How do I keep canvas from curling?

Question

I want to cut into an already strechted canvas. What can I paint or spray on it to keep the canvas from curling once I have cut into it?

Answer 1

keep it away from being damp

Answer 2

I assume you are talking stress curls. And there is your answer. Relax your canvas and it should just have the cut.

You can 'fake' a cut by having a canvas behind the canvas you cut. This way the backing can keep the shape of the canvas in front and that should deduce the curling effect.

Getting both canvasses at the same tension is a problem and will take some effort and time. Even more difficult is when you want some room between the two and you do the backing canvas on the other side of your frame.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Well you can't, really. It's the nature of fabric to do that, and I can't think of one thing (other than encasing it in resin) that will make fabric go completely against its nature. It's only lying flat on your canvas because it's stretched, and is in tension. Cut holes in it, and you've lessened that tension.

You could possibly minimize it by one or all of the following:

1. Keep the cut/pierced areas very small, so that there's not a lot of edge that can turn up or down.

2. Reinforce around the areas from the back, with strips of canvas glued down.

3. Cut along the warp or woof of canvas, not on the diagonal (diagonal or "bias" cuts stretch more).

4. Approach this problem as a seamstress, not a painter. You'll lay your canvas face down and draw your shapes on the back. Let's assume for the sake of discussion that one shape is a rectangle. You'll make your cut with an Xzacto blade about 1/2" over more inside those lines, then make diagonal cuts into the corners, turn over along your marked lines, and press with an iron. Glue the edges down.

But the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to prepare yourself a non-fabric surface to paint on, that won't curl or sag when you cut into it. Masonite or gatorboard or something.