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threefiveo125go

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
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Apr 23, 2007
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I did several months ago. It's a giclee that I stretched with liner and frame. The print is now sagging and rippled. I got confirmation to stretch it from the G here and a local art instructor. I'm not quite sure what happend here. When it left the shop it was perfect. It has really heated up here the last few weeks, 90 and above. Maybe heat could be the problem?How should I go about re-stretching it? Should I re-stretch it? :shrug:
 
This happens a lot. Canvas will relax and the piece will sag. I usually explain that to the customer and restretch it no charge.
 
For some reason I've had lots of problems stretching giclees on canvas. I cringe slightly when I see one coming in and add a PITA charge to the order.
 
I agree with Bill. The general consensus is to dry mount a Giclee canvas for just the problem you are having.
 
I havn't got a drymount machine here :/ I don't suppose some Super 70 and a cold press would do any good?
 
Kyle Henson said:
For some reason I've had lots of problems stretching giclees on canvas. I cringe slightly when I see one coming in and add a PITA charge to the order.
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Yea, it's all about what the giclee is printed on. If it's cheap canvas or art paper it can be a real PIA.

Someone suggested on another thread drymounting the giclee on rag mat, and then stretching it onto bars.
That seems like a lot of extra work to me though.
 
My word. I don't think I'd ever drymount a giclee: there are too many potential problems to even think about doing that.

No matter how we feel about them, what about the irreversibility, of both drymount and PerfectMount? It's a dilemma, but I'd still stretch it...and re-stretch it....at least twice.

Cathie
 
I had one coming back as well, a few weeks ago. She is a very good customer and I explained it might happen again and please bring it back because I will re-stretch it for free.
I wouldn't feel comfortable drymounting this either.
 
So should the problem be fixed for good the second time around or should I expect it to happen again?
 
I have at times placed a 4-ply board on the front of the stretcher/strainer bar. It seems to fit nicely just inside the raised portion. This enables some support for the canvas during moderate relaxing.

The Giclee canvas is often treated to enable it to take the ink easier. A very different process than traditional sizing. This can make it more susceptible to heat and humidity. (another reason for glazing?) When it sags, sometimes just changing it's environment will bring it back.

Unless you are sure of the process, or can definitely replace it, heat is a potential problem.

The board under the stretched canvas doesn't necessarily eliminate the problem, but it can significantly increase the time before you'll see it again! ;-)
 
threefiveo125go said:
Would a few triangle cuts in the backing paper help it breathe a little better?
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SmileyShocked.png
You didn't really say that did you? Where have you been on all of the discussions about art work needing to breath? :smiley:
 
Did you use stretcher bars?
If you did you can key them out?
It usually doesn't take much, but you have to room in the frame.
If not, if you are going to restretch replace with keyed bars for next time.
 
1st--where are you that it's gotten sooo hot so soon??

2nd-I'd suspect an outside wall as it's 'place' and ask them about A/C usage(you want to hang canvas/art in your structure you/they must control the temp/humidity else suffer the consequence

3rd-if you do not stretch, use perfect mount--it's soooooo easy/convenient!(NO heat just pressure) Put into vacpress for like 10min(need a sheet foam covering to not smash the brush marks!!!) then weight it for a few hrs---it wont seperate in the forseeable future.(that adhesive is really good)

that said---you 'can' seperate it in future(is isnt an easy/simply/speedy job but IS doable) and be prepared to sit around and pick the FC off the canvas(told you that adhesive is really good) --tedious job:fire:!
 
What you are experiencing is symptomatic of many gicles- and a symptom of over stretching in the first place. If you used pliers at all, I am willing to bet that you overstretched.

When I teach my stretching class, I show a "pinning" method we use - we always pin the canvas and wait at least 24 hours before doing the final stretch.

Also, keyable stretcher bars make correction of this situation fast work- but you have to have enough allowance in a frame to allow for the expanded dimension. However, you would be surprised at how little it takes to achieve tension again.
 
The following opinion does not reflect the opinions of the Framemakers or any other person in the shop. These are strictly Opinion by Cyrway.

I personally hate the whole idea of "giclees." (French for "spitting" or "sputtering".) These "limited editions" are bogus. With lithography, one is sure the plates are destroyed. With giclees, hey, look, the file's right here on this disk! They're usually printed off the same machines that print out large photos. Yes, they're beautiful, but they're from an inkjet printer very similar to the one you have next to your home computer, just on a bigger scale. Anyone with an Epson R1800 and Photoshop can print out beautiful "giclees." Do I market my reproductions as such? Heavens, no. I could, but I won't. But I'll get off my soapbox on this one for now, because it will lead into my opinion on Kinkade.

The "canvas" used is usually canvas paper -- it really isn't meant to be stretched, especially on the larger sizes. By restretching, one risks separating the inks -- seen it happen, it isn't pretty. The smaller ones are usually fine, but when one gets above 14x18, the paper part sags and -- well, we all know what happens.

We here at the shop drymount it, usually to either acid-free foam or Gatorboard, using Fusion 4000 film. If the customer insists to have it stretched, we will use rag mat as a backing cut exactly the size of the bars, but very rarely do they go that route, unless it's signed and numbered, but again my opinion has been stated above. Many times it comes to us already trimmed to the image, which pretty much makes stretching impossible anyway.

We had wetmounted a Dr. Seuss seriograph printed on canvas paper to 8-ply rag and restretched it around the bars -- these instructions were from the seller of the piece and the conservator on duty.

Ultimately, the problem is not because of the "giclee" itself but the canvas paper it's printed on. But I think someone had already said that.
 
I live in AZ :fire:


I made sure not to over stretch the first time :/



I'm gonna open it up today and see what's goin on. Thanks for everyone's input!
 
The idea of spray77 scares me, how do you feel about Fabric glue, either Franks or Rapheal's and then counter mount at the same time to avoid bowing. For all intents and purposes it is a print on canvas, you are mounting the canvas not the print, canvas is fabric.
 
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