Learn to stretch your own canvas.
If you want to prepare your own canvasses for oil and acrylic paintings, you must learn stretch canvas over stretcher bars. Although this may seem like a complex process, it's actually an easy task that doesn't require excessive effort. It doesn't take much time to master the process, and once you do, you'll never again need to purchase pre-stretched canvasses.
Instructions
1. Place a piece of canvas fabric on a flat work surface and position your stretcher bar frame on top of it, with the face down.
2. Fold the canvas over the stretcher bars along the sides of the frames and then fold the canvas over the top and bottom stretcher bars to determine how much fabric you need. You should have enough canvas to cover the back of each stretcher bar; a little overhang is acceptable. Use a pair of sharp fabric scissors the cut away any excess fabric.
3. Position the canvas and frame so that one of the long stretcher bars sits horizontally in front of you. Fold the canvas over this stretcher bar and secure it in place with a staple positioned halfway from either end of the stretcher bar.
4. Turn the canvas and frame until the stretcher bar on the opposite side is in front of you. Hold the loose edge of the canvas with both hands and pull it taut. Fold the fabric over the stretcher bar and while you hold it in place with your left thumb and forefinger, place a staple halfway between either edge of the stretcher bar.
5. Secure the top and bottom of the canvas into place with a single staple, turning the canvas, pulling it taut over the stretcher bar and positioning a staple halfway between the stretcher bar's edges. Once you've secured all the edges in place, the center of your canvas will be taut.
6. Staple the canvas to the stretcher bar frame, pulling it taut and positioning a staple two to three inches to the left and to the right of the center staple on all sides. Complete each side in the same order you used to apply the center staple.
7. Continue adding staples along the stretcher bars, positioning one two to three inches to the left of the leftmost staple and positioning the other two to three inches to the right of the rightmost staple until you are within two or three inches of the stretcher bar frame's corners.
8. Secure the corner flaps in place one at a time; grab one corner of a flap, pull it taut and fold the flap over the stretcher bar frame so that it lies flat. Place a staple along either side of the folded flap to hold it in place. Repeat this for the remaining three corner flaps.
