Even though the house is still wrapping up construction, I put this together and hung it so we could get the wired picture light positioned correctly above it....Looks great. The frame stretching mechanism is ingenious, but the assembly instructions could use some more tips:
I would add to the list of things to have on hand and use during assembly:
- A large sheet or mattress pad to assemble on top of to keep the canvas clean & scratch free.
- A pair of pliers (regular or vise-grip)
- Extra brads/nails like what is supplied, but I think one help.
- A razor blade cutter
Follow the instructions, but a few tweaks I found to be helpful.....
When tacking the canvas & spline in place, start from the center of each out frame piece and work toward on corner, then the other. Use the pliers to help grip the canvas and pull it tight (both toward the other side, but also a bit toward the corner toward which you are working). Place a nail approximately at each one foot interval and tack it in, BUT DONT HAMMER IN ALL THE WAY..... LEAVE AT LEAST 1/4 INCH STICKING OUT. Though while yiu should guide and counter-twist the wood splines while you're tacking things in place, the splines will twist a bit on you....not a problem.
Once you have tacked all sides, go back around and do it at least one more time, pull
ing out one nail at a time, then stretching the canvas even tighter, then re-tack the nail. Do not hammer the nails in all the way until you have it as tight as possible. (At this point, the canvas will still not be totally taught and wrinkles won't be totally gone, but it will look relatively tight at the edges.) At this point, follow the instructions again and loosen the frame-tightening bolts until the canvas is taught and any wrinkles/folds from shipping are removed. Once you are totally satisfied with the look and taughtness. You can do some hammering (again, from center - out) on the spline to set it in its channel a little better, while also driving the nails in the rest of the way.
Extra nails will also help at the corners. Trimming off some excess canvas can also help I allowed a 45° foldover at the corners to show on the bottom and top edges (rather than on the sides, which would have been more visible). The pliers also help again here to pull things tight and make sure you have a crisp corner, even though one foldover will show. After finishing the corners, if you are really sure about everything looking good and being talked in place properly (as I was), you can use the Razor Blade cutter yo trim of all excess canvas. (Don't do this until you're sure though. - If you wanted to got back to tighten anything, it might be hard to do without any excess canvas to grip on to.)
The system (particularly done with the few tips I offered) gives near perfect results and a nice tight canvas. The only flaw in the design is....once you loosen the bolts to make the canvas taught, this will - by its design - leave a bit of a gap in the frame near each corner. And, the frame pieces won't line up perfectly at the corner. This gapping and misalignment do show through the canvas, but only slightly. - Still a great system, and a great look, in my opinion.
I ordered another, somewhat smaller print feom Goant Art before assembling this big one. - We'll see if a smaller print is any easy or if the results are better. Either way, I expect I'll order from Giant Art again. Nice product!
