Why stretching your own canvas is so delicious!

I love waking up to the smell of freshly stretched canvases.

music:
Kevin MacLeod
Too Cool

[TylerGotAYTAccount]

"Maybe I'm crazy" - Uri

We already know the truth. That's why we subbed.

[breakdanceexpress]

I have the steps:
1) Assemble frame
2) Sniff canvas
3) Make ganache
4) Sniff canvas

[yopyopu]

When I heard " back isn't visible so I'm just going to use staples" I felt Baumgartner shiver :D

[shanek]

The year after Uri’s death (hopefully many many decades from now) the painting known as “orange and green dot on a field of gray” will be worth millions.

[Chimera-X]

Sorry for my English, I translate this through a translator. I'm from Russia. I accidentally once found this channel and do not cease to be bothered by what the author is doing. In my opinion, he knows almost everything in this world. Draw, make sculptures. cook, make kitchen appliances and much more. I have no words. I admire you, Uri Tuchman.

P. S надеюсь он это прочитает.)

[matthewb]

When you said, "I need a spoon..." I fully expected you to stop everything and make a spoon from brass.

[steelcannibal]

Knowing your humor, when you said "not everyone has a plane", i secretly hoped you'd pull out a plane✈

[samueltaylor]

When my Great Aunt died a couple years ago, when we were cleaning out her house, I found a HUGE roll, like thousands of yards of cloth that I wasn’t sure what it was until RIGHT NOW! It is that exact linen! My Great Uncle and their daughter used to paint; I have many of their works, which are very beautiful. I still have that linen roll, which I used some for dropcloth material! Maybe I’ll try my hand at stretching canvas! Thank you Uri!

[dismafuggerhere]

OMG OMG... how about Uri designs and crafts a stapler ? 🤔

[PhotonChief]

In this episode, editor Uri disagreed with most of the things video Uri said, and it was excellent.

[Othersider]

My God, this video is like Baumgartner Restoration and Uri Tuchman combined. Can such a video truly exist?

[TheBookDoctor]

Extra thumbs-up for someone finally showing how to properly use a tack hammer! You have no idea how long I've wondered why one side of the tack hammer is split in two like that.

[KelikakuCoutin]

I've stretched thousands of canvases. As a teenager, I used
to work in a shop making all different sizes. I used bars like the ones
you had, also more crude bars, and used exactly the same canvas
pliers you have (they haven't changed). You're right about the stapler,
the one you have is a toy - that's why it broke. Also the clamps you used
are toys. They won't give you a square product. Use an old Stanley No. 400
vise to clamp the opposite corners first, then attach them to each other. A
newer option is:
(be careful, some vises from the factory aren't even square so check them).


With larger bars like you had, you don't need a vise though, you just should
use a mallet and a builder's square - and the mortises shouldn't need glue. If
the corners are too loose, then use a few staples, not glue. Do opposite corners
first, checking for square, then attach both sides to each other, then use the
builder's square to do the final check. If you need to adjust, use the wooden
mallet. The corners should line up without any planing or filing - unless the
quality of the bars is deficient. The mortises shouldn't be loose, if they are,
return the bars and exchange them for new ones, only staple them if you have no
other choice. The bars should fit really snug together, and the corners should be
naturally square, you shouldn't need to fool around with the builder's square too
much more than a few taps with the wooden mallet and a few flips to set each corner.


The only stapler we would use was the Arrow T50, it is still being made.


Also, it's obvious to me (sorry) that you don't actually stretch canvases all day.
I could do that whole job in probably less than five minutes; when I was a kid it
would have been about 40 seconds (using a stapler), and I'm talking about
starting with the bars apart.


You weren't using the pliers properly, there's a nub on one jaw of the pliers to act as
a fulcrum against the bars. You could not do that though, because you had cut the
canvas too large and the edges overlapped too far for you to get a proper bite with
the pliers onto the canvas. You should practice more. I like how you used the tacks
instead of the staples (although with the toy stapler you had, I don't blame you).


When you cut your canvas, never tear it. Use a box cutter or just a razor blade.
The lip of the canvas should be 1-1.5" over the edges of your bars, just enough for the
pliers to get a good bite. Then when you use the pliers, you have that nub on the lower
jaw to act as a fulcrum, so you can get the canvas tight, and you can get a really good
stretch. I never stretched raw canvas (without gesso) before, I don't think it's that
great to stretch it before you have the gesso on it (but I could be mistaken on that
point). You usually don't need the wedges on your bars unless you've done a poor job
stretching the canvas - to tighten up things. Also, if you use the wedges it messes up
both the square and the size of your canvas - you can add as much as 1/8" to the dimension
after pounding in those things. So, try to avoid them, it can affect the size of the frame
later on if you use them.


When you start putting the properly cut canvas onto your bars, put the bars vertically onto a table
so that the canvas is hanging from the top bar, so then you can center the canvas over the top bar.
Put one staple in the middle, parallel to the direction of your bar. You've got one
side attached at the top. Lift up the whole thing a few inches with your right hand, and with
your left hand catch the bottom bar along with the bottom lip of your canvas. Folding the bottom
of the canvas over the bottom bar, flip everything over so that the bottom is now under your chin,
and the top with the one staple is now sitting on your work surface (or stool, depending on the size
of the bars). Before putting your second staple, check the size of the lip, make sure it won't overlap
too far, or you will end up trimming it later. Center the canvas, check the lip on the right and left bars.
Now put the second staple on the top of the next bar - in the middle of the bar, parallel to the bar.


Now, flip the bars either way, clockwise or counter-clockwise, and find the middle of the third bar. Third
staple goes in the middle but be careful not to pull the lip too much before you staple, or you end up with
a wavy canvas. Again 1" to 1 1/2" lip is enough (a smaller lip won't give you a big bite with the pliers). Flip
the bars again, and get the fourth staple - this one's not as critical, you can pull harder on this before you
staple. These first four staples aren't really stretching the canvas, they're just holding it there in position,
and you might need to remove them during the stretching process because they were installed when the
canvas was loose. Your first staples should be parallel to the bars, but all your staples from now on should be
at a 45 degree angle.


Now things start to get more critical - you start using the canvas pliers. Get a grip on the canvas, right behind
the middle of the top bar - next to the edge of the bar. You will see that the fulcrum of the pliers is right there for you to
take advantage of when you want to put some tension on the canvas. If you did that now though, you'd pull out the
one staple that's on the opposite bar - not a good idea. So, just hold the canvas to one side of that one staple,
and put two more staples in, one on either side of that lone staple. Flip the canvas to the opposite side, and
now you can start stretching with the pliers. It will become obvious that the first staple may be too loose and you
may see a bit of a pleat under it. You can pop that staple out later, first put two more staples, one on each side of the
original staple, and rotate the canvas. So, two more staples on the first side, flip, stretch, put two more staples (you may
get another pleat). You should have three staples on each side, in the middle of each bar. Only work on opposite sides
of the canvas, never rotate the canvas to work consecutive sides.


Now you can relax, the canvas is basically on, you can start really stretching it. Use the fulcrum and see how much
power you get out of it when you lean the canvas & bars away from you and pull it against the fulcrum of your
canvas pliers. Staple out from the middle. You already have three staples in the middle. First staple from the middle to the corner,
go back to the middle, then go back out to the opposite corner. Flip to the opposite side, repeat the operation,
starting from the middle, going out to each corner, stretching with the pliers, using the fulcrum against the bars.


You should have two sides stretched and two sides with the three staples each. Look at the canvas from the front and see if you've
got any pleats. Now starting from the middle again, go out to the corners with the stapler. You can now see why the first staples
are parallel instead of at an angle. You may need to pull them out if they're causing pleats. When you get to the last
side of the canvas, you can really start to pull hard with the pliers. I used to find this a bit painful after doing
a lot of canvases, it's a little strenuous on your grip to both pull and squeeze hard with the pliers at the same time.
But you have to do it. The last bar needs to be pulled the hardest.


You should have all four sides stapled, without any pleats in the surface of the canvas. If you have pleats, you'll have to
remove a staple, stretch it again with the pliers, and restaple. You should have "ears" sticking out of the corners of
your canvas. This part is a little tough to describe. You want to make a neat fold along the edge of the corner of the
bars, then put one or two more staples to hold the fold. You should do each corner. It's kind of like making your bed, and
getting the corners of the sheet folded in neatly (unless you have fitted sheets).


You'll have a small lip around the bars that looks kind of sloppy. Some people like to trim around the bars at this point, but we
always left this lip intact. The reason we did that was to provide enough canvas for the work to be restretched at some later point
in time. To make things neat, we'd put another line of staples around the back of the bars to hold the lip of the canvas down.
These staples are just for appearance, they have no other purpose, and they don't need to be tight.


I didn't really originally intend to write all this crazy nonsense, but I haven't thought about this stuff in more than
20 or even more years. I haven't stretched a canvas since I was a teenager, but I did so many (thousands) that I still
remember how to do it. I hope you can follow these instructions (if you have the interest). Good luck with it.


First get the vise though, and get the Arrow T50 stapler. Otherwise it's not really even worth it. And try putting the gesso
on the canvas first before you stretch it. Be careful, don't make it too thick or it will crack when you do your stretching.
You should make your own bars too. Why buy them if you can make them? We just used to make our own bars.


Thanks for the content. Keep up the good work.
בס״ד

[censusgary]

I’m glad to see I’m not the only weirdo who likes to stretch canvas. It is, indeed, delicious.

Stretching canvas taught me an extremely valuable lesson: Start in the middle, and work out toward the edges. This is very, very helpful any time you have to stretch or spread canvas or paper, or just about anything that comes in sheet form.

I’ve never used glue or staples on the frame corner joints. The canvas holds the pieces together tightly, especially after it has shrunk from the primer drying.

[mhhojmark]

I have never in my life painted on a canvas... But now I want to stretch one. Great video!

[peterclausen]

I have used fortunes of money, buying canvases through many after this video, I will make them myself.
Thanks Uri !!!

[OriginalDimascus]

When you do beautiful work (no matter what you touch), there is no need to justify your means. *hats off to the Pigeon.

[BlastPHANT]

you have so much love and joy and excitement about things others would neglect. It's obvious this is what gives you the energy to always keep creating as an artist, and its contagious to anyone watching.

[jakobsors]

Jedes mal wenn ein neues Video von dir erscheint freue ich mich, deine Leidenschaft und Energie ist unheimlich ansteckend, von deinem grenzenlosen handwerklichen Können ganz zu schweigen...
Danke danke danke !

[pogogogo]

I love making my own canvas with rabbit skin glue and then mix the glue with marble dust or use an oil primer. The process is delicious 😁