Art Canvases and Painting Surfaces | BLICK Art Materials

There are three standard methods: side stapling, back stapling, and spline finishing.

Side Stapling is the least expensive technique for securing the canvas to the stretcher bar because it uses less canvas. Finished pieces are generally framed to hide the staples.

Back stapling is a more expensive finishing technique and requires more canvas, but it provides more selvage for future restretching. Some artists paint on the side as well as the face, creating works that don’t require framing.

Spline finishing is the most expensive finishing technique. Though some artists feel that it’s not as easy to restretch a splined canvas as it is a back-stapled canvas, many artists choose splined canvas because it has a neater appearance than other finishes, and because it’s popular with their customers. Splined canvas hangs tight to the wall.