A Guide To Stretching Watercolour Paper | Jackson's Art
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- čas přidán 3. 09. 2023
- Stretching watercolour paper onto a board prior to a watercolour painting session is a practice that helps to keep your paper flat once the painting is dry. Paper stretching is a process of intentionally saturating the paper with water so that it expands fully, and then taping it to a board so that as the water evaporates again, the sheet is held taut against the board. If you do not prepare your watercolour paper in this way, it can become wavy once it is fully dry, an effect usually called buckling or cockling. This is caused by an uneven wetting of the paper as watercolour paint is applied to it during the painting process. Where the paper is wet it will expand to soak the water up and then contract as it dries, but as this happens as differing rates across the paper the buckling effect occurs, causing this irregularity.
This film shows you how to stretch watercolour paper successfully, guaranteeing a flat watercolour painting that allows you an unhindered appreciation of the painting itself every time.
0:16 Introduction
0:17 Why You Should Stretch Your Watercolour Paper
1:02 What You Need To Stretch Watercolour Paper
2:28 Before You Stretch Your Paper
2:56 Soaking The Paper
3:50 Placing The Soaked Paper On The Board
4:30 How To Apply Gumstrip To The Edges Of Your Paper
7:33 Painting On Stretched Watercolour Paper
8:19 How To Remove Your Paper From The Board
9:22 Removing Used Gumstrip From The Board
10:00 Summary
10:37 Credits
Please note: If you are using a wood-based board to tape onto, it's best to seal it first; say with polyurethane varnish. This will stop the wet paper drawing lignin from the unsealed wood. Although unlikely, lignin can leave a visible stain on the paper and would in any case negate the use of acid-free paper, but this depends on how long you might leave the paper on the board, and how long it takes for all the moisture to evaporate.
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I've been stretching paper ever since my art classes at school and I'm a 63 year old professional watercolourist. This is all excellent advice. In fact, I just use the bath to soak my paper. Then I soak a sponge in that water and place it on the edge of the bath and run the tape over to top of the sponge with a flattened hand with light pressure. Speed is of the essence as you ideally don't want cockling at he edges of the paper. And definitely don't use a hairdryer. Leave it to dry naturally on a thick plywood board.
🙏😊 Thank you for the tutorial and tips! I rarely work on huge pieces of paper so if I'm not painting om a glue sealed watercolor block, I'll thoroughly wet a single sheet and sponge it flat onto my glass work surface. The glass and water creates a small suction and the paper lies flat onto it until it's completely dry.
If I do work on a huge sheet of paper, I like to soak it and then staple it tightly to a canvas stretcher bar frame. (Obviously do this only with very thick paper.) That way, with the back of the paper being accessible all the time, I can wet it from the back with a spray bottle and the paper stays wet for as long as I need it to without disturbing the paint layers that are applied on the front side. It keeps blooms at bay and you're able to take all the time you need to paint large areas.
If you are using a wood-based board to tape onto, it's best to seal it first; say with polyurethene varnish. This will stop the wet paper drawing lignin from the unsealed wood. Lignin can leave a visible stain on the paper and would in any case negate the use of acid-free paper.
I use AO size sheets of 90lb paper from a roll, soak the paper in a plastic trough still rolled but loosened to ensure contact with the water. I pull the paper out of the trough by the short edge and place it onto the board that’s on a nearly vertical slant so I can position the paper easily. The rest of the process is the same but the board I use on which to stretch such huge pieces of paper, was developed by two colleagues. The boards are extremely light and easy to move around. I can lift an AO stretched piece of paper and the board with one hand. I paint with the paper nearly vertical on my studio easel, and lay it flat to dry once I’ve finished the painting. The paper comes off the board completely flat so I can mount it or use it to fold into Artist’s books which is why thinner paper needs to be stretched so I can fold it to make the pages.
What kind of wood board do you use? Thin birch wood or what? 🙂
I'm from the Philippines, Now I'm Learning. 🙂🙂🙂
Well done!
Perfect, thank you, this is very helpful!
This was very helpful. I’ve been put off wanting to do this for a while because it looked too complicated. There’s lots of really practical tips in this video. Thank you!
thanks, the passion in teaching is amazing
Awesome! Thank youuu
cool stuff 📃
Thanks, this has helped me to find a much better way than the unmentionable things I was doing previously. Not doing exactly the same - my board is polycarbonate, but it's shown me where I was going wrong 👏
Thanks for this very useful for thinner sheets. Though I do find myself mostly opting for heavy paper to avoid all this faff… not cheap however 😮
Nice clear video but I do rewet the gum strip after stretching and find it can be removed with care.
staples to preserve the deckled edges? And then fill the staple holes with paper-pulp?
I used to put a large sheet of watercolor paper in a bath tub with water for 15 mins. All clean of course.
The board you are using looks like it’s an inch or so thick. Have you made plywood into some sort of box? If so could you demonstrate it and explain why in another video please?
If at all possible- could you do a tutorial on larger deckle-d paper please! 😶
Take care with the type of plyboard . Some will ooze out lignin that stains the back of the paper. I assume the stain will eventuallu seep through to the front :(
what kind of paper did u use in this demostration ? weights- 90lb., 140lb., and 300lb ?
She states in the video that it's 140lb
Hello! I tried this process for the first time. I left the paper to dry flat overnight. In the morning I found that some edges of the tape pulled away from the watercolor paper which then left a buckle in the paper. Since the paper is wet and the process is to apply wet tape, is this then over-watering the tape causing it to loose its stickiness? Do others have this issue and if so, how do I correct this? Should I dry off the paper edges before applying the wet tape? Thanks for any suggestions!
This is likely due to the paper being soaked for too long. To be honest, I never understand why the general recommendation is to soak watercolour paper for so long - this just causes over expansion, which then creates too much tension on the gummed tape as the paper contracts/dries and causes the tape to give way. I've been stretching 140lb watercolour paper for years and it never stays in the water for more than a minute - I then moisten the board, smooth the paper down on it and apply the gummed tape. In my experience, this has always worked flawlessly for me - just a suggestion!
I am totally new to stretching watercolor paper and this seems simpler than other videos I've seen. I know this is cheating, but do any companies sell "pre-stretched water color paper"? I only paint on 4x6 blocks or 5x7 blocks for this reason...thanks for letting me know. Marcy Thobaben
FYI. I’ve seen on several sites that the watercolor blocks regardless of brand do not stop the paper from buckling because the paper was not stretched before it was glued into the block. Have you had that experience happen to you?
Great video, but should be worth mentioning that this is ideal for any weight under 140lb.
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