A dent in a stretched canvas is something that happens to most painters at one time or another; a finished painting or an unpainted canvas can be dented in storage or shipping. These dents look alarming but can be easily removed and the canvas will be completely back to normal.
Wet the back of the dent
Removing a canvas dent is a quick and simple process of wetting the back of the canvas just where the dent is. If the canvas is dented from the front to the back or the back to the front, the process is the same, you wet the canvas on the back. It works for unprimed, primed and painted canvas.
You can use tap water in a spray bottle or hot water from the tap. I have heard of people using steam from an iron or a kettle. They all work instantly to reshape the spot. My usual method is hot water from the tap, dribbled on the spot. I have never had a negative side effect from water, room temperature or hot. (See below for cautions if you have sized your canvas yourself with rabbit skin glue.)
The water will probably bead up a bit so you will need to give it a quick rub with your fingers to encourage it to soak into the weave. The dent should pop back right away. If you get too much water on the back it can run into the stretcher bars and wet stretcher bars can warp as they dry, so have a towel on hand to mop up any excess. You just need the water right on the back of the dent, not all over the canvas.
Spray or dribble water just on the back of the dented area. Rub with your finger if needed. This dent dissappeared the instant the water touched it.
After the excess water was wiped away you can’t tell there was ever a dent.
Beware of using water on rabbit skin glue sized canvas dents
If you have sized your canvas with rabbit skin glue then water on the back might soften the glue, as it will absorb the water. So don’t use hot water and use as little water as you can, being quite careful. But acrylic sized or primed canvases should all be fine and bounce back nicely.
A dent is not the same as a sagging corner
The dents I am referring to are pushed up dimples in the flat surface of a well-stretched canvas, not a loose area of the canvas. In addition to dents in canvas, many artists also use hot water to tighten up a sagging primed or painted canvas. But I have not found this to work as well. It appears to work for a few minutes and then the sag reappears by the next day. Sometimes it has shrunk a small amount, though usually not enough. If a canvas has not been stretched evenly or tightly enough, or has become loose over time, the best solution is to insert the wedges into the stretcher bars and push the bars apart slightly. If that isn’t enough, you will need to restretch your canvas. Do not judge if an unprimed canvas is too loose until after it has been primed as a primer can shrink the canvas by up to 10cm, and so any looseness may be solved. But if the canvas doesn’t have even tension, then it can tighten up everywhere but one or two corners and it may be that you will need to restretch it, maybe just removing staples from one corner and pulling it tighter there, but sometimes the whole canvas will need to be restretched.
This is a sagging corner, not a dent. It will be better repaired by inserting the wedges in the corners. You can try hot water on the back but it is unlikely to work completely.
Other articles about stretched canvas
- How to Stretch Canvas: a Visual Guide
- Choosing the Right Canvas for Your Painting
- Everything You Need to Know About Stretcher Bars
Stretched Canvas at Jackson’s
Postage on orders shipped standard to mainland UK addresses from jacksonsart.com is free for orders of £39.
Awesome article! This is what I was looking for, I still had a problem with my canvas, I did not know how to fix it and it only discouraged me from further work! Thank you so much for this advice!
Glad you found it helpful!
Ah I feel so much more relaxed : )
Thankyou, great info.
Glad it was reassuring Antonia.
Terrific fix! And so simple. Thank you.
It is very simple for being so reliable and useful! Glad you found it helpful Peter!
I was about to hang a stretched canvas,
framed and dropped it! Can’t believe it. The
frame is cracked and ruined, but worse the
painting now has a horrible line running
vertically up one side, where the bars on the
back has push through. I sorted out the bars
– but the line/crease remains. Any tips on
getting this out – the painting is oil and
Gamsol varnished. Many thanks
Hi Darren
Sounds frustrating!
If you mean the canvas has been stretched by being pushed outwards by the wooden bars, then the canvas fabric should relax with application of hot water on the back, just like a dent.
If you mean that you had to restretch it and the edge crease shows now, then you may need to restretch it again making sure the bars line up with the original edges.
thank you for the advice Julie. Sorry, I
only just realised you had replied. I will
try the hot water as you suggested, as
the line/dent is where the wooden bar
pushed on the canvas.
Thanks a lot. It worked miraculously!
Hi Mish, glad to help!
I put my new comic art Piece in the boot to
bring it home & it was in something pointed.
I am going to try your advice to get the
resulting lump out (just like your picture).
Thanks for the advice.
Hi Jeni
It must have been disappointing to find it had happened!
I hope it works for you.
Julie, I ran across this article while
trying to find a solution for the dents in
my painting canvas due to rough
storage. I used a steamer that I had and
it was a miracle! Completely back to
normal, like nothing even happened.
Thanks for the advice!
Hi Lizzy
Glad it helped!
When I first discovered it is seemed like a miracle and to this day every time I do it, it still seems a little miraculous.
Hey Julie!
Is this method safe for older paintings? Like
really old ones?
Hello!
When dealing with a really old painting I would recommend you talk to a painting conservator. There might be many things to take into consideration. This method is mean mostly for artists in the studio and their own paintings.
Hello,
Help!!!….I have a canvas that
I’m working on and it tilted over
on the corner of my table and
caused a small tear….do you have
any suggestions on fixing it?
Hi Jackie
I have repaired canvas with Golden Soft gel and a scrap of canvas before. I think of it as collage or mixed media, doing it this way. I glued it over the tear from the back and weighted it face down on cling film in case the gel squished out anywhere as it won’t stick to that and then let it dry for 2 days.
This is for a painting I am in the middle of painting and I can then paint the front again to cover the torn area.
If the painting is valuable you should probably ask a painting conservator because they do a different process using wax and resin and I have read people saying a glued patch is too stiff and doesn’t flex with the rest of the canvas so may later cause problems. But the beauty of the acrylic gel is that it remains flexible. If you use as little a piece of canvas as possible, line the threads up with the original and use only a small amount of gel that might help keep from creating a stiff patch that might show on the front eventually as a flat area.
As I mentioned – doing it yourself is not recommended if you wish to preserve the painting perfectly or if it is valuable.
I hope that helps.
Does this water bottle method work for
tightening a linen canvas? My linen
canvas for my acrylic painting is not
very taught
Hi Deborah,
It sounds like using wedges in the frame might solve a lack of tightness on your linen canvas – the information in this post may help – https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2018/09/12/how-to-use-canvas-wedges-that-come-with-a-canvas-or-stretcher-bars/
Best wishes
Lisa
I have a blank canvas fresh out of the
wrapper with a few glue spots and
scratches on it that I made when I glued
stuff to it. I will not be painting it so is
there any way to get them out?
Hi Vonda,
I need further information in order to advise you. Are the glue spots a stain on the canvas, as in, glue that has been absorbed into the fibres of the canvas, or are they raised from the canvas surface? And are the scratched into the primer on the canvas?
Many thanks
Lisa
Thank you so much!! You totally saved my life, or at saved me from having to tell my wife I put two dents in her brand new painting! Worked brilliantly.
I’m glad it worked well, Allan.
Thanks so much! I bought the last piece of
canvas from the store and it had a dented
area. I used hot water and it’s good as
new. Also found some of my paintings
dented after the move and the water
worked like a charm. Just want to say
thank you for posting this info.
The can still remember the first time I tried it many years ago, I thought it was magic!
I’m glad it worked for you Monica.
Thank you! You saved a painting that my
movers decided not to wrap correctly
while they over-wrapped things like
plastic poster frames. With bubble wrap,
and no bubble wrap on the actual
paintings.
Wow, that sounds frustrating! Also a bit depressing to think that they valued the frames more than the painting. Unless maybe they thought the frames were more fragile and the painting more robust. Either way, hope you got through it ok.
Glad the tip was useful!
I just purchased two old what they called
“Pulpit Paintings with fairly primitive
characters on a wooden frame. I wiped them
off with a damp cloth(mistake) and now they
have bubbles. Cannot get to the backs they
are affixed to the board. Not sure if it’s
canvas or not. Help!!!!! Thank you,
Hi Susan
I’m not quite sure what you are describing but it sounds like you should be speaking to an art conservator. They’ll be able to tell you how to care for a specialist artwork.
Hello,
About RE-STRETCHING a primed and oil painted canvas that was removed from the original stretcher frame.
Is there in your files a step by step method to tightly re-stretch without causing wrinkles (ie, smooth suspension without sags, puckers or draws?
{some terms here used from this site: https://justpaint.org/a-remarkable-way-to-stretch-canvases-and-other-essentials-of-canvas-preparation/
Thank you
NR
San Diego CA
The re-stretching of a painted canvas that has been removed from the stretcher bars is very similar to stretching unpainted canvas. But you must be more gentle, because sudden tension can cause cracking in completely dry oil paintings. If possible, restretch an oil painting when it is dry but not dry for years, as it will be a bit less brittle.
The only real challenge is getting the edges lined up. I’ve asked painters who do this regularly and they said you just need to line it up the best you can and put in some temporary staples and flip it over and check and adjust.
It is easier to re-stretch exactly along the painting edge if you use the original bars the painting was painted on.
It is also easier to re-stretch if the canvas was either pre-primed/primed flat or only primed up the the edge and not over the side, because if it is primed and/or painted over the sides it will leave moulded/shaped corners and edges that are hard to flatten for rolling the canvas up and hard to exactly line up when you are re-stretching.
I read your advice and decided to try my
clothes steamer to remove a long dent in
an acrylic painting. It worked great!
Thank you – I was worried my painting
was ruined.
Hi Marc
That sounds like a good solution!
Thanks for reading.
Could not believe the water trick would
work but figured i had nothing to lose!
Wow! Miracle cure!! Thanks!!
It is amazing, isn’t it!
Thanks for reading the blog!
Genius, fixed immediately, thanks so much.
Glad to help!
Hi Julie, your blog posts are really helpful,
thank you so much. I was wondering what
your thoughts are on painting on
unstretched canvas with acrylic. I have
noticed a few artists selling work ‘rolled’ to
make it easy to transport. Just wondering if
you have any tips on how to approach this in
the most successful way? All best wishes,
Lucy
Hi Lucy
Thank you, I’m glad you find them useful.
Oil is more of a problem with rolling, acrylic is usually flexible enough.
There are a couple of things to consider.
— Everything sticks to unvarnished acrylic. Things from the back of the canvas as it’s rolled and anything else it touches. I recommend varnishing acrylic to give it a hard, non-sticky surface, but especially if you are rolling the canvas.
— You can’t fold the painting and some couriers have a limit on length, so a roll plus packaging that is over 1 metre might still be a problem for shipping.
— Your customer at the other end will probably have trouble stretching the canvas onto bars to display it or frame it. Unless they are a professional artist they will not have stretching pliers and a heavy staple gun. They won’t know how to get an even stretch. They won’t know where to buy bars or the ones to get. They will usually not even have realised that this is a thing to consider. They will often need a local art handler, which will cost them. Perhaps as much as the savings in shipping.
— Most canvas that is rolled for storage or shipping was painted on as stretched canvas and then removed from the stretcher bars.
Artists who remove a painting for storage and then later need to re-stretch it often find it hard to get the painting lined up on the stretcher bars and it will never fit back on quite the same as it was when it was painted.
— Some painters who paint on flat canvas are actually still painting on stretched canvas because they staple it tightly stretched to a board or the wall of their studio. They then later stretch them over bars for display or in the case of some high-profile artists like Frank Bowling and Rose Wylie, they glue it flat onto a larger blank canvas so the edges just go up to the edge and not over.
— It is best to roll as large as possible. So roll around the fattest tube possible within the shipping restrictions.
— You will need two cardboard tubes, one to roll around so the painting is not crushed or creased anywhere and a larger one that the painting will slide into to ship.
— There are two schools of thought for rolling direction – paint inwards or paint outwards. Most people say paint outwards as this means any cracks that are caused by the rolling are then pushed together and closed when the painting in flattened. Some experts say that you won’t get cracks if you roll with the paint facing inwards, but others argue that this creates a compression that is hard to undo and flatten. It might be best to roll outward for acrylic, since compression would be more likely than cracking.
— Layers of glassine paper overlapping and covering the whole surface are recommended before rolling it all up together. But I have found that any paper, including glassine, can stick badly to a painting and polythene plastic is a better lining material. Bubble wrap touching the painting surface will leave an imprint of dots.
I hope this is helpful!
THANK YOU! I have a huge painting that
always a pain to move and we put a dent
in it. I told my husband, “don’t worry I
can fix it!” without actually knowing if I
could. So thankful for your blog! Such a
simple thing and such a lifesaver!
Glad to be of help, Holly!