Welcome to 'Hanging with Jay'. This series is designed to introduce you to some of the experts at Artists Frame Service who hang (OK work) with Jay, our owner, founder and framing guru, every day. Through 'Hanging with Jay' we hope to share with you the cutting edge and just plain fun things going on around Artists Frame Service. We believe Framing Should be Fun! Visit us to see for yourself.
HANGING WITH JAY
And the great Tensador II T-155
A new machine and all the excitement it brings. The Tensador II T-155. Sounds impressive, right? Not to mention intimidating and imposing. It kind of is all those things. For months, I heard rumors about this "canvas-stretching machine." I couldn't help but imagine some sort of Suess-ian contraption, with pedals and gears and whitegloved hands, powered by Thing One and Thing Two; . All sorts of crazy gadgetry to suck canvas down to a frame filled my imagination, vacuum presses crossed with rib-expanders and the inevitable tesla coil, to create some sort of Rube Goldberg machine of insane proportions.
In fact, it's essentially a clamp. A Superclamp, that is. Its power comes not from our Earth's yellow sun, but from air. Pneumatically-powered and capable of evenly holding taut an entire side of your canvas. Doesn't sound like too much of a big deal, does it? Consider that when stretching fully by hand, you can generally keep taut about two inches at a time; and that often, we're talking about pieces 30 x 40 or greater. Stretching and stapling a whole side at once vastly decreases the time involved and ensures a more even stretch. We work faster; you get a more perfect product. Everybody wins. At least, once we figured out how to use the thing.
We could have just watched the instructional video and called it a day. But the minimum is never enough around here; we have to go above and beyond in all things. That's what makes us who we are. So, instead, Jay called in the big guns (actually gun, singular): Archie McSuperknowitallguy (not his real name). This is the guy to go to when you need framing information. His company researches the hell out of every aspect of picture framing… and presents the accepted preservation framing practices, backed up with historical precedents, studies, citations and random bits of trivia*. And that's exactly what he did. We had an intensive, no-holds-barred training workshop. It was essentially "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Art On Canvas but Were Afraid to Ask."
 |
We were treated to the history of picture framing, the history of art on canvas, the characteristics of canvas, how canvas ages, how to best preserve canvas and myriad other topics too plentiful to mention. Name: Andrew Jordan |