Canvas-making stream starts in about an hour, live from the cave my bedroom workspace lmao
Come watch me babble about bullshit for like an hour or so, and also make a thangka canvas in a more-or-less traditional fashion!
(rn it's just me and a handful of my friends, very much Fuck Around And Find Out because I'm still figuring out the streaming setup, it'll be fun 😂)
Discord link under the cut! There's a channel for discussing possible future subjects to stream about, and I'm considering just doing some Parallel Play type streams where we all just hang out and get some artin' done.
Check out the Thangka Style Painting community on Discord - hang out with 5 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.
Here's what you will need, I go into detail on each under the cut!
Wooden stretching frame
Wooden dowels
Cotton fabric
Bookbinding thread
Kitchen twine
Gesso
Upholstery Needles
Bulldog clips
3" Paintbrush
Sandpaper
Dust Mask
Mixing cup
Distilled water (optional)
(links are just examples, I'm not affiliated with any of them!)
The Frame
Traditionally, we use a simple frame with half-lap joints, held together by bolts or even just lashed together with twine. This allows it to be disassembled when not in use. However, you can absolutely salvage the inner stretching frame from an old canvas, or make a frame from inexpensive stretcher bars you can get at most hobby and art supply stores. These usually friction-fit together; you can also glue or staple them for more security.
You need to leave room on the inside of the frame for the stretching technique. If you want a specific final canvas size, add about 8 inches (20cm) to each dimension when buying stretcher bars. (For example, if you want a 12x14 final canvas size after trimming, you should get two 20-inch and two 22-inch stretcher bars.) It's better to err on the side of larger, as it will give you some extra area to test your paints on!
You will also need four 3/8 inch (9-10mm) thick hardwood dowels, cut to roughly 2 inches (~5cm) shorter than the inside dimensions of your frame. The inside dimensions of our example frame would be roughly 17x19, so you would cut two 15-inch dowels and two 17-inch dowels. (You can also make smaller canvases with the same frame, just by using shorter dowels!)
Fabric
You want a plain medium weight 100% cotton fabric with a nice even weave, like Kona or Pimatex. (Avoid muslin, it stretches far too much and may tear!) You can find Kona cotton in the quilting section of most fabric stores. I personally prefer Pimatex, and I buy it from Dharma Trading Company.
Threads
For lashing the fabric to the dowels, you will want linen bookbinding thread. Other threads will stretch, break and/or tear your fabric. Size 35/3 is good, 25/3 is better. You can get this at most art supply or craft stores (albeit rather overpriced) or at a specialty bookbinding supply shop online. One spool will last a very long time.
For the actual stretching, just get a ball of some good old-fashioned 100% cotton kitchen twine from the grocery store.
Gesso
Any decent quality acrylic artist's gesso will do. My teacher prefers Winsor & Newton; I often use Liquitex. For colored grounds, I like to use Matisse Background Colors. If you are planning to paint with transparent watercolor, you may want a specialty watercolor ground like these from Daniel Smith or Golden. You don't need a huge bottle; this process doesn't use as much gesso as traditional canvas.
Tools
Upholstery Repair Needle Kit: The big curved-tip needles will make this a lot easier. Find them at any fabric or crafts store, or Amazon.
Bulldog clips: Not strictly necessary, but they do make it easier to stitch the fabric to the dowels. Binder clips can also work. Get them at any office supply store or 'borrow' some from work
Paintbrush: A regular 3-inch synthetic flat paintbrush from the hardware store or Harbor Freight will do just fine.
Sandpaper: A hand-sized piece of 240-300 grit is plenty. I like to use drywall sanding mesh because it doesn't get blocked up by gesso dust so quickly.
Dust Mask: Please wear a dust mask when sanding your gesso! I prefer to do this outside, it's real messy.
Disposable Cup: For thinning your gesso. I just use an old yogurt container or such.
Distilled Water: For thinning your gesso. Not 100% required.
Two thangka frames - the one in front was made from cherry wood by my teacher's son, the bigger one in back was made by me from fir wood. I stretched and gessoed both canvases. The front frame has a small drawing of four-armed Chenrezig; the background one has the beginnings of a mountainous background and clouds.
I'm looking at doing the canvas-making stream on a Sunday in the near future, probably starting around 1pm or so EDT (GMT -4).
If this is something that interests you, PM me for a link to the dedicated Discord where I'll be streaming this! If there's interest, it will also be where I will do future streams of my own thangka work, and hold some drawing classes as well!
