I’ve recently started adhering pre-primed canvas to cradled plywood rather than painting directly on the plywood. I seal the wood with shellac on all sides and then adhere the fabric with PVA glue. However, I have some leftover plywood panels from beforehand that I had prepared diffferently or started to use. All of the panels were sized with GAC100 and then either A) primed with oil primer but not used or B) primed with acrylci primer and then underpainted in oils. My question is whether in either of these cases it would be possible to glue fabric over the exiting structure. I suspect the scenario A (the top layer is oil primer) would have enough tooth to provide emchancial adhesion but I’m less confident of the B scenario (the top layer is oil paint over gesso).
Thank you. That’s pretty much the response I expected but thought I should get confirmation.
P.S. The panels are pre-cradled plywood so using the backs is not an option. Thanks again!
This would probably work as long as you gave the surface a good sanding with medium grit sandpaper. I do slightly worry about the possibility of failure at some point given the oil layer. If you do this, and just in case of possible delamination, I suggest leaving some extra fabric, corresponding to a tacking margin with some extra to facilitate restretching. This could be stapled to the back of the panel.)
Conversely, couldn’t you just adhere the fabric to the reverse of the panel? Additionally, you could use BEVA 371 to adhere the fabric to the oil layer and avoid any compromises.
