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Ever have a canvas picture where the canvas was warped because it was leaned up against something for a while and now it’s not any good unless it is restretched?
This big canvas print has been on top of our corner-round cupboard for almost four years while in storage and was pretty warped from other frames leaning up against it. I knew I could fix it by stretching the canvas, but I haven’t found the the staple gun or staples yet. So… I began thinking of what else I could do…
I love this print and I hoped to save it as I want to use it in our new kitchen dining area but it was really stretched out in a couple of spots… So since I haven’t located the pneumatic stapler yet, I thought about our iron…
Sounds crazy, right?
Seriously though if something is stretched out in a pair of pants or a shirt fabric an iron realigns the threads with heat and basically that’s what we do when we are ironing clothing so… Why not try it here?!
How to iron canvas flat again
1. I ironed directly on our kitchen island as it is granite and heat won’t hurt the stone. You may have to cover your flat surface
with a box opened-out to prep your floor or your ironing area. Only iron the canvas’ backside.
2. Spritz a little water over your warped canvas. I used a clean
kitchen dish rag and wet it and pressed that over my whole canvas.
3. Lay a tea towel over top and begin ironing with a fairly warm iron. I started on low and increased my iron to level 5, pretty hot actually.
4. Check underneath often to see if your canvas is “melting” and
watch the giclée print or paint on the other side to see if it is loosening. If anything bad is happening ~ like paint is coming off ~ stop and revert back to stretching your canvas.
Five minutes of ironing was all it took!
(Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this in any way and all work and ideas are my own. I am not a professional art repairer or restorer but I am so glad this worked!)
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| The finished piece back to normal and ready to hang! |
I know it seems crazy but it worked! Canvas is really a fabric so that’s what got me thinking of this crazy idea in the first place.
I am very happy with the results and I didn’t have to pull out all those staples and restretch the picture ~ saving time and my sanity.
😉
Thanks for sharing!
One last canvas trick: if your canvas has a rip in it, pull the pieces back together and add a piece of canvas sports tape to hold the tear together from the backside. My sister-in-law taught me this one as art repair places do this.
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Happy weekend to you,