How to Stretch Watercolor Paper (cheap & easy method!) Video Lecture -

hi there Lindsay you're the frugal
crafter today I'm going to show you how
to stretch your watercolor paper and you
may say well why do I want to do that
Lindsay that sounds like work well
here's the deal
painting on a stretched piece of
watercolor paper is wonderful listen to
this can you hear that this paper is
tight as a drum super flat and on a hard
board panel it's going to be a joy to
paint on because it's not going to
buckle at all the other really great
benefit of this is that you can use less
expensive paper and get you know better
results so this is some Fabriano studio
paper it's 25% cotton it's a great
student grade paper it's a great you
know practice paper the only thing is
it's 90 pounds so if I just paint on
this if I was to let this paper it's
gonna buckle it's just too lightweight
to do that so if I stretch it I get the
paper is what is it ever needs to be is
whatever that it's ever going to get
when I paint it and it pulls it out flat
at that saturation so that when I do my
wash is when I paint on that it's never
going to buckle because I'm never going
to have it wetter than I do at the point
when I'm stretching it so this is the 9
by 12 size and this is what I'm going to
demonstrate with this is the 11 by 14
which I've also got one here that I did
that size and I think if you're going to
go bigger than 11 by 14 you need a wider
tape now this is gummed paper tape and
this is the 1 inch size and this is
great for um 9 by 12 and you can get
this I think I paid a dollar 25 a roll
at my local butcher shop for this and
yeah when the vegetarian goes to the
butcher shop it's to buy gummed paper
tape um so they were nice enough to sell
me a few rolls of that it does last
quite a long time so what we're going to
do is we're going to work on a piece of
hardboard and you can go to the
home-improvement store and buy this and
I think the small sheet you can probably
get is 2 foot by 4 foot or you can get
some for free and what I did was I went
to a hardware store and I asked if they
had any discontinued paneling samples
and they did so they will typically give
just give these away and actually a
really good painting surface if you want
to just sew it and paint it on it with
acrylics or oil so that's something to
keep in mind if you are trying to save a
little money in your painting
I'm just using it just playing the way
it is and I'm gonna take a sponge here
just sponge with water and I am just
gonna wet wet it now this is brand new
I've never stretched paper on this
before so my water kinda wants to beat
up on it it will get more absorbent as
you go and actually become easier to use
but it'll be fine today and I'm just
going to squeeze that out I'm gonna suck
up any extra water just kind of want to
get the surface wet now here is where
you can do things differently I am going
to work with a spray bottle but you can
also soak your paper in a clean tub or
vat or bucket other reason I'm using a
spray bottle is because I don't have any
clean tubs or buckets right now and also
because this is a less expensive paper I
really want to make sure I don't remove
any of the sizing so generally paper is
sized internally like when they in the
pulp and then it's sized on the surface
again to keep it you know it keeps your
paint from feathering so I wanna make
sure I don't really take out that
ability I don't know how well size this
paper is so just to be on the safe side
now I'm going to Center that on my board
and I'm going to spray the other side
okay you want to get it really wet
because the object is to get this paper
wetter then it's ever going to get when
you paint it so of course this is a
little time consuming doing it this way
or you could just soak it if you soak it
you want to soak it in really cold water
and for less than 10 minutes and so
people you know will soak it longer but
you know and some people will stretch
hundred 40 and 300 pound paper but I
find that to be a little unnecessary
unless you're working really big all
right so now I just used this um this
sponge I'm swinging it out and I'm
absorbing extra water but also I'm
getting air bubbles out which I thought
was pretty important but you know what I
accidentally had some air bubbles in
some of the paper that I just stretched
and I thought well rather than redo I'm
just gonna leave it and I'm gonna see
see if it makes a difference and you
know what it didn't make a difference
they all they all were tight as a drum
when I was done all right so now I'm
going to tear off some tape you can cut
it ahead of times if you want to but I'm
not going to bother with that and I'm
just gonna spray this with my water
that's real scientific you could wet it
with a sponge too you don't eat too much
water if you get too much water on there
you're going to um you're going to
the gum away and you don't want that you
want that adhesive to be on there then
just press it down really well and do
that for every side just make sure you
do get plenty well if you would get the
right amount you'll feel for it honestly
it's one of those things where you know
you might the first time you do it you
might have a you might have you know
some net pop-up but generally you get
the hang of it I haven't stretched paper
in years actually so I did a couple I
did I did some nature work before I did
it again because it has been a while but
it's just such a great way to be able to
use less expensive materials and I get
great result in might might actually do
just notice my desk cousin I was get
these blue fingerprints all over the
place like where is that coming from and
I think I've reactivated some ink on my
board on if you can do that or not
there's like it must be some spraying
from the other day there's a puddles I
guess idea I'm due for a little cleaning
down here not just not just a pickup and
I actually clean and will spray this one
my Jessica's gonna be nice and clean and
gun this though and there you go and
then I like to lay it flat outside in
the Sun if possible to dry I'd really
don't think this you know I don't leave
my damp basement to drive the see house
and I sell flat and it's going to as it
dries the paper is going to contract and
then it's just going to have a super
super tight surface you can paint on it
and you're not gonna get any sort of
buckling it again I'll show you the
finished one look at that isn't that
nice
the sound of stretched paper there you
have it
again just to review you'll need a spray
bottle or something to soak your paper
in you'll need a sponge and and you can
use a kitchen sponge a clean kitchen
sponge you know I would get go buy one
of the dollar store and just keep it for
stretching paper so don't get any
nasties in there and just some gummed
paper tape if you're going to do paper
that's bigger than 9 by 12 I strongly
recommend you get a wider one such as an
inch and a half two inches three inch
got paper tape and you can find that at
like a unpacking supply store online
probably paper Mart someplace like that
will have it for you so there you have
it how to stretch paper please give me a
thumbs up if you enjoyed this tutorial
if you have any questions leave them
below and I will answer you and until
next time happy crafting