I stretched a fairly large canvas for the first time tonight. It's 22"x28".
My friend Jamie McMahan (absolutely fabulous portrait artist) shared a tip with me to get the stretchers square. He showed me you measure from corner to corner on one side, and then make it equal on the other side.
When I first put the stretchers together, I thought it looked square. After measuring both corners, I discovered I was a whole inch off! Measuring did the trick! After I put the canvas on, I put it in the frame and it fits perfectly!
I made the mistake of being too stingy with the canvas. In other words, I didn't cut enough to give myself room to really use the pliers on the canvas. As a result I stretched tight on the side that had enough room, and not tight enough on the sides without enough canvas so it was lumpy. So here's another trick. I just put some water on the back side of the canvas and being cotton - it shrunk and straightened out my canvas.
My corners are horrendous though! I will have to practice on them much more! Oh, and just one more tip - I use an electric stapler - so much easier on the hands!
