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October 22, 2019 at 4:00 am #479411
Hi,
I have a number of oil paintings/sketches I had done on loose canvas sheets. They vary from 6″x6″ to 12″X12″ and do not have sufficient extra canvas left for it to be stretched on to stretcher bars.
Wetcanvas and Google searches told me I should be using MDF or Gatorboard to mount them. I don’t have the tools or the space to cut MDF and hence would rather not use it. I live in the UK, and the closest I have seen to Gatorboard is the Gator foam board that Jacksons sells. Then there is the Artcare Archival Foam Board which says it is The true archival foam board.
I am looking for something that is archival, can be cut to size relatively easily with a utility knife and something that I can glue the painting on to using an acrylic gel medium.
Does anyone have experience using the Artcare Archival foam board for this purpose and if yes, would you recommend it?
Are there any other products on the market (UK) that I should be looking into for this purpose? Is 4 ply museum board an option? If yes, is it easy to cut?
I find painting on loose canvas freeing, cost effective and less wasteful. So if I can find a suitable solution for my problem, I would be a very happy aspiring artist!
October 22, 2019 at 10:43 am #897631Personally I would avoid foam core. The surface might be archival but the foam center most likely is not and can degrade over time. Foam core materials in my view are for temporary stuff like posters and advertising display, or as a backing in a frame where the art is not attached to the foam core board. I have some 20 year old foam core board that is marked as
“archival” but that only applies to the paper surface. The foam has degraded over time and will continue to do so. I would not want my paintings attached to a surface that is going to break down over time.I would recommend looking at tempered hardboard rather than MDF, museum board or foam core boards. Tempered hardboard is inexpensive and is stronger than MDF which means you can use 1/8″ thick material for a lighter final piece. If sealed correctly it will last for centuries and won’t warp like museum board. Check with your local lumber / building supply or cabinet shop to see what they would charge you to provide the panel and cut it to size, or get a Rockwell Versacut or some similar tool to cut it yourself. Perhaps some WC members from the UK can chime in with suggestions on where to buy it. MDF is my bottom of the list choice for mounting canvas to or painting on. I never use it for anything art related.
If the cost isn’t a huge issue, the easiest material to cut at home would be ACM Panels – known under several brands such as Dibond. All you need is a straight edge, a table and a craft knife. You will end up with very precise cuts with zero waste. What that means is you can 4 12″ wide cuts out of a 4 foot panel which won’t happen if you are saw cutting MDF or Tempered Hardboard. Here is one source I found in the UK – https://signtradesupplies.co.uk/substrates/aluminium-composite-panel/aluminium-composite-sign-blanks.html – Again some WC members might have other sourcing suggestions. Be sure to save a few pieces of ACM panel to paint directly on after priming. You might end up liking that better than loose canvas! I sure do.
If you want to do it right, use a reversible adhesive such as Beva 371 so you can take your canvas off the support board if needed. If you don’t care about that, acrylic medium or PVA glue will do the job.
October 22, 2019 at 11:09 am #897626You asked a question that I was planning to ask myself. Has anyone ever considered thin acrylic or polycarbonate sheets for mounting paintings? I see that HomeDepot (a big box building supply store here in the US – there must be similar stores in the UK) has 8x10s for roughly $3.20 and polycarbonate 8x10s for about the same price. A quick look at Amazon (US) shows an 8″ X 12″ X .020 Polycarbonate Clear Plastic Sheet Lexan Pack of 10 for $14.60 (I’m sure there must be 8×10 offerings, as well as larger sheets). As I understand it, these would be considered archival quality, and polycarbonate especially is considered very strong. With my limited knowledge of the material, I would think it would work, especially if the piece was put in a frame.
CadmiumGreen, please get some other input before using this suggestion, as I am brainstorming here and haven’t tried it myself. If the idea flies, it looks like it would be cheaper than ACM panels and roughly equivalent to tempered hardboard, but you wouldn’t have to cut it.
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“Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us.” ― Sir Thomas Browne [/size][/font]http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/29-Jul-2007/85002-sig-thumbnail_composite_2.jpg]/img]
October 22, 2019 at 11:42 am #897628You asked a question that I was planning to ask myself. Has anyone ever considered thin acrylic or polycarbonate sheets for mounting paintings? I see that HomeDepot (a big box building supply store here in the US – there must be similar stores in the UK) has 8x10s for roughly $3.20 and polycarbonate 8x10s for about the same price. A quick look at Amazon (US) shows an 8″ X 12″ X .020 Polycarbonate Clear Plastic Sheet Lexan Pack of 10 for $14.60 (I’m sure there must be 8×10 offerings, as well as larger sheets). As I understand it, these would be considered archival quality, and polycarbonate especially is considered very strong. With my limited knowledge of the material, I would think it would work, especially if the piece was put in a frame.
CadmiumGreen, please get some other input before using this suggestion, as I am brainstorming here and haven’t tried it myself. If the idea flies, it looks like it would be cheaper than ACM panels and roughly equivalent to tempered hardboard, but you wouldn’t have to cut it.
:thumbsup:
October 22, 2019 at 11:56 am #897632.020 is mighty thin stuff – I can’t see that it would give you enough rigidity to keep the canvas flat in the frame or from distorting with humidity and temperature changes. 1/32″ = 0.031″
I find even 1/16″ (0.0625″ thick polycarbonate to be too floppy for me. When you go thicker, the cost goes up substantially. a 4×8 foot sheet of 1/8″ Lexan is almost $200. Also, most adhesives that are OK to use with canvas, are not going to stick very well to unsanded polycarbonate, which means you are going to spend quite a bit of time roughing up the surface.
Seriously, price-wise, nothing can beat tempered hardboard. You could pay for the saw in short order by cutting your own. An 8×10 sheet is only 14 cents plus some sealer.
October 22, 2019 at 1:38 pm #897629Thanks a lot Contumacious & AnnieA.
ACM panels look promising, I’m going to place an order now.
Since I have to do all the cutting and chopping up of the boards in my living room, the hardboard sounds like too much work even if it is cheaper.
October 22, 2019 at 2:40 pm #897634You can get corrugated plastic (like double layer corrugated cardboard) which is lightweight and might be rigid enough and cheap enough to work.. never tried it myself.
October 22, 2019 at 4:50 pm #897627.020 is mighty thin stuff – I can’t see that it would give you enough rigidity to keep the canvas flat in the frame or from distorting with humidity and temperature changes. 1/32″ = 0.031″
I find even 1/16″ (0.0625″ thick polycarbonate to be too floppy for me. When you go thicker, the cost goes up substantially. a 4×8 foot sheet of 1/8″ Lexan is almost $200. Also, most adhesives that are OK to use with canvas, are not going to stick very well to unsanded polycarbonate, which means you are going to spend quite a bit of time roughing up the surface.
Seriously, price-wise, nothing can beat tempered hardboard. You could pay for the saw in short order by cutting your own. An 8×10 sheet is only 14 cents plus some sealer.
Hey, contumacious, I just grabbed the first example I saw without searching much; another quick search seemed to show there were other 8×10 sheet options that were thicker and not significantly more expensive. Couldn’t the adhesive issue be solved by simply coating it with acrylic medium to affix the canvas rather than using an adhesive? Or would there be a problem even then? There was one Amazon option I noticed to purchase just one 8×10 piece and I may do that just to try it out.
All that said, for a charge, a lumber yard will sometimes be willing to do the cutting of masonite sheets that you’ve purchased from them. In my experience, they charge per cut, so it would add up quickly if small pieces were desired but might still work out for larger ones.
[FONT=Arial]C&C always welcome ©[/I] [/font]
[FONT=Palatino]
“Life is a pure flame and we live by an invisible sun within us.” ― Sir Thomas Browne [/size][/font]http://s3.amazonaws.com/wetcanvas-hdc/Community/images/29-Jul-2007/85002-sig-thumbnail_composite_2.jpg]/img]
October 23, 2019 at 5:50 am #897633Thanks a lot Contumacious & AnnieA.
ACM panels look promising, I’m going to place an order now.
Since I have to do all the cutting and chopping up of the boards in my living room, the hardboard sounds like too much work even if it is cheaper.
Definitely not a living room project with the Hardboard. The only mess from cutting the ACM panels would be aluminum filings if you smooth the cut edges with a file, but you can do that in the studio or outside. Burnishing the sharp edges with a round metal rod like a screwdriver shaft is mostly residue free and does the job about as well as filing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_sER9mifg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcjjoOXHISs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBs9BwdBNho&t=607s
October 25, 2019 at 3:28 am #897630Thank you contumacious.
I have found a supplier in the UK where I can get them cut to size.
https://www.cutplasticsheeting.co.uk/dibond-aluminium-composite-sheet/white-dibond-aluminium-composite-sheeting.html/?gid=8&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0brtBRDOARIsANMDykaUVn8N7HyU28bKkGBfYl-C0h2iK3ar6xWF0jQHqrMDTQhmR-LJ0MUaAvNOEALw_wcB#thickness:3.0+mm
I have placed an order using the exact measurements of my paintings. They have arrived yet.Great Art also have them in some standard sizes.
https://www.greatart.co.uk/dibond-aluminium-plates.html -
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