STRETCHING CANVAS
Not a fun job, assign to someone else if you can. But here is what works for me.

1). Assemble bars...check to be sure they are desired length up-and-down and on both ends. and the 
most important is to be sure they are the same measurement diagonal from corner to corner. 
Top Right to lower Left and Top left to lower right. If not then. tap bars until all measurements 
are correct 

DO NOT GLUE OR STAPLE THEM TOGETHER AT THE CORNER.

2) I personally staple a triangle piece of mat board across all 4 corners (on the back) to keep the 
bars from moving while I am working. You can remove the corner mat boards when finished.

3) Cover your work area (dining room table?) with a sheet to protect the table and the art work. 
They lay your canvas (primed, unprimed or already painted) face down on the table. Lay your 
stretcher bars on the canvas. Line up the bars with the canvas so that you have at least 
2 inches or more around all sizes. I frequently have to sew on some extra canvas to make a 
decent amount to stretch after the customer informed me that she had neatly trimmed 
it for me.. duh

4) It is GREAT IF YOU CAN GET ON ALL SIDES WITHOUT HAVING TO SPIN THE CANVAS AND BARS. 

5) Peep under to be sure canvas is straight to the bars especially if it is already painted. 
If canvas was painted prior to being stretched, the canvas will NEVER stretch properly. 
It is best to stretch then paint.

6) Begin stapling in the center of each side. Each time you go to another side.. pull tight. 

 

AND EACH TIME YOU PULL TO THE EDGE AND TOWARD THE CORNERS.

There are pliers that are for canvas stretching that are well worth the investment. Work out from 
the center of each side.

7) STAPLE, either on the edge (easiest) or on the back of the bars. a Gallery wrap is stapled on 
the back with sides covered with canvas/picture.

8) Go from top to bottom, side to side, top to bottom, side to side. Work your way around the
canvas until you get near the corners and then at the corner tuck the canvas and staple flat. 
Be sure to lift and look from time to time, to be sure you are straight and not pulling in wrinkles.

9) DO NOT TRIM THE EXCESS CANVAS AWAY. Staple it to the back. Some day you may want 
to remove it and re-stretch it and you might need that extra material.

10) Check for wrinkles or puffs on the front. You may need to remove some staples and redo 
an area.

11) PRIMED CANVAS is coated with gesso and ready to paint. Can be acrylic primed or ground 
marble primed.

12) UNPRIMED CANVAS is raw canvas and should be primed before painting to protect the canvas 
from the deterioration of the paint and stop "bleed through". Painting on unprimed canvas
is not a good practice. If you don't have gesso use any acrylic paint you might have around, 
better than nothing.

13) Keys are the wooden or plastic triangles/wedges that come with already stretched canvas. 
You insert them into the corner holes on the back of the canvas just in case you ever have to stretch-tighten
the canvas. Tap in the wedges in all four corners and it will drive the bars apart and 
tighten up a slack canvas. But be careful or you can stretch a standard size so much that it 
will not fit into the standard frame.

NOTE: One common practice (which is not condoned- and you didn't hear it here) is to lightly mist the back of the stretched 
canvas and when it dries the canvas will tighten up. 
 

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