Repair Canvas
If you own a piece of damaged canvas, whether it's a canvas painting or a boat canvas, you can learn how to repair canvas yourself. Damaged canvas can be a tricky material to work with, but it can be fixed. Read on to learn how to repair both types of commonly encountered canvases.
Contents
Steps
Repairing Boat Canvas
- Examine the condition of the canvas, and figure out the reason it got damaged. Some examples of damage include stitching deterioration from exposure to sunlight, tears or rips from sharp objects, or tears and damage from rubbing against the boat's frame or fittings.
- Repair the canvas yourself.
- Purchase a canvas-repair kit. Kits usually include cloth swatches, thread, and needles. Sew the cloth swatches onto the weakened area. The damage may repeat itself in the future, so reinforcing the worn out area with leather or isinglass is recommended.
- Stitch it back together with a thread and needle if it is a tear, cut, or deterioration of the stitching. Patch the area by sewing on another piece of canvas to reinforce it and prevent further damage.
- Hire a professional to repair the canvas.
- A local marine canvas shop can provide a more professional-looking result. The shop can ensure that your canvas has clean seams and a waterproof finish.
Repairing a Painting Canvas
- Gather or purchase items needed for the repair. This includes a clothing iron, metal spatula, scissors, iron, putty knife, palette knife, 2 pieces of linen (1 is for heat transfer and 1 is for the patch), thermoplastic film, archival paste, acrylic gesso, oil paint to match that in the damaged area, and a small paintbrush.
- Lay the painting face-down on a smooth, clean surface.
- Place the linen patch over the backside of the rip or tear, and place the thermoplastic-adhesive strip on top of the linen patch.
- Cut down the linen strip to the size of the thermoplastic adhesive strip. Make sure the linen and adhesive strip are placed properly over the tear or rip. Remove the linen strip. Remove the paper backing on the adhesive, and place it back over the tear or rip without the linen under it.
- Place a piece of linen over the polyester-film side of the adhesive to prevent the canvas from scorching.
- Use an iron to heat up the adhesive so that it properly sticks to the torn canvas.
- If you need to heat up a hard-to-reach part of the adhesive, heat up a metal spatula against the surface of the iron.
- Remove the polyester-film backing on the adhesive, and place the fitted linen patch over the adhesive. Place the other linen patch over the fitted linen patch to prevent scorching during the heat transfer process. Use the iron on top of both pieces of linen and apply heat.
- Flip over the painting to repair the front side.
- Use a small paintbrush, and apply the archival paste to the underside of the torn area. After the area is dry, use a putty knife to scoop out acrylic gesso and fill in the indentations so that the repaired area is even with the surface of the canvas. Allow the acrylic gesso to dry.
- Mix oil colors to match the color of the damaged area. Apply the paint, and allow to dry.
Tips
- For painting-canvas repair, if the thermoplastic adhesive needs to be partially placed under the stretcher bars to cover the torn area, push the adhesive under with a palette knife.
- Sometimes it may be easier to simply replace damaged canvas, especially when it comes to boat-canvas repair.
- You can prevent boat canvas damage by using a canvas fabric and seam sealer. This makes the canvas surface waterproof and stronger.
Things You'll Need
- Iron
- Metal spatula
- Scissors
- Putty knife
- 2 linen patches
- Thermoplastic film
- Archival paste
- Acrylic gesso
- Oil paint
- Small paintbrush
- Palette knife (if needed)
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