I have some art I need to frame. Canvas prints, but the perimeter around the actual printed area is small - only about 3/4". Is this going to be a problem framing it? Most tutorials I see suggest building something like a 1x3" frame and wrapping the material around it, but this isn't enough material to even wrap down the side. Would a 1/2" thick frame work?
1/2" thick on the side that the edge will fold over, 1" to 1 1/2" thick on the other will be plenty strong. If I were doing this myself I would head down to the art supply place and pick up a blank canvas in a size that is as close as possible to the longest side of your print (not counting borders) and use it's frame to fashion what you need. The canvas doesn't have to wrap to the backside of the frame, although it may be easier to get it properly tight if you do.
Reading your post correctly, you are saying use 1.5" (or more) x 0.5" material to fashion the frame? I can give that a go. The hard part may be finding material that is only 1/2" thick in board form. I may have to rip down some plywood... damn.
No ply, straight wood. A blank canvas from the art store has the bones you need and are fairly cheap.
Hmm. I'll check at the 'art store'. I'd really rather not buy a canvas only to cut it up and throw the canvas part away. But maybe they will have the bones for sale separately.
A.C. Moore and Michael's are two 'art stores' that are in the Winston Salem area. They probably do have the frames available separately that you can assemble.
In reply to ProDarwin :
I’ve been away from the art world for over 20 years, but the stretcher - the wood frame that holds the canvas - typically has slotted joints at the corners to withstand the tension from the stretched canvass. If you’re building your own stretcher from scratch out of 1-by or similar, you’ll need really good miters on the corners, wood glue & clamps to keep the joints tight, and cross-nailing it from opposite sides would be good too.
They make special pliers for stretching the canvas, but a pair of lineman’s pliers/dikes should work ok.
You are looking for “stretcher/strainer bars/stock.” The ones with the biscuits in the corners are for chumps who can’t stretch (lol.) You don’t necessarily need stretcher bars, just whatever flat stick meets your requirements. If it wants to bend in the middle when you start stretching, add a brace. Canvas pliers aren’t necessary. I stretch 90% by hand. I could go through the whole process here, but I’m sure there are 1,000 youtube videos.
Don’t overthink it. Good luck!
My understanding from googling last night was that the slots in the corners of the stretcher bars were so you can drive a wedge in later to increase tension on the canvas if it sags over time. The downside is those seem to be only in 1" increments
Aannd I'm dumb. This isn't canvas, its paper. Looks like I need to build a real frame for it.
That looks like it would make a pretty good tattoo....
ProDarwin said:Aannd I'm dumb. This isn't canvas, its paper. Looks like I need to build a real frame for it.
Lol. I was going to say “It *looks* like paper” but a lot of modern ‘canvas’ prints are so thin, I didn’t want to question your assessment.
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