How I stretch watercolorpaper

Stretching watercolor paper keeps it from buckling while you are painting on it. It is not necessary for 300-pound paper, but lesser weights of paper will immediately start buckling as soon as you add a wash to them. 300 pound paper is very expensive, so many watercolor artists buy 140- pound paper and stretch it to a hard surface.


You need a hard backing surface to stretch the paper to. I use gatorboard. Gatorboard is basically a super-thick piece of foam board. It's lightweight, easy to staple (and remove staples from), and doesn't mind getting soaked, so it's perfect for this purpose.

Steps:

1. First cut the paper to the size needed.

2. Run the paper under cool water in the sink or bathtub, until it's wet everywhere. Then let the water drain off of one corner until it stops running and starts dripping.

3. Lay the paper flat on the board and smooth it out with the sides of my hands, starting in the center and working my way out, pushing the excess water puddles off the sides.

4. Let it sit for a few minutes until the paper no longer looks shiny.

5. Start stapling the paper to the board along the outer edges of the paper. Start by putting one staple in the middle of each of the four sides, then work towards the corners, a few staples on each side of the paper at a time, putting the staples at the corners last. Use the side of your hand to smooth the paper and pull it taught.

6. Let the paper dry thoroughly. You can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying.

7. Tape all the edges with painters tape (I prefer Frog Tape) to keep water and paint from running under the paper while you are painting. It also makes a nice clean edge all around the painting when done.