Building a canvas is a lot of fun if you have the right tools, I recommend to any aspiring painter or artist to try it at least once.
Ok so first what do you need to build a canvas? Here is a list of the essential tools:
- Canvas fabric (you can also use linen)
- Wood bars
- PVA Size (a type of glue to seal the fabric)
- Gesso (an acrylic base paint goes on top of the PVA)
- Heavy duty stapler
Ok so the first thing is cutting your fabric to the right size, my canvas is 16x36 so I left 3 inches of extra room to staple it to the back of the wood bars.
Second is to seal your raw fabric, that is to cover it with PVA, without going into too much details you need to seal the fabric because if you don't then the oil paint will eat up the fabric, so put 2 coats of PVA, always wait until the coat is dry to apply the next coat.
After you are done with the coats of PVA is time to apply the Gesso coats, this coats are necessary to add an extra layer to your raw canvas so the oil paint don't eat up the PVA, also it will make your raw fabric white, I recommend to use white gesso unless you want to use the background.
Next is stretching the canvas into the wood bars. I use pre-cutted wood bars and staple the corners of it then glue them with wood glue for extra reinforcement and got the corners I use masonite corner triangles to keep the wood bars straight.
Now you will need pliers, these are special pliers to stretch the fabric, first star by stapling the canvas into the wood frame in the middle of each wood bar, these will be temporary staples just to hold the fabric for now.
Now star stretching the canvas with the pliers and go from the center to the corners, use the video for reference.
Finally finish by doing the corners. Here is a video on how to do them.
Finally sign your canvas...with blood!!
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