Where to get a canvas stretched?

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

I have an old large painting that has been taken off it's stretchers and rolled up.  I'd like to get it put back on stretchers (is this what they are called? you know, the wooden bits that make a canvas into a painting) but not framed.  I have NO IDEA where to get something like this done.  Help?

N.B. I checked the art tags already.

Comments

Canvas

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Try Stanhope Framers on Bow Street in Union Sq. 617-666-2000. They do wonderful work.

Re: Canvas

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

Oh excellent. I'd love to keep it local and independent. Thanks for the tip!

[mderidder.livejournal.com]

Don't go to Corners. They stretched a canvas for me and it was uneven. When I pointed out the stretch marks they just said that's what happens when you restretch a canvas.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Is it a valued/valuable painting? That would be a factor in deciding since a place like Stanhope or A Street framers are going to be good but quite pricey and Corners is going to be cheap(er) and iffy.

You might also give the Framers Workshop in Brookline a call. They are pretty good and pretty cheap.

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

It is a painting done by my dad who is now departed. I'm prepared to pay to have it done properly. Thanks for the considered reply.

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

I worked at a Corners and can tell you it is a crap shoot. It solely depends on the quality/experience of the individual doing it and I would say they are usually just hourly people that they train. I think most people with decent experience who care about good framing are not going to work there.

[ron_newman]

I added the business services tag because it has a couple of old entries about framing.

[flourcity.livejournal.com]

Also try the framing section inside the art supply store in central square... Artist & Craftsman Supply (not Pearl Art). they sell the stretcher strips too. it's hardly rocket science to stretch a canvas, (strips and a staple gun & extra bracing if it's really really big), so it might be cheaper here than at a traditional framing store.
the ONLY hard part about re-stretching a canvas is that matching the edges up to the new perfectly squared frame can be difficult. the canvas is initially stretched very tight over the stretcher strips before it is gessoed and painted, and it can get pulled and warped over time... resulting in a "not square" painting afterwards. so sometimes you DO have to make "editing decisions" (which edges will run over the strip edges) in order to get it to "look" square.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Stanhope does a fantastic job. They're not cheap, but you can rely on them to take good care of anything irreplaceable.