Home | Stretcher Bars & Coating
The longevity of a canvas print depends heavily on the internal structure. At CanvasDesign, we exclusively use 100% European pine stretcher bars sourced from managed forests. Available in both 18mm and 38mm profiles, our bars feature a specialized design with a higher outer lip. This engineering choice raises the canvas well above the inner edge of the frame, ensuring there is absolutely no chance of crease lines showing through your image over time.
Because canvas is a natural product, it can naturally slacken as it ages or reacts to environmental changes. To combat this, all our frames are supplied with traditional corner wedges. These allow you to adjust the tightness of the canvas manually, ensuring your wall art stays as drum-tight as the day it was delivered. We also take the extra step of taping the back of every frame, providing a neat, gallery-standard finish that protects your walls and the print itself.
Every order comes with a free hanging kit, making the transition from box to wall seamless. We believe that professional materials shouldn't be an optional extra, which is why our high-spec pine bars are the standard for every customer. Whether you choose the slim 18mm look or the chunky 38mm gallery wrap, you are receiving a foundation built to last for decades without warping or bowing, even in varying household temperatures.
Our canvas is made from pure cotton, providing a bright white finish that produces incredibly vibrant and accurate colors for every photo.
Unlike cheap synthetic alternatives, our cotton canvas will not crack at the edges, even in cold weather conditions.
It is completely acid-free and environmentally friendly, ensuring the material itself doesn't degrade or damage your image.
Naturally water-resistant, our canvas provides a robust surface that remains tight and beautiful for years to come.
Our professional canvas coating is a transparent varnish that inhibits harmful UV light from burning out optical brighteners.
This essential step prevents the "yellowing effect" often seen in older prints, keeping your whites bright and colors fresh.
By sealing the surface, the coating adds a layer of defense against moisture, dust, and physical abrasion or scuffing.
Coated prints can be safely washed with water, making them ideal for high-traffic areas or homes with children and pets.
We use a high-outer-lip profile on our bars to ensure the canvas is suspended away from the wood, preventing ghost lines.
Every frame is hand-assembled in the UK by craftsmen who understand the tension requirements for a perfect gallery wrap.
The addition of corner wedges means you have full control over the lifespan and tension of your personalised wall art.
From the pine bars to the protective lacquer, we use only professional-grade components that exceed high-street standards.
While modern inkjet printers are highly advanced, the prints they produce are susceptible to the environment. Sunlight, humidity, and even indoor pollutants can slowly degrade the quality of an unprotected canvas. Our professional coating serves as a permanent shield. It creates a completely transparent barrier that doesn't just sit on top but seals the canvas fibers, making the colors pop while providing a finish that is significantly more resistant to the elements.
One of the primary benefits of our coating service is color preservation. By inhibiting ultraviolet light, the lacquer ensures that the pigments in the ink do not fade or shift over time. This is especially important for prints displayed in sunny rooms. For a small additional cost of just £8 per print, you are effectively doubling the lifespan of your artwork and ensuring that the deep blacks and bright highlights remain as striking as the day they were printed.
An uncoated canvas is a magnet for dust and can be difficult to clean without smudging the ink. A coated canvas print from CanvasDesign is fully water-resistant. This means you can easily wipe away dust or minor spills with a damp cloth. This level of durability makes our prints suitable for kitchens, hallways, and commercial spaces where they might be touched or exposed to more airborne particles than a typical living room display.
Many people overlook the profile of the wood inside the canvas, but it is vital for visual quality. Our stretcher bars are designed with a specific "lip" that keeps the canvas from resting against the flat surface of the wood. This prevents the "frame mark" that appears on many cheap canvases over time. By using 100% European pine, we ensure a stable frame that won't twist or bend, providing a perfectly flat and square foundation for your most cherished photographs.
We take our environmental responsibility seriously. The wood for our stretcher bars is sourced only from managed forests, ensuring that our production process supports sustainable forestry. Furthermore, our pure cotton canvas is acid-free and contains no harmful chemicals. This combination of natural materials and ethical sourcing means you can enjoy your home decor knowing it was produced with respect for the planet as well as the craft of printing.
By manufacturing our frames in-house in Darwen, we remove the middleman and pass those savings directly to you. You get gallery-quality 100% cotton canvas and solid pine bars at prices that rival low-quality mass-produced alternatives. Our commitment to using professional coating and superior wood profiles ensures that even our most affordable prints are built to a standard that professional photographers and artists would be proud to display in a gallery setting.