No, you don't have put a canvas painting in a frame, you have other choices. The first choice, and most popular one is to stret
ch-frame it over a strainer frame. That means making a strainer frame and stretching your canvas over it tightly. That way you won't even see the frame as it'll be hidden inside the stretched canvas. The second choice is to mount or glue down your canvas art (only if it's an inexpensive or of no real value item) onto a board, just as you would a print or poster, and then put a picture frame around it. With this choice, most customers choose not to have glass fitted to picture frames this tends to take away the feel and texture of oil paintings on canvas.
The third choice is to combine the first and second choices together so as to have the canvas strainer-framed and picture framed though this is still means to put a canvas painting in a frame. This last option isn't as popular because it's normally twice the price and it's usually reserved for the finer canvases or for artwork of value to For those customers who don't want to pay a picture framer to make a stretcher framer and stretch a canvas over it, they can try to do it themselves.
As a first step, instead of making your own stretcher frame, you can buy one which is already made up or a pre-made stretcher frame. eBay and other online sellers sell these frames cheaply enough. Most of these stretcher frames are fully imported and perhaps a quarter to half the price of what a local picture framer would charge. Most are also of standard sizes. Chances are that you'll be able a pre-made stretcher frame for your 16"x20" or 20"x30" canvas easily and cheaply enough from and online supplier.
So once you have a suitable stretcher framer for your canvas, all you have to do is stretch it. While this isn't very easy to do it isn't very hard to do either. Stretching a 20x30" canvas yourself can save you anything from $80 to $ 150, depending on where you go. You can start by rolling out your canvas flat on your clean work table and putting your pre-made stretcher frame on top of it. Ascertain that the four edges of the canvas are wide enough to be wrapped around and over the thickness of the stretcher frame.
If the width is excessive, trim the edges, but be careful, once you've cut the canvas you can't put it back. You're now ready to start stapling the canvas to the stretcher frame. Begin to do so with by stapling one staple at the centre of any one side. Repeat the operation with the other 3 sides, this time pulling the canvas tight across the stretcher frame, thus tightening it, bit by bit. You should now have one staple at the centre of each section.
The canvas will look all puckered an funny now, but don't worry, you'll gradually be stretching it tighter and flatter. Now continue stapling a few staples at the time, not more than 2 or 3, each about 25mm apart from the other, from the centre outwards, consecutively on each of the four sides. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to staple any one side all the way! Remember that most important technique when stretching your canvas to the stretcher is to work from the middle, to outwards.
If you attach more staples than what it's really needed, don't worry, they won't harm your canvas. Of course, as you proceed to staple all four sides, make sure that you pull the canvas' edges tightly, as much you can, with your free hand. Without this continuous pulling, the canvas won't have the proper tension and it won't look flat when you turn it over. When you've stapled the four sides all the way, fold the fabric at the four corners of the canvas neatly and staple each corner to keep the corner tucked in.
If your now stretched canvas isn't quite flat and the pre-made canvas had frame keys, tap these in, these should pull the stretcher frame out more, thereby increasing tension and making the canvas surface flatter still. Just don't tap too hard or too much, you might split the canvas fabric. If after all this the tension still isn't sufficient, the canvas surface still puckers or isn't flat, take off all the staples and start all over again. Thank you for reading this post "Do I have to put my canvas photo or painting in a frame and what choices do I have?".
Here’s what happened to my oil paintings. The first time I brought some back from Thailand I left stored inside the tube for more than 4 years cause I left them at my mum’s place. When I took them to a picture framer to get them framed, on unrolling the paintings on the counters, both painting started to crack. The framer said that I’d left them in the tube too long, that they’d dried hard rolled up inside the tube and that he couldn’t stretch them. He said next time I brought some back, I should get them framed ASAP. Anyway last year I went to Bali and brought 4 back ( mum wanted some, they were so cheap!) . I took them right away to the framer as soon as I got back. They didn’t crack and got them stretched fine. So here’s the lesson- don’t leave you oil painting too long inside a tube, get them in a picture frame as soon as you can.
Just an FYI if you haven’t read the whole wall of text in this article. All good art shops sell pre made stretcher frames so that you can do it yourself. They also sell the staple guns, staples, stretcher pliers and anything else you made need. With a little bit of research from this great website and others i was able to stretch my canvas by myself and if i can do it anyone can! Make sure to get yourself a braced stretcher frame for anything over a meter. The frame can buckle during stretching or afterwards during handling so braces are important. My local art store was actually able to put a brace on mine for a cheap fee. The article does a great job at explaining what to do next but some extra tips are as follows… Make sure to hide the staples with some tape when you are done stretching, it will make the canvas look so much neater at the back and remember to burnish hard and apply heat with your fingers so the tape so it doesn’t peel off in 6 months or in summer. Also remember to hang it well. I only stapled some shoelaces to the back of mine and it fell off the wall months later! luckily it was quite sturdy and the canvas was quite thick so nothing really happened. Use screws and specialty framing hangers!