Find out How to Repair a Damage Or Warp in an Original Painting You Purchased

If you bought a artwork on stretched canvas, here are a couple frequent occurrences that have quick and simple solutions:

Dent or Canvas Sag

Let's say you unintentionally pushed against the backside of the stretched canvas artwork which made a dent, or possibly the canvas has simply sagged after some time due to heat and humidity levels...

Solution:

Spray the backside of the canvas with warm (not hot) water and when the water disappears the canvas reduces back into shape. DO NOT over-saturate. It is advisable to repeat this method several times in intervals of one hour, instead of over saturate it the 1st time. This will work 99% of the time

Deformed Stretcher Bars

Let's assume if your artwork was traveling from it's original place to you and was exposed by the shipment carrier to extreme heat, cold, and/or humidity OR after some time in your own house, because of a change in climate and/or humidity levels, the wooden stretcher bars might have warped. Sometimes the warping can be significant, most of the time they are minor and undetectable.

Remedy for minor warps:

What you would need to have: Bowl, water, rag/towel, Kraft or Butcher paper, four books and four weight loads (either exercise weights or simply four large rocks)

-Choose a spot within your house that doesn't get a lot of traffic and will be out of your way for one day or 2. If possible the ground or a table.

-Create a clean dry surface in which you will later place your painting facedown. This is really important: Don't use a plastic bag because it can stick to a painting, Avoid using a newspaper because the print can easily pass on onto the painting. Use clean non-stick material just like butcher or Kraft paper.

-Fill up a container with luke-warm water. Flip the painting over, place it facedown on the area you have just made, and wet the wooden stretcher bars with a drenched rag/towel, making sure to keep wetting the bars until you see they're completely wet. Put 1 book on all the 4 edges of the canvas and after that place your weight on the top of the books. Wait 24 hours. For better measure, I recommend taking the books and rocks off after one day, rewetting the bars, and placing the books and rocks back for the next 1 day.

IF this does not work, regrettably it means the warp is a significant one and the painting must be brought to a local stretching and frame store to be re-stretched.
Find out more about painting restoration repair as well as painting restoration at our website.