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80" x 80" Acrylic Mural

Kim Witthuhn

Participant
Messages
11
Location
Kimberly, WI
Company
Jack Richeson & Company
Thought I'd share photos of community murals that I stretched last week. They were painted at Art in the Park, Appleton, WI raising funds for our local art museum. They are 80" x 80" stretched on a 1.5" heavy duty stretcher bar with horizontal and vertical cross braces. It took about an hour for each painting. Acrylic Paint.
80 x 80 HD FRAME 1.JPG80 X 80 HD FRAME 2.JPG80 X 80 HD FRAME 3.jpg80 X 80 HD FRAME 4.JPG
 
...and metal corner braces. Kim, I guess that is a very good way to hold the stretcher-frame square during the process of stretching, is it not? Once the stretching is done, it seems that those braces would be unnecessary. Wouldn't they have to be loosened or removed before keying-out the frame to re-tension the canvas at some future time?
 
Jim, The metal attachments in the corners are what J Richeson Co. calls their "best keys". That is how you apply tension to the canvas after stretching. They are threaded and have two nuts to tighten which spreads the miter of the stretcher strip. I only use J Richeson stretchers because of the quality of the wood, the best keys, the price, and of course getting to talk to Kim is a bonus. Mike
 
That's right, Mike. The explanation is right on. One canvas in particular was giving me problems in the center because of the size. I BEST "keyed" the corners by turning the nuts and then used the cross brace brackets on the ends of the cross braces to adjust the tension in the center. Voila...I was done!
 
Jim- you really need to get out of the classroom and take some classes :)

We show and discuss all the Richeson stretching products in the Striplining and Stretching class. The Best Keys can also be used on a v-nailed stretcher. Though not my first choice for an adjustable bar, if v-nails are not stacked on a 1-1/2" tall bar (like for a gallery wrap) the best key is strong enough to open the mitre at the top of the bar to "key out" the painting. All it takes is a slight adjustment for most paintings.

The heavy duty bars use metal inserts to hold the miters together. That means if you have the capabilities of mitering metal moulding in your shop, you can make fractional inch (custom) stretchers. All you need is the length stretcher bar stock and the hardware. The cross brace hardware and stock is also available from Richeson. They also make "temporary" hardboard supports that screw onto stretchers to keep them square (reusable).
 
Even if the mitre is glued, the Best Keys will most likely break the joint - but it would be easier if the corner wasn't glued.
 
127X41.25.jpg
When I stretched the mural, I used a heavy duty stretcher bar that has tongue and groove ends. No v-nails or glue needed. You want to be able to key the corners to adjust the tension of the canvas. Because of the size, the BEST keys allowed for easy adjustment. They work well on any size.

Our Aluminum Pro bar has wood and aluminum, shown above. The inside channel tracks houses the steel corners that act like a tongue and groove corners. The tension of stretching the canvas over the bars holds the frame together. When you are finished, the BEST keys acts as a wood key allowing for adjustment of the canvas. As Rob mentioned, you can use the hardboard corners to ensure the corners remain square.

When you run into a problem where the canvas sags having used strainer bars that were v-nailed/glued, BEST keys can break the joints, 1/8th max, and get the canvas taught again. It is a gradual process as you want to keep the frame square. Just the turn of a nut. It's less costly than restretching and possibly damaging the canvas.
 
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