Why you ask do I need to stretch my watercolor paper. Then you can staple or glue the paper to a board.

How To Stretch Watercolour Paper The Easy Way Watercolor Lessons Watercolor Paper Art Tutorials Watercolor

The weight of 140 Lb works perfect.

How to stretch watercolor paper. There are two ways to stretch watercolour paper. Stretching you watercolour paper means that it will remain flat for the time that you are painting on it. The dampened paper is laid on the glued frame and pressed into the glue.

To resolve this issue watercolor paper can be soaked and stretched so it remains completely flat when the artist begins painting. Soak your paper in cool water for 5-10 minutes. Once the paper is dry it will be stretched tight on the board and will not warp when watercolor is added.

Alternatively you can use a canvas stretcher to stretch out the paper. For a little background my very first watercolor class was at a craft store. Roll out two layers of your paper towels over the sheet.

The first step in paper stretching is soaking the paper. You want to remove the paper when its soft but not floppy. Let the paper dry overnight.

Stretching on a flat board. It totally depends on what weight paper you use and whether the paper buckling while you paint bothers you. Create your painting while the sheet is still taped to the board.

Below is a watercolor painting of one of my Rose Paintings displayed to show how these watercolor canvas look like. This is my favorite way to stretch paper and I use it 80 of the time. Tray should have one dimension slightly longer than the smallest dimension of your sheet.

Check the Soak Level. Place along all four outer edges of the paper covering just about ¼ of the paper. Using gum tape to stretch watercolor paper The most common certainly in the past was to thoroughly wet your paper for about 15 minutes.

To stretch your board this way simple placing your watercolor paper flat against a wooden board and taping all the edges down with masking tape. However they are not easy to find. The answer is you dont.

Then wet your paper with a large 2in soft brush and allow it to dry before painting directly onto the board. This is the most common way of stretching paper and spruce drawing boards draughtsmens boards are the best because they are hard wearing and durable. When you soak the paper it expands.

This allows the paper to expand fully. There may be ripples or raised places in parts of the paper but dont sweat them as they will smooth out as the paper dries. If your style of painting uses very little water you will have less cockling and might get away without stretching your paper.

You then pick it up and allow most of the surface water to drip down off the paper. Press it firmly across the paper to soak up any excess water. Stretching your watercolor paper is an important step because it keeps the paper from wrinkling when you paint.

If you do not want to stretch your paper you may wish to consider using a Watercolour Paper Block which comes with the sheets gummed on all four edges to keep the paper in place. One of the hardest concepts to grasp as a beginner was WHY I would want to stretch watercolor paper. Items required for stretching paper.

Whichever method you choose to stretch your paper the basic approach is the same. Large clean tray for water. The process involves soaking the paper to expand the fibres attaching it to a rigid board and allowing it to dry and shrink to become taut.

If you wish to avoid stretching watercolour paper but you wish your surface to remain flat you can use heavyweight paper over 200lb or watercolour board watercolour paper laminated to board similar to mountboard. For larger sheets increase the thickness of the board to. In the video below about how to stretch watercolor paper I use 140 Lb cold pressed watercolor paper but you can also use hot pressed paper.

Method 1 Stretching paper to use later. What stretching your paper means as most of you may know is to wet it and attach it to a surface to keep it from buckling when you paint on it. MDF board can also be used but it should be sealed beforehand so that water doesnt penetrate.

For paper under 24 square a 12mm board thickness is suitable. You then fix the edges of the paper so that when it dries and contracts the surface is pulled tight like a drum. Just like the last method use force but dont soak up all the water.

When dry the stretched paper should not cockle when water is applied. Use the top sheet still attached to the Block and remove once the painting is complete to reveal the next sheet. To check if its ready to be removed try gently bending a corner.

That instructor didnt bother to stretch paper and most of us were using watercolor pads. By Barbara Tibbets in Art Tutorials Painting Tutorials Im a watercolorist and have been painting since the mid 80s. How to stretch watercolor paper.

Then try to stretch the paper into place using your fingers on the paper. First you soak the paper then you stretch it.