Ahhhh! Nothing worse than opening a fresh pack of pre-stretched canvases from the art supply store (mmm… new canvas smell) than seeing your new canvas is hanging loose on the wood frame! What you need is a quick way to tighten that stretched canvas!

In case you don’t know what I mean, I paint my custom pet portrait paintings on pre-stretched canvas. So instead of cutting cotton canvas and stretching it and stapling it onto a wood frame myself, I buy the canvases pre-stretched. I mean, who has the time to make their own canvases these days? (*Bonus: pre-stretched canvas also comes pre-primed and ready for paint!)

Perhaps you have purchased a painting from me and, over-time, the canvas appears to be not as taunt or you notice sagging. Or perhaps you are another artist disappointed with their saggy canvas purchase. Either way, be sure to try this little tip on how to tighten stretched canvas. It works for me every time and is super easy and quick!

Now sometimes store-bought canvases come with these little keys, either made of wood or plastic. If you have these, great. You can find numerous online instructions to follow for how to use these.

BUT, I’ve been finding that more often than not, canvases are not coming with these “keys” anymore. For THOSE instances, try this….

HOW TO TIGHTEN STRETCHED CANVAS

{The SHRINKING Way}

1. Turn your canvas over, raw back side facing up on a flat surface. It’s okay if the front side has already been painted (just make sure THAT side is dry!)

2. Lightly spray problem areas with water. No need to over-saturate the canvas… a little misting is enough. Feel free to spread around with your fingers if needed.

3. Use a hair dryer to dry the canvas where you just sprayed the water. Canvas is made from cotton which, as you probably know from many shrunken clothes in the dryer, shrinks easily.

4. Repeat steps as needed to reach desired tightness.