Up until now I have painted on 1/4 imperial paper which I have stretched successfullly. Now I am plucking up courage to paint on 1/2 and full imperial watercolour paper and wonder if anyone could give me tips on how to wet these larger more unweildy sizes without mishap. Thanks.

Hi MotherofPearl! If you're painting on Half Imperial or larger, then its the right thing to do to stretch the paper. The ways I have used are either use a Paper Stretcher as you would for smaller sizes, or, as I have seen some Professionals do, wet the paper as you would for any size, and then use a staple gun to fix the edges of the paper, onto a suitable size of MDF board.

If neither of the above are of help to you, then come back to me and I'll try to help further.

Good luck and very best wishes,

Steve Williams

PA & RSC Wigan / Warrington / St Helens

Thank you for your reply. I have a large piece of MDF. What I am worrying about is how best to manhandle (or in my case womanhandle) a large piece of wet paper without tearing it or soaking myself too. Will the normal gummed strip work OK for larger paper? Maybe I am worrying needlessly and should just go for it. I appreciate your advice, Thanks again.

Hi MotherofPearl! You'll be surprised how much water the paper will absorb, and how tough it is. As long as the Paper Weight is 140lbs (300gsm), you shouldn't have any problem.
The best way to "Womanhandle" the paper is to put a few inches of water into a bath, then put in the paper, ensuring the whole sheet is submerged, and let it soak for a couple of minutes.
Then carefully lift out the paper by 2 of its corners and let the surplus water run off. You're as well having your piece of MDF nearby, so that you can position the wet paper on the board.

At this point, you can use, as you surmise, either gummed paper strip to fix the wet paper down or, if the thickness of your MDF is sufficient, use a staple gun.

I hope the above is of some help to you, but if you want any more information, then come back to me.

Very best wishes,

Steve Williams
PA & RSC Wigan / Warrington / St Helens

Hi Steve

Thank you so much, I now feel armed with the information I need to stretch my large watercolour paper. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks again.