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wrinkles in canvas screen  

post #1 of 6
7/31/01 at 9:28pm
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know how to get small ripples out of a stretched canvas screen? I constructed a very nice frame and carefully stretched canvas over the frame. It is a fairly large 16X9 (66" X 116") frame. The local artist supply store does not have frames that large nor will they construct one and stretch the canvas over it. This was a lot of work and the screen looks pretty good. It has not yet been primed with gesso. It does however have a few fine wrinkles or ripples along one edge. I'm not sure even if I did it over that I could keep the wrinkles out of the screen. Is there a way to lessen these by wetting the canvas or heating it with an iron or a hair dryer or using some other method?
Larry Raulston

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post #2 of 6
7/31/01 at 11:57pm
Larry, being an artist i have a huge roll of un-primed canvas and i was considering using that, but decided not to for a couple reasons
1) cost...artist materials are seriously overpriced to begin with. it would have simplified things much more if they had sold the frame sides in the size i wanted but i didn't even look
because
2) i figured it would have to much of a texture to use with a projector. if you gesso and sand and gesso and sand, you may get a smooth even surface, but you may just as well get hot spots.

for ease of set-up and cost i highly recommend going to home depot and getting 4 or 5 1x2x8's ($1.77 each) and going to a fabric store for some blackout material. haven't seen a projected image on it yet, but i'm very impressed w/ the surface (very, very smooth and bright white), it's stretchability (much easier to stretch than cotton duck canvas) and the cost (about $20).
if you don't have a power saw to cut some of the wood, they'll cut it for you at HD. fairly simple to put together.
if/when i upgrade to a real screen, i plan on gesso'ing this and working up a HUGE painting http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
post #3 of 6
8/1/01 at 12:02am
sorry, that didn't really answer your question, did it?
you may want to take it off and get it damp before you re-stretch it. that will loosen/expand the fibers. then put it out in the sun to dry. as it dries it should tighten.
assuming its unprimed.
i've stretched my share of canvas, and while un-primed stock is a little easier, i have a very hard time getting a drum-tight stretch like you get with manufactured stretch canvas.
good luck
post #4 of 6
8/1/01 at 4:25am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the reply. I didn't go with blackout material because I thought I couldn't get it wide enough since the screen is 66" tall. I've already got the canvas stretched tight as a drum. Since that was my first attempt at stretching canvas I think I could do a better job if I restretched it but I don't want to go through that if I could help it since my hands and fingers were sore by the time I finished. I think I can get a smooth enough surface to eliminate the hotspots. My ultimate plan is to aquire the Stewart Greyhawk ultimate 4-way screenwall. I hope this will work for a while. I'm hoping the image will be bright enough with the G-15 D-ILA. The projector should arrive today and I can find out. I needed a screen that large since my home theatre is 30' long and the seating is about 20'+ from the screen.
Larry
post #5 of 6
8/1/01 at 4:55am
are you planning on using mattes?
at that distance i would expect the fine wrinkles not to be a big deal. you may know they're there, but i doubt your guest will be distracted by them.
sounds like you'll have some set-up.
hope you'll post your impressions when you finally get a chance to tear yourself away http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
post #6 of 6
8/1/01 at 9:27pm
Thread Starter 
ckolchak, Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you meant by mattes. Do you mean a matte finish or are you referring to masking panels? Interestingly when I went back to look at the screen today all the wrinkles have disappeared. I guess the canvas tensioned up or something. It is as tight as a drum from top to bottom and side to side. I did some test painting earlier with white gesso mixed with a little bit of black gesso and thinned with acrylic medium. I couldn't get it to quite match the sample of Da-Lite HC that I have. I thought that the white gesso was pure white and didn't have any other color in it. I plan to do a lot of light finger sanding and many coats of thin gesso. If I still don't like the way it turns out I guess I can always cover it with Glidden Veil from Home Depot as described in earlier threads. My projector didn't arrive today. That was a bumer especially since I paid for it over 2 months ago.
Larry
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