How to do it yourself??

[Gloominati]

Hi, guys!!

No introduction, I am gonna go straight to the point:

I want to start stretching my canvases myself but I am pretty uncertain about which materials I should use. Surely, it would be the best thing to just try out everything there is but because all that stuff is quite expensive, I just cant afford trying out everything in the beginning.
So I am asking all of you guys who have experience in streching your own canvases to just give me a overview about everything I should know (which different types of canvases there are, what types of gesso do exist and what makes them differ from each other. Just some stuff like that so that I know where to put my attention on) Some kind of beginners guide on these subjects.

Thanks a lot :)

[Kfeeras]

Google can be handy in such questions: http://painting.about.com/od/oilpainting/a/stretch_canvas.htm

[Gloominati]

thanks but I am asking more for information about the differences between all the materials and actually not for an explanation of how to stretch the canvas.
That's why I am posting here after I tried to goggle that stuff

[Smarty]

I use cheap pine wood with a bracket through the middle, depending on the size of the canvas is how thick you might want it. Rabbit glue primer is what we have at college, i like it more than gesso mostly because its not white. As for the canvas itself, try fabric shops, you can get pretty big rolls quite cheap, nearly anything is fine as long as it thick enough to take a poke from a palette knife after stretching.

[Ashkitty]

... i like it more than gesso mostly because its not white.

White canvases annoy me too. That's why I add dab of acrylic paint when I'm gessoing and voila! Toned canvas!

I'll ask my buddy to look at this thread, he's sort of the art material specialist and will be able to tell you more about canvas stuff than I can. :p

[Suncut]

How we've been taught to do our canvases at school:

Buy the wood, make sure it's straight etc. I use the cheapest linen I can find at art suppliers, it has some uneven stuff and "knots" in it but nothing that would have bothered me so far.

For priming, first glue the canvas with rabbid glue, which needs to be soaked for a night before being cooked. Let dry, always laying face up, never propped up as that may warp the wood. One teacher recommended we do this twice with sanding in between.

Then we have a recipe for the primer, though some people just use gesso cause it's faster, but it's just not the same. 1:1 zinch white and chalk white mixed to some glue and half of the amount of one powder linseed oil. It was probably 1:1:1 on the powders and glue, but I always just see when it feels right. Again, if you want a fine canvas you will do multiple covers in different directions with sanding and drying in between. I've never done that once though, since it takes ages to make the canvases as it is.

After painting on these I never wanna see another store bought canvas, they just suck, at least around here. Minuses is that you can't use acrylic underpainting with this priming, as it would according to our teachers ruin the canvas. They said watercolor underpainting would be fine though, I've just gone with oils so far. Oh and the glue and the primer only stay usable for a couple of days after making, if you keep them in the cold.