Pasting Canvas (linen) on Wood... help?

[GriNGo]

Hello,
I've got a pretty technical question, regarding oil painting. I bought this canvas pad with about 10 sheets, which measure about 20inches x 18 inches in size. I want to paste the primed canvas sheets into a wooden panel, so I can have a sturdy support so I can paint on the surface more comfortably. I already bought some 5mm thick "triplex" wood panels (of the same size of the canvas pads), but I'm not sure on how to proceed. I bought some acrylic medium to paste the things together, but I'm not sure if I should prepare the wood panel in some way before doing it. I don't want the panels to bend with time, or get damaged in anyway. I want the canvas to be pasted as smooth as possible. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance,
GRINGO

[Timothy Duong]

i've actually wondered about this too.

gringo: is acrylic medium good to bind the both of them together?

[meddling kid]

never done this before, but how about an industrial grade spray glue?

[dbclemons]

Acrylic medium will work, but sometimes dries unevenly making pockets or bubbles under the canvas, and once it dries it's on there to stay. The best acrylic medium I've used for that is Golden's Soft Gel, diluted with twice the water. It seems to dry more slowly and evenly. I coat both surfaces and then press the canvas flat from the center with a brayer or squeege. Place some weight on it and let it dry for a day or so.

Other types of glues that you can use are Rabbit skin or PVA. I also like to use paste or starch which have given me consistent results. Unlike acrylic medium, these are reversible and can be more easily repaired later on.

Recently I've been experimenting with glues that don't use water, like acid-free rubber cement, or vinyl adhesive sheets used for mylar. These seem to work fine but I'm not sure how durable they'll be.

[Timothy Duong]

dbclemons: thanks! that was some good info right there. i've been using mylar too and i was wondering how to put it on panel without glue showing through. are you using oils on your mylar at all? if you are...are you priming it before hand?

thanks again =D

[Grief]

yeah, the Golden acrylic medium watered down should do the trick.

as far as the wood is concerned it may help to sand it down with a rough sand paper. this will give the surface a scratchy 'tooth' which should help adhere the acrylic medium.

if you use glue of some sort keep in mind it should be archival safe, so it wont turn yellow (or some other unwanted color) or crap out on you down the road.

[GriNGo]

Timothy - i suggest you should prime it before, just in case.
hey guys (dbclemons and grief), thanks for the tips! I was going to use the acrylic medium pure, without water.. That alone can save me some money, as archival glue is kind of expensive! once again, thanks everybody!

[dbclemons]

dbclemons: thanks! that was some good info right there. i've been using mylar too and i was wondering how to put it on panel without glue showing through. are you using oils on your mylar at all? if you are...are you priming it before hand?

Oils adhere fine to mylar as does acrylic, although I've only made a couple paintings on it. I love it for ink drawing. No priming is required, but you could if you wanted to. The adhesive sheets I use (Grafix Double-tack) goes down clear and claims to not yellow. There are several brands of drafting film out there (Mylar is Dupont's brand name.) I like the Borden/Riley Denril brand. Be sure and use the frosted or matte film surface.

[Anuran]

I've been trying this quite a bit during the last couple of semesters at school. I was using raw canvas and adhering it to mdf or masonite. I've found that regardless of the method I use the boards warp above certain dimensions. I've used matte medium, gesso and a variety of acid free glues. I went to Illuxcon last year and one of the demonstrators said to save some money and use Elmer's. In the future I plan to laminate some cheap canvas on the opposite side to balance the stress on the panel.

My materials and techniques professor suggested that the most stable way to do this would be to stretch and prime the canvas then, while still on the stretchers, laminate it to a panel. Obviously, you would end up with some wasted canvas and you would need stretchers larger than the end product. I haven't done this simply because it sounds like a pain in the ass to me. I asked him about cradled panels and he said they will invariably warp over time. He has worked as a conservator on a lot of famous works of art so, I trust his professional opinion.


For me, while in school, convenience is important too. Anyway, my experiments have led me to the conclusion that to do this right is a fair amount of work so, I am only doing it for projects that I plan to spend a fair amount of time on. For quicker studies, I am using preprimed canvas temporarily taped down on Masonite. That way, if it sucks I didn't put a lot of time into the support. If it turns out good I'll let it dry for a bit then laminate it to a board.

[dbclemons]

It's a good practice to coat all sides of the wood panel to even out the stress, but keeping it pressed flat as it dries is equally important. The acrylic medium will also help repel moisture later on. It tends to dry rather quickly which can make it awkard to use for gluing. Good quality PVA glues (not Elmer's) dry more slowly. Acrylics shrink and lose volume as they dry, especially when diluted with water, which just puts more stress on the panels. Thicker panels hold their shape better than thin ones.

Here's a decent demo (http://www.ampersandart.com/featuredartist/featured-artist.html) for gluing canvas to hardboard at Ampersand.

[Timothy Duong]

dbclemons: =D Thanks a bunch. Really good to know. Yeah I've been painting on mylar without priming just cuz it feels so SEXY!!!

[Oruhito]

my teacher takes pre oil primed linen, cuts it to the size he wants, and pastes it to this thin board called, 'gater board'. It looks a lot like black foam core only it is a hell of a lot stronger and sturdier. It's supposedly very archival. All he does is literally paste the linen onto the board. He uses archival pva glue and spends a good amount of time making sure it is evenly distributed. He puts a big weight on it and lets it dry for a day or two. It's great because it conserves space, its easy to do, and they all have lasted in great condition.

[dbclemons]

Gatorboard or gatorfoam is a polystyrene plastic sheet sandwiched between two sheets of wood veneer. It's kind of expensive but very light weight. There are other acid-free foamcore brands that you could use in the same way. Without the veneer it's more fragile.