Thank you so much. I am attempting to stretch my own canvas and this definatley helps. can I paint with arcylics and then stretch the finished work or should I only do that with oil or watercolor? I purchased a large roll of canvas and havent started working it yet.

It’s easier to stretch pre-gessoed canvas first, then paint. In the video we stretched a painting that was painted directly on an unstretched canvas. If you’re traveling, it’s easier to roll up & put in a suitcase. Canvas can be put on a board or table & taped down. Not as good as on a stretcher, but is certainly ok. Works better on smaller size canvas. I would stretch 36×48 and larger first. Ginger

Thanks for the advise however, what do you think about streching unprimed canvas?

Yes, you can stretch any fabric & use as a decorative wall piece. However when you stretch unprimed canvas that you intend to paint on later, here is the trick. Because it is cotton, it will shrink & get very tight when the gesso is put on, so you do not want to pull it as tightly with the pliers as this may later cause the frame to warp. You don’t want it either saggy or drum tight as you must allow for the material to shrink when the gesso is applied. Ginger

As a note, commercial gesso machines have gotten the cost of primed canvas very low, so it is not usually more economical to stretch unprimed canvas. Ginger

wow thanks for this video. i thought i could only have a company do this. it seems simple.

excellent

a rectangle cant be perfectly square but i get what your saying. thanks

actually, a square is a type of rectangle. anything with 4 right angles and 4 sides is a rectangle.

I think she meant a square angle, perfect 90 degree corners.