At Studio Art Supplies, our team of professional canvas stretchers are here to meet all your Custom Canvas needs.

With over 30 years of stretching experience, Dean and Richard provide you with tailor-made canvases that match your creative requirements.

They can guide you through the surface and support options with friendly, expert knowledge, to ensure you have the perfect canvas to paint on.

Our nationwide shipping ensures that no matter where you are in the country, we are here to help.

Contact Studio Art Supplies in Ponsonby to discuss your custom canvas.

What we offer

Our custom stretched canvases can be made to your choice of:

• Size
• Surface
• Stretcher profile
• Portrait or landscape orientation

Each canvas is professionally stretched in-store with care and attention, using stainless steel staples and bespoke folded corners.

We can also re-stretch existing artworks that need to be transferred onto a new support.

Choose your size

Our New Zealand kiln-dried pine and New Zealand redwood stretcher bars are available in 50 mm increments, starting from 150 mm.

Pine stretcher bars are suitable for canvases up to 1500 mm, while redwood can be used for larger works up to 2500 mm. Other sizes can also be made with a reasonable lead time.

For especially large or precisely sized canvases, museum-grade aluminium stretchers can be produced to virtually any dimensions, including sizes over 4500 mm.

The profile refers to the depth of the stretcher frame and determines how far the finished canvas projects from the wall.

Kiln-dried pine and redwood stretchers are available in:

• 25 mm profiles
• 35 mm profiles

Museum-grade aluminium stretchers are available in:

• 25 mm profiles
• 35 mm profiles
• 45 mm profiles

The right profile will depend on the size of your artwork, how you intend to display it and the overall appearance you would like to achieve. Dean and Richard can help you choose the most suitable construction for your canvas.

Choose your canvas

The surface you paint on can make an enormous difference to the appearance and feel of your work.

We offer a wide selection of primed cotton and linen fabrics to suit different painting styles and techniques. Most custom canvases are made with American cotton or Belgian linen in a medium weave, but finer and coarser surfaces are also available.

A finer weave provides a smoother surface and is particularly suited to detailed work, portraiture and thin applications of paint. A coarser weave offers more visible texture and can work beautifully with expressive brushwork, heavier paint and larger-scale pieces.

If you are unsure which fabric is right for you, our Canvas Team can talk you through the options and provide samples to compare before you decide.

Raw and reverse-stretched canvas

If you prefer the natural colour and appearance of raw fabric, we can reverse-stretch a primed canvas.

With this method, the primed side is placed at the back, leaving the natural fabric facing forward. This gives you the look of raw cotton or linen while still providing a stable and evenly tensioned surface.

Staples are positioned at the back of the frame, with the corners neatly folded along the top and bottom of the canvas.

Re-stretching existing artwork

Already have an artwork that needs a new support? We can also re-stretch existing painted or unpainted canvas onto a new stretcher frame.

This may be useful when an artwork has been removed from its original support, needs a stronger frame or requires a different size or profile for display.

Please note that re-stretched existing artworks are available for collection only and cannot be shipped.

How the custom canvas process works

Your custom canvas begins with a conversation.

Contact or visit Studio Art Supplies, our Ponsonby store, and speak with Dean or Richard about what you need. Studio Art Supplies has been stretching canvases since the 1980s, so your project will be in very capable hands.

To get started, let the team know:

• The width and height of your canvas
• Whether you need portrait or landscape orientation
• Your preferred cotton or linen fabric
• Your preferred stretcher material and profile
• Whether delivery is required

If you are not sure which options to choose, Dean and Richard can recommend a suitable combination based on the dimensions of your artwork, your painting process and how the finished piece will be displayed.

Once the details are confirmed, the team will provide an estimated completion time, price and delivery information if required.

Contact Studio Art Supplies in Ponsonby to discuss your custom canvas.