Excellent work!
Now just trim away all excess fabric and cover any rips you made with the pliers or staples with some Elmer's glue. Also, hammer down any staples that may be loose or not inserted all the way.
After you've finished building the canvas, and don't feel it is tight enough - there are a few things you can do to remedy this:
- Swipe some gesso on the back of the canvas where is seems to be loose. I have seen some people gesso the entire back, but conservators have told me that doing so doesn't allow the canvas to breathe, and it contributes to accelerated canvas rot.
- My friend Henry suggests, "Pour some boiling water on the back and leave it on the floor to dry. This will cause the canvas to shrink and you will get a canvas tight as a drum head, giving you a very bouncy and responsive painting surface." This especially makes sense if you are using a quality cotton canvas sans synthetics.
