Warped Canvas

[Artyczar]

Speaking of warping, after I already finished a painting and hung it on the wall, I noticed the stretcher bars were all screwed up up/warped on the pre-stretched canvas I purchased. It doesn't sit flush on the wall. One corner pulls off from the wall almost a whole inch! I am pretty upset about this. I guess I have to have to stretch the painting on whole new stretcher bars? Unless there's some other way to fix this as it is? I highly doubt it.

First time this has happened.

 

[ZenDruid]

You might be able to flatten it by screwing a panel of plywood/masonite/mdf board to the back of the frame. Place the painting face down on a flat surface, lay the panel across the back, put weights on it and let it sit for a few days. Then screw it. If it doesn't work, you can always undo it.

 

[Marc]

Warps are a funny beast. I suppose it depends on how they got there. If it's due to the pre-stretched leaning in the store on only one corner for a period of time, perhaps it might be self-correcting? But if it's because of badly grained timber that's going to age in a curve anyway, you might be out of luck. Sometimes ZenDruid's solution works, sometimes you just end up with a heaver warped support. I know this from experience.

 

[Artyczar]

I may just re-stretch the painting on new stretcher bars if Zen's solution doesn't work.