MATERIALS - How to Adhere Linen to a Panel

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Description - This is an alternate method of adhering linen (or canvas) to a panel made from something other than Masonite. This information was provided to us by our friend Sharon Knettell - reprinted here with her permission.

The panels can be larger than recommended hardboard size (up to 12″ on a side).  Sharon’s information came from a conversation with an unnamed museum conservator.

1. Purchase a Dibond, Alumalite, or Econolite panel. Signmakers have them. He recommends Alumalite or Econolite as they have fluted plastic cores are cheaper ($60 a 4′x9′) panel and lighter.
2. Cut or have panel cut to size.
3. Purchase UNPRIMED ARTIST’S linen. Wash it to remove any stiffeners, especially RSG, which is hygroscopic.
4. Cut linen to size and place it sopping wet, and I mean sopping wet on the panel. With your hands smooth it out.
5. While the linen is wet and on the panel, drench it with a Golden Gel medium. The sopping wet panel will absorb the gel evenly and completely. Smooth again with your hands. This forms a protection layer against the oil ground and glues it to the panel.
6. After the panel is completely dry cover it with an oil ground. You can use your own paints thinned, lead white, titanium or a mixture of both. The Acrylic ground need this layer of of oil ground to protect it from UVA light which embrittles it.
7. Surprisingly he recommends you not varnish it, but put a light layer of artist’s wax, like Dorland’s, as a final coat. It is the flexibility of the substrate that is most resposible for the damage to oil pantings, not the adherence — oil paints will stick to glass! They survive best on a rigid support that can be removed, which this can be. He said that plastics are on a deathwatch in his museum. He does not like Gatorboard or Fomecore for that reason as a substrate. He does say that plastics can be added to the artist’s repetoire of materials if they are used in a responsible and knowledgeable way.

I must further add, that this is online information gathered by me and shared with you. This of course can be subject to many errors. There are, as you have seen many points of view and some serious papers done on this subject. I am not a scientist and expect you to test your own materials. Do not do a big project unless you try it out first.