Three Ways to Stretch Watercolor Paper

Watercolor paper has a tendency to buckle when you are painting with lots of water (as you should). Here are three methods of stretching the paper that will help minimize or even eliminate the buckling. Leaving you with a flat surface to paint on and and a flat painting when done.
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[@samriddhipatil9487]

Thanks a lot for this video.... helps a lot

[@susanyoung6632]

How many hours do you spend doing this and do you try and do lots at one time?

[@yazosoyo]

Once I soak the paper, and then tape it to the foam board, the painter’s tape will not stick 😞 to the paper, it does stick to the foam board. I will try stapling before the tape!

[@sholly59]

Hello Mr. Conner, I’ve been a watercolor painter for more than 20 years so I’m not a beginner. I stretch my Arches watercolor paper in the same way you do with staples. But suddenly I’m having a bizarre stretching problem that I haven’t been able to solve. I’m hoping you can come up with some ideas to help.
Suddenly, the staples that are used to attach my paper to my gatorboard are pulling out as the paper dries. All of them are clearly being pulled out by the forces caused by the paper drying.
My original thought was that my gatorboard was getting old and maybe it had too many holes in it. So, I bought a new board, but the problem persisted. Eventually I tried a different stapler, different staples, different brand paper, shorter and longer soaking times, but nothing has helped. I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve been using this method successfully for many years now. Do you have any ideas what might be causing my staples to pull out?
Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Gary Shollenberger

[@watercolormethods]

I've not encountered this problem ever. So, I am puzzled. Obviously, the properties of one or more of the materials has changed. Since you have a new gatorboard, that would seem not to be the problem. I am not sure what could be different about the staples. If you happen to have new ones, perhaps their surface is 'slippery-er' so they don't grip as well.
At this point I have to confess that I rarely stretch with staples any more. Instead I use the tape or clip methods as you see in the video.
You may know that the Arches paper company was purchased by Canson some years ago. Since then, I have noticed some subtle changes in the character of the paper. I've also had students comment about encountering some unexpected and unfamiliar reactions and behaviors with recently purchased Arches paper. That the fibers are drying and tightening back with more force indicates to me that the content or production of the paper has changed in some way.
I can't be certain, but it seems that Canson may be adjusting/changing/tweaking the materials and/or processes for Arches paper. Perhaps it is something along these lines that is causing the problem.
When I found out that Arches had been purchased by Canson, I thought that the paper might be changed in ways that I would not be happy with. So I started looking for alternatives, just in case. I found that Saunders-Waterford has a terrific paper with qualities similar to those I liked so much in Arches - moderate absorbency most of all. The one difference is that Saunders is not available in bright white, but only the 'old school' ivory hued version. This makes no difference to me. Here is a link to Saunders paper on the Dick Blick website - www.dickblick.com/products/saunders-waterford-watercolor-sheets/
I know I didn't answer the question, but maybe did shine a little light on the subject.

[@willowbranch5237]

@@watercolormethods I had some problems with Arches and Fabriano as well and tried Saunders Waterford, agree it is really wonderful paper. Jackson will ship bright whit to the states. I just bought some. I purchased 10 1/4 sheets of Hot Pressed, got here in about a week.

[@EndlessSims3]

Where do I find gator-boards?

[@watercolormethods]

They are hard to find in art stores. But you can find them online. www.dickblick.com/products/gatorfoam-board/
www.cheapjoes.com/catalog/product/view/id/26927/s/gatorfoam-board/