Stretching Photo on Canvas

JohnRing

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Apr 26, 2006
Posts
7
Loc
Newport,, RI
Have a customer with several photos printed on canvas and they want them S\stretched around the side. No frame. They want the image to be seen on the sides and the staples on the back.
Anyone ever done this? Have any pointers, tips or tricks? I am worried about the image cracking on the corners.
Thanks for your help.
 
Yeah, it's called a gallery wrap. And it's a bit harder than regular canvas stretching because you can't get your stretching pliers inside the area where you need to be very easily. But it is done in basically the same procedure as stretching regular canvas only you use gallery wrap strainers instead of regular canvas stretcher bars.

You can crack the paint if it is quite dry and thick but in most cases this won't happen if you are careful about stretching and use the gallery strainers with the relieved edges on the bearing surfaces.

Gallery strainers are more square than rectangular and measure from 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" square.

Oh and when you are figuring out how much image to wrap make sure that you use enough to go completely around the outside of the strainer bars to just inside the back edge. You don't want to have any unpainted canvas showing on the back edge of the wrap.

Framerguy
 
Originally posted by JohnRing:
Have a customer with several photos printed on canvas and they want them stretched around the side.
That sounds like a digital inkjet product. Too much stretching and the images WILL CRACK on the edges. Each type of output and or substrait will bend differently around the 90° bars. Having a test piece of this product will determing the possibility of a satisfactory finished product.


Remember that this display technique was originally developed by stretching the canvas on the bars and then painting the image by the artist - not visa versa.
 
When stretching these gallery wrap style you will be turning the work upside down and round & round. Make sure you work on a soft surface like a sheet of foam rubber or a large soft towel. As you move the item around the edges WILL rub on your worktable and WILL rub off the ink if you don't protect them.
 
I just framed an inkjet on canvas print. The customer had it printed and stretched elswhere (gallery wrap), I just put the frame on it... the corners were worn off and cracked when it got here. I believe it came from an online service, still in the bag and box when she brought it to us, so id say they craked when it was stretched.
 
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