MaggieManchester

Am I right to not be completely happy with how bumpy the edges are? Is it normal?
Is this how a canvas should look?

twowindsbear

Make additional photos from a 'normal viewing distance' to show how visible these issues are.

MaggieManchester

from the front

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...corners are where it all comes together, you need to make 'em as tight as possible, especially if they're exposed. Not an easy task, but there are many Utube tutorials...style is different in quite a few, but there is a "standard" gallery wrap consensus. On your final pic it seems like you got it pretty close, the others just need more tension before you staple. I use a pneumatic stapler which make the job much easier, but it's lucky I've been a hand-worker (carpenter/cabinetmaker) for most of my work life, so getting the stretch is not a...er...stretch. Heh...oh, I've also been through a few pairs of stretching pliers before arriving at the best combo for me...YMMV.

MaggieManchester

I didn't do the stretching myself I went through Pro DPI, a professional printers

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

...then it really depends on the worker doing the job! I'd take it back and get 'em to tighten those loose corners up...like I said, that last one looks pretty good so they (he/she) just needs to tighten the others up...

fotowerks Loc: San Diego, CA

A properly, well stretched canvas will not look like that. The corners will be square, with a 45º underfold at each corner as in your fourth image.The front should be tight with no wrinkles or distortion. Great photo, by the way!

Bob

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

First off 99% of people would have it in a frame of some kind which would hide the less than perfect job on the edges and corners. So they don't put in the time and work to make it perfect. The labor costs for "more time spent to make it perfect" or the wages of a more skilled worker - who would still take more time, just not as much would make it more expensive.

And, as stated, from a normal viewing distance the vast majority of people won't even notice it, and most who do won't really care.

MaggieManchester

So from a Pro Lab I shouldn't expect a pro job? Most people who have canvas on their wall don't have the canvas in a frame....

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Maggie - I have two 12x16 canvas prints finished by WhiteWall.com in Germany. The prints are excellent across the surface and on the wrapped edges. The corners are square, but not the perfect 45° ‘military corners’ that we were taught at Culver Military Academy. The edges and corners don’t appear ‘bumpy’ unless one examines them very closely. I like the work done by WhiteWall, uploading to their site is easy, their customer service is impeccable and delivery is quick despite the great distance. Their pricing is not the cheapest, but IMO quite fair. /Ralph

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

A. "Pro" is part of their name, not necessarily a rating - plus Professional only means someone gets paid/makes their living doing something, not a rating of how good they are. Someone said "Pros do it as a job for pay, amatuers because they love it." Some of each group are good, some poor and some exceptional at doing what they are doing.

B. Well no frame may be a current fashion or something but when I took my photo classes at CSULA 45 years ago almost all got framed or matted for long term display, temp exhibits or those in controlled light conditions were the exception. It is hard to put protective/UV glass over an image without a frame of some type. Ever notice how when you first walk into a museum your eyes have to adjust to the much dimmer lighting (very even if done right, but dimmer and filtered to get rid of UV) - done to protect the paintings and pictures from fading caused by too bright lighting or sunlight (reflected counts too).

C. Have you contacted them to complain? They are the ones who can do something about it, not us on UHH.

We have several canvases in the house, three are sand paintings, all are framed.

MaggieManchester

Yes, I emailed them and this was their response.
Jenny (ProDPI)

Nov 8, 12:10 PM CST
Maggie,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I wasn't sure on this one so I talked to a few of the production supervisors to see if this was in tolerance or out of the ordinary enough that we would consider it a mistake. After looking at the images they said this didn't really look abnormal or out of line. It would be hard to compare to other labs since we wouldn't know which types of materials they're using and how tight they're stretching their canvases. I do apologize that you're not happy with it! My concern is that if we remake this for you, you still might not be happy with the out come. Let me know if there is any other information I can provide!

Jenny
303.416.9212 | 1.855.776.3745
www.prodpi.com

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I did a quick skim of several reviews of this company.
1. did not see any mention of their canvas prints streching/mounting by anyone but a few sites rate them good/very good on print/image- but do not mention canvas streching at all
2. a lot of the reviews seemed to use the same wording etc either copying each other or from the same source??? Those were all of the highest ratings I saw and most of them I never heard about before.
3. PC Magazines rating of online print services doesn't even mention them.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Any canvas "wrap" will have three layers of the canvas at each corner fold. The heavier the canvas used, the thicker that three layer area will be. A customer of mine wraps his own canvases and he actually cuts a recess specifically to hide this area, but that operation is tedious and slow so there likely are no mass production labs that will take the time to do it.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Artist's pre-mounted canvas (mostly done by machine) have that cut also. But that is blank canvas, with a painting or photo printed already machine wrapping might not be a good idea, it might distort the image.