Canvas Stretchers

How about a new way to make canvas stretchers?

For my lovely and talented niece, Sophia, only innovation and a custom made canvas is sufficient, and rightly so.

The most long-lived paintings are actually made on panels, but canvas or linen are the standards, and they are bouncy, so very nicely bouncy when you hit them with a loaded brush, or a clenched fist, whatever the situation demands.

The problem is that when the canvas stretches or sags the paint doesn’t, and that leads to cracking, so stretchers are made with “keys” and a loose joint. When the canvas does sag one taps in the keys and expands the joint to tighten things up. Woe to those who build picture frames that don’t offer a bit of space to let that happen.

Here is a solution that uses loose tenons, courtesy of my new Domino machine and some purpleheart scrap.