You will need:
A wooden stretcher or
strainer (the stretcher
pictured is actually not a stretcher because it has no canvas keys which are
the little bits of wood or plastic that can be used to stretch out the frame
and make the canvas tighter) Although I will refer to it as a stretcher
(confused yet?)
A Staple Gun
Canvas Pliers if needed, these can help if your fingers are
not very strong or if you are stretching very large canvases
Canvas, this should be 3 inches larger than the stretcher
on all sides
 |
| figure a |
Begin by placing the
stretcher on top of the canvas (figure a)
 |
| figure b |
Then staple in the
middle of each length pulling the canvas tight (but not too tight!) and following
the numbers (figure b).
 |
| figure c |
The second ‘circuit’
of staples starts to the right of the first staple follow the numbers 5-8(c). You
need to tighten the canvas at this stage before each staple taking care to keep
the canvas fibres parallel The next ‘circuit’ follows the same rationale but to
the left of the first staple along each edge (d) repeat this process until you
are approx. a hands width from the corners.
 |
| figure d |
There are a few different
ways to fold the corners. I will try to will explain the easiest and neatest. First
turn the canvas so the front (the surface you will paint on) faces you, then
taking hold of the loose material (e), you need to stretch the material over
the corner without putting a hole in the canvas by pulling it over the
stretcher corner.
 |
| figure e |
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| figure f |
Quickly staple one
side so you have a free hand (g).
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| figure g |
While keeping the tension
in the canvas fold the excess material along one edge and tuck the fold
underneath itself l so you can’t see it (h). Keep practising this bit if you
don’t get it straight away.
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| figure h |
The back should look
something like this (i). If during painting the canvas becomes loose, you can
spray or sponge the back with water this will tighten the canvas back to the
same state just after priming.
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| figure i |
