Vinci would have used Linco barrier tape to protect the linen from the wooden bars, right? I mean, how could that painting have survived all these years if he had not?

I know it is popular to think that oil paintings must be able to "breathe" from both sides, I am not convinced of that as a necessity. We have paintings hundreds, if not thousands of years old (cave paintings) that are not on stretched canvas, yet continue to be viable works of art. Oil paint is a lot tougher than most people today want to give it credit for. I know the cave paintings are not oil paintings, yet they are pigment of some sort. Oil paint is just pigment that uses oil as a medium.

Mount the painting to four or eight ply rag, use Yes Paste. These items can be removed in the future with little problem for a conservator.

You could also re-line the canvas onto a bigger canvas, then stretch that. Lot of work though. If the painting is a potential collectible, you may want to pursue that avenue to a solution. If you do not know how to re-line paintings, take it to a conservator. Do not attempt to glue the canvas to a bigger canvas, that ain't how it's done.

John
 
Kwote from the goldfish tamer:

3M Prospray!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!

Ya had to get that little zinger in on Ormond didn't ya, Lance?!?
smileyshot22.gif


(That's a Kiwi/Aussie inside joke, folks.)

Ormond,

If the artist is willing to "hack it up and throw it in the dumpster", I would go directly to the "last resort" and be done with it. You can use gator board if it is available down there or MDF as a VERY last resort! I've already voiced my opinion of your Aussie Grumble how I feel about using MDF in the frame shop so I would probably go with one of the various products that are made by Alucobond here in the States, gator board, Kapa, or Sintra. They have a website although I don't have the URL handy but you could go there and see if there are distributors in your neck of the woods.

You should be able to figure out which adhesives will work with canvas by now. If not, I'm sure that Lance will be more than willing to boat over and give you a crash course.
thumbsup.gif
:cool:

Good glueing to you.

Framerguy
 
Wouldn't it be possible to present it using less radical methods than overall glueing? It seems like overkill to me.

You could add new tacking or handling edges by brushing the acrylic emulsion Lascaux HV369 to strips of suitable fabric (polyester sailcloth or even a more lightweight but non-stretchy fabric) and letting it dry. When dry, apply the edges to the reverse edges of the painting. Simple finger pressure should do it, but if not, light heat will strengthen the bond.

This won't be strong enough for stretching, but it will allow you to wrap the new edges around a rigid backboard (even foamboard would probably work)and secure with good quality tape or the stronger PVA emulsions or what have you.

Then you can frame as usual, with spacers or mat.

Osgood, I'm sure you can get Lascaux HV360 in Australia - call one of the conservation depts and they should be able to point you in the right direstion. It's handy to have around the shop.

Rebecca
 
Thanks Rebecca, I shall look for that product.
One of the difficulties with this job is that it is quite large, about 6ft x 3ft and the canvas is very thick and stiff. I think that foamboard might not be strong enough to provide enough support.
Using the method you suggest, I wonder whether the canvas might bulge outward when hung because of its size and weight?

JRB, thanks for your suggestion, but the difficulty I see is that 4 or 8 ply rag doesn't come in the size necessary and I'm not sure that it would be rigid enough. Also the paste method would not work unless you could provide overall clamping because the canvas is very thick and stiff and has bulges and ridges which spring back up easily.

Lance, thanks for your sugestion, but you know as well as I do that Aussies don't trust the integrity of anything that comes from the Land of Long White Shroud!
))
 
Ah, a big heavy one! No, I don't think Lascaux would be strong enough. Perhaps you could add the handling edges - polyester sail cloth would be appropriate - using strips of Beva film. That would be strong enough.

You could then have a cross braced stretcher made, cover it with stretched sail cloth to give your painting a loose lining support, and then gently stretch the painting on that.

I think that would work.

Again, a conservation department could point you in the right direction for Beva film.

All of this on the understanding that it's not a fragile or valuable piece as I wouldn't want to give paintings conservation treatment instructions here - as I'd be practicing with out a license!

Good Luck!

Rebecca
 
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