Questions about Stretching Paper ?

I learned a wetting trick while taking framig classes. put the sponge in a little tray/plate with a little bit of water in the tray. then place 1 tip of the tape on the sponge, press with your thumb, and then pull the whole piece of tape in between your thumb and the sponge who keeps rewetting itself just the rught ammount by sucking the water underneath. never used too much water after that

It won't be a video, it will be a master-post, but maybe I'll put a video together one day if I find the time :) I do tend to be stupidly thorough with stuff, so a video might a bit long, haha. And yeah, people call using masking tape "stretching" but it isn't really proper stretching, technically speaking! Feel free to input any of your own advice if you learnt anything you think might be less known or interesting! :)

no questions, since I already know how to do it! But I"m happy you're doing the video because so many people don't know about it, and it took me a while to discover the technique because everyone was just taping with masking tape and the paper was still warping (which is normal, I learnt after ^^)

Will be covering that for sure, thanks Christina!

Hi Leigh! Not stupid at all, it's quite a niche tape. Gummed tape is what is usually used for stretching, as it has glue that activates with water, like a stamp :)

The usual tape for stretching is gummed tape :) I'll go into it in more depth in the post for sure!

I'll definitely cover that! Thanks Sofie!

You answered my question on a youtube video already but maybe some others have the same question: how do you remove the tape after you stretched the paper without damaging the paper? (Yeah I know now its not possible and if you want to have a white border arround your piece you have to tape the border with other tape after your stretched paper has dried)

Christina Wenzel

I might seem stupid but how does the tape stick to the paper if it is wet?

Oh gosh! Really? I had no clue. That was probably good to know then - haha. In addition to that, then I would like to know how you remove the tape/the painting from the tape once you have completed your artwork ♥

Sofie

Thanks lovely, I'll make sure to include those questions! As a quick answer to the gummed tape question though, you can't remove the tape (or with great difficulty) from the paper once applied, so really not recommended as masking tape.

This sounds so good! I was wondering how long it takes to dry after you have stretched the paper? Another thing I have also been wondering is if the tape, you use for stretching, also works as masking tape? If so, do you have a certain technique to get the tape straight?

Sofie