Stretching canvas

I’m getting ready to stretch a 61 × 37.75 inch (155 cm x 96 cm) canvas for a commission. So I’ve been looking at online articles on canvas stretching. Here’s one by James Bernstein at Golden paints that suggests a different set of procedures than generally used.

Recommendations include:

• Drawing a line along the weave of the canvas in pencil along the boundary beforehand, so that you can check to see that the edge of the stretcher is even with the canvas weave as you apply it to the stretcher chassis.
• Stapling or tacking from the edges of the canvas inward. This is exactly opposite from the way every other source I’ve seen says to do it.
• Using pushpins for the initial attachment of the canvas to the stretcher, for ease of adjustment, before final tacking or stapling.
• Letting the canvas settle onto the frame for a day or two, with adjustment as needed, prior to final tacking or stapling.

These methods differ from standard practice, but the author makes a good case.

(Note that I found this article via a related post by Randall Stoltzfus.

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