As a reminder my colors are violet (A), black (B), terracotta (C) and copper metallic (D). The photo above shows my limited progress. When I started stitching last night, I realized just how warped and uneven the sides of the canvas were. There were several waves where the canvas arched up between the staples holding it to the stretcher bars.
The canvas is slightly distorted despite being on Evertites. (I loosened the Evertites before I put Stars away to reduce strain on the canvas, by the way.) I have never had a canvas do this before but have never worked on such a large piece over such a long period of time. Before I do any more stitching, I need to rip out what I've done above, deal with the wavy canvas, and reattach the canvas to my stretcher bars.
This calls for a tea kettle!
The first thing I did was fill my tea kettle half full of water and put it on the stove on high. Then I took the staples out and removed Stars from the stretcher bars. Then I made sure the dogs were secured in another room. You do not want any distractions while steaming wrinkles out of your canvas before putting back on stretcher bars. Steam can give you a bad burn!
By the time Stars was free of its Evertites, the kettle was beginning to boil and steam was coming from the spout. I held Stars above the steam pouring out of the canvas, moving the top edge back and forth in the steam, keeping my hands well away the steam. This took about 5-8 seconds with the canvas in motion so that the steam didn't hit any one spot too long and wasn't too near the threads already stitched. Then I put Stars down on the clean counter and turned the heat down under the kettle. After all, the canvas is now hot where the steam hit it and it needs to cool for 1-2 seconds before I handled it.
I gently pulled the canvas top until it was straight and attached it to the stretcher bars in the middle top with a staple. Then I carefully arranged the canvas (which the steam has made temporarily pliable) along the top and attached it in two more places closer to the corners. (Remember, with Evertites you DO NOT attach your canvas at the corners because the Evertites move apart at each corner. If you use regular stretcher bars, you would attach the top side at the middle and then close to each corner.) Then the kettle was turned up again until the steam flowed freely again.
I steamed the top again, turning the canvas over so the steam mostly hit the canvas, not the stretcher bars. Then the canvas was turned upright again and I carefully pulled and stretched the top again at a few more spots. Now it was time to attach the bottom. I repeated the above steps and got the top in position. Once I had the bottom reattached to the stretcher bars in a few spots, it was time to work on each side. Repeating all the above, the sides were reattached to the Evertites. Then I worked my way around the sides, alternating top and bottom, then side and side, adding more staples as I carefully steamed and then positioned the canvas so it was attached tightly (but not drum tight!) to the Evertites.
Occasionally I had to remove a staple and redo an area that wasn't as straight as I thought or which was moved out of position as I attached other areas. But that's ok. This is a slow, careful process. I didn't want to burn myself with the steam, or get the canvas too soft in the steam or get steam on my threads more than absolutely necessary.
In the end I spent about 45 minutes putting Stars back on my Evertites. The photo above has it straight and securely attached but not tightened on the Evertites. I will let the canvas sit all day, then see if I need to tighten the Evertites and will remove the first stitches in Gary Cooper and redo them. Stitching on a crooked canvas isn't a good idea.
If you attempt to do this blocking technique, be very careful. Steam and hot water are dangerous to pets, small children, and of course to stitchers everywhere!
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow
9 comments:
I have seen professional finishers just do this by holding a steam iron over the canvas - hold it above it without touching. It is a more evenly distributed steam, and less danger of burning yourself. It's also faster and easier.
I have to say, those pops of red really make your piece sing. The first few stars didn't really thrill me, but seeing it as a whole is amazing! I can't wait to see this one finished.
A steam iron would work put is slower in my experience. Of course I have a very old and slow to heat steam iron with only a small amount of steam that exits from the bottom. This all depends on what equipment you have but a professional steamer would do a better and safer job than my kettle does.
Nannette, the red you see is actually a reddish copper color. There are copper beads, metallics and of course my overdye in this color here and there all over this design. You have to really see it in person to see how the accent color D (copper metallic for me in two shades) adds to the piece.
I have a small hand-held steamer (also called a traveling steamer) that would seem to be be perfect for this. The steamer has a handle and you can aim the steam at very specific spots. For this use, I would probably stand it on a table so I would both hands free for the canvas. Thanks Jane ... this is a very helpful tutorial. RobinG in Indiana
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem I have encountered using Evertites: tightening them exacerbates problems canvas whose threads are not exactly parallel and weft and woof not exactly at right angles? This has happened to me on two stitch-painted designs on high-quality canvas (no name mentioned on purpose), not off-brand or cheap imitation.
SMJ, I've never heard of such a problem, but I'd steam my canvas to correct the problem before tightening my Evertites. Or use regular stretcher bars if you notice this. However, I would think a lot of NP canvas, regardless of the quality, might have this problem. Woven fiber is not like man-made fiber that can be made perfectly straight. Woven fibers are also subject to humidity and other environmental factors that don't effect synthetics.
Robin's travel steamer seems to be the perfect gadget for these sorts of problems. It probably doesn't get as hot as tea kettle steam (although I'd still be careful) and may be able to point the steam as well as a kettle's spout.
Jane,
I use Evertites all the time, and even with working on most things start to finish, I am only handling the frame once a week. I take my pieces off and reattach them also, but, it mostly depends on the size of the canvas...happens more with the large pieces, and also how much solid stitching there is.
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