*Each painting is hand painted on a full sheet of Original Artists quality 140 LB mould made, wood free, internally sized, acid free, Watercolour paper. All four edges have been left at full size untrimmed.
*Each painting is 22” x 30” inches Artist quality Bockingford watercolour paper.
*The Artists uses Genuine 24KT Gold and Genuine Silver Leaf, or Professional Metallic Acrylic U. V. Stable Paints.
*The Artwork is sent rolled and unframed-- this keeps the cost down and gives you the choice of framing you may wish to use to complement your deco.
*The Artist recommends a very thick and as wide a gold frame as you can afford.
*we can ship Max 4 per rolled paper.
How to stretch watercolour paper quickly and cheaply without tape
For over 20 years I use to stretch my watercolour paper with masking tape its not so much the expanse but the whole palaver of wetting the paper waiting and the cutting to length the paper for each side and then wetting and sticking down the paper and occasionally staple or pin the corners in the hope it stays flat overnight. Many a time I have come back to find it buckled, another day wasted re-stretching again.
Well one day I run out of masking tape and had to come up with a way to hold down the paper tightly-- I just didn't want to wait days for delivery and have to buy more art materials then needed just to get free delivery!
So i searched on-line and yes I did find people selling these boards-- some you hammer in plastic tubes into the side –very expensive and still too much work!!. I finally found one on e bay-- basically a ply board with strips of wood with sandpaper that grips the paper and then you clip all around. It does work , but I lost some clips and it came apart after two weeks of hard service!! it was expensive and still this clip business was a bit fiddly for my liking.
A few years before I had used ordinary slide binders, the ones uses to hold A4 papers together, to hold my watercolour paper when travelling abroad in my art box. It also stretched my paper completely flat overnight!! So why shouldn't it work on any size paper I thought?
So I cut some MDF i had laying in my shed 5mm to size 22” x 30” full imperial watercolour paper to size. I laid the paper on top and wet it on one side with an ordinary kitchen dishwasher sponge-- waited 5 Min until the shine had gone and the paper had expanded. Then slide on the binders, longest side first, and having cut them to size previously. When all sides were done I left it flat over night to dry –
But because I wet one side, it was bone dry within 5 to 6 hours, and it was stretched to perfection.
Not only did it stretch the paper, but in record time and using minimum wastage, leaving as much paper to paint on as possible.
Of cause the next day I went to D.I.Y. store and bought Exterior Grade plywood 9mm 8ft x 2ft and cut two boards slightly over by 2mm i.e. 22.2 x 30.2 to take into account the swelling of the paper when wet. And a box of white 10mm Or 12mm as long as its more than your board thickness it all works. You can cut whatever board size you want to fit your required paper size – great—that's quite a lot from a full 8ft x 6ft sheet!!!
Anyway it worked again and again. I was very happy with the results and I hope you will be too.
Recommended suppliers:- For Plywood try here, they dont deliver but this store does . You may want to try just one sheet and therefore I suggest you go but take a hand saw and tape measure and pencil so you can cut the board roughly to size to fit in car or on bus! The best place to buy your slide binders is this office supplier on-line or try e bay. The rest is common sence!
Good luck
Available as framed print, calendar, canvas print or postcard. Just click on image above
32” x 12”x 3 was £174 SALE £87
30” x 40” was £194 SALE £97
24” x 36” was £134 SALE £67
30” x 40” rolled was £97 SALE £58