Giclee Stretching
Giclee Stretching Class
You may use the following technique to stretch giclees as well as original paintings on canvas or even blank canvas. For those customers who purchase either rolled giclees or extra large originals this may help you to do the stretching yourself while saving you some money. With a little practice you'll be stretching canvas like a pro! Don't be affraid to try but if you feel like its just not working out then by all means consult your local frame shop or email us with any questions.
Supplies you will need to stretch canvas giclees onto stretcher bars.
- Clean working surface, a flat cardboard panel works great. Make sure the surface is free of any abbrasive particles that could scratch the art work. Also make sure the surface is completley flat with no wrinkles or creases, as those could make an impression on the canvas or cause it to stretch unevenly.
- Staple gun with staples, T50 1/4"
- Flat Screwdriver, in case you need to remove any staples.
- Hammer, for pushing the staples in case the stape gun doesn't shoot them in deep enough.
- Sharp Blade, for triming the canvas.
- Scissors, in case you need additional trimming.
- Pliers, to pull out staples when necessary.
- Measuring tape
- Permanent Marker, for marking the fold lines.
- Stretcher Bars, make sure they are the same size as your art work. For gallery wrap stretching you will need stretchers bars with a thicker profile, usually they will be about 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" thick. Usually our giclees are made for stretcher bars up to 1 1/2" thick. If your stretcher bars are thinner, it is okay for some of the image to wrap around the back side.
- Artwork, if your artwork is rolled you may want to lay it flat for a while to make it easier to work with. A good way is to lay it face down and hold the edges with paper weights, do not put heavy objects on the part where the image is as this may damage your artwork.
- Picture Hanging Wire, for hanging your artwork on the wall. Make sure the wire meets the requirements to support the weight of your artwork and any additional framing used.
- Screw eyes, for attaching the wire to the artwork.
- 3" Long Nail, for tightening the screw eyes.
1. Clean your hands
To prevent damage to your valuable artwork make sure your hands are free
of any dirt or oils which could mark or damage your print.
2. Aligning your artwork
Make sure the stretcher bars are of the correct size. Align the top left and right edges to see that the image will fit horizontally on the stretcher bars (a), then check that the bottom edges align as well (b). Then align the top and bottom left and right edges to see that the image aligns vertically as well (c).
a.
b.
b.
c.
Prepare to lift your print and stretcher bars. 
Make sure you keep the print in the aligned position as you carefully flip it over.
Carefully put the stretcher bars over the bottom edge of the print and make sure
the top edges are aligned.
Check again that the top and side edges align well.
Fold the top margin of the canvas over thestretcher bars, making sure the image
boundary does not go over the edge. If you
are stretching a gallery wrapped image
this would be the part where the front
image meets the side (mirror) image.
Go ahead and staple the canvas to theback of the stretcher bars about midway
down the length of the stretcher bars. If
your giclee print does not have wide
enough margins then you can staple on
the outside edge of the stretcher bars.
Hold the canvas tightly in place while stapling.
Once you staple one side you can then turn over the print to staple the opposite side.
Now make sure you align the opposite (in this case bottom)
edges and proceed to stapling
this side as in the previous step.
This time you can stretch the canvas in the center. Make it as tight as possible
without over stretching the image. Some
giclees may get warped if you pull too
tight.
Its normal to see a stretched line at this point, it will be evened out when
we staple the sides.
Hold the canvas in place.
Staple once.
Now top and bottom are stapled.
Now proceed to the sides.
Notice that we are only pulling tight the areabetween the center and the side that we are
stapling. Do not try to pull all the way too much
as you want to avoid miss aligning the opposite
side. Wait until all 4 sides have at least 1 staple
on them and then you can pull tight all the way.
Staple the side when ready.
Now go ahead and tighten all the way when stapling the last side, the stretched area now
should resemble a diamond shape, with its
points terminating in the centers of the four
stretcher bars.
Check that the area is nice and tight, almostlike a drum, dont leave too much slack but dont
over tighten either.
Check again that the picture is alignedbefore going any further, if you need use
your screw driver to redo any of the 4
staples you just did. Better now than
later when you have dozens of staples
already in.
Staple the long edges first,do a few staples at a time
then some on the opposite
side.
Now make a few on the sides.
Always work from the middle out, that way you will avoid wrinkles.
If you need, remove staples, remember the art!point away from the image to avoid disasters.
Check that the surface is even often.
Now you are ready to do the corners.
Fold on the top and bottomedges, this helps conceal the
fold marks.
Pre-fold to make sure you have enough
canvas.
Staple the rest of the side.
Now fold and staple the foldson top and bottom edges.
Use a few more staples here.
Go ahead with the rest of the sides
A clean corner!
All sides stapled now.
If necessary trim excess canvas carefully. Thisis optional and usually not necessary unless
the canvas gets in the way of hanging. Usually
its better to have more canvas in case you
ever need to re-stretch it.
Use scissors for loose threads.
All done, like a pro!
Now you can attach the hanginghardware. Its best to place it about 3/4
of the way up the picture so that it
hangs evenly against the wall. If you
want to hang your art very high, you may
want to angle it downwards, this may be
achieved by placing the hanging
hardware lower on the picture, about
half way down.
Now use a nail to make a pilot hole for thescrew eyes.
Tap the nail in 1/8 of an inch and remove.
Do the other side.
Screw in the Screw Eyes.
Use the nail to tighten them.
Now loop the wire in. Cut enough wire to span the
length of the picture plus an
extra 4 inches on either side
in case you need to adjust
the length later.
Secure the wire.
A loop and a knot should do it.
Wrap the excess around the wireyou may need some slack for later.
Then do the same on the opposite
side.
Now your art is ready to hangon your walls. Note that if
you frame your art its best to
attach the hardware to your
frame as they tend to be
heavier than the canvas.
