Canvas Champ: The good, bad & UGLY Review

THE GOOD

It's cheap. That's it. That's the only good thing I can say. Well to be charitable, they came in one piece so the shipper does a good job. 

THE BAD

The stretching, the canvas, the printing and the mounts are all sub or non-standard. 0 out of 10.

Are you gifting? Selling? Care about your work? Then CANVASChamp is a bad choice. Their professional testimonials must be DIYers who don't know any better. Let me be specific for those of you who DO care, CANVAS champ is NOT for professionals.

Prints: Prints are OK, but not the best. At this writing the Epson and Canon printing shoots 12+inks and can do a much better job color matching and pulling darks out in more depth than CanvasChamps 8 color HP machine on 10 oz. canvas.  But wait, there's more ... it gets much worse. Click read more for specifics.

THE UGLY

CANVASchamp stretchers and bars: Pine. Unsanded, unfinished flat rough sawn knotty pine. These bear absolutely no resemblance to stretcher bars you would find anywhere. They are attached to an MDF backer board to which... not kidding ... your print is then stretched. Acid-free? Who knows they mention none of this on the site. The larger your canvas, the heavier your canvas. And the mid support bars? Glued. The stretchers provide no ability to adjust tension. That's not good if you are creating in 0 humidity at altitude and your client is in Hawaii.

Mounting: I ordered a good assortment to test. Some panels were so tightly wrapped they became a drum. See the video. The panels are not sealed - so any moisture and no tension control - FUhget aboud it. 

Corners: I admit I am a stickler about this. The folds should ONLY show top and bottom. If you order a 24 x 36 or a 36 x 24 , they are not the same! One is vertical and one horizontal and the folds should change so you don't see them on the side. Only top and bottom. 

CanvasChamp printing on the canvas: None of my other suppliers do this, so I was shocked. All over the back - printing. The logo and stretching directions, lamination etc. written out. Just UGLY. I tape my canvas and paper the back so this wouldn't ever show ... but just knowing it's there, YUCK.

Directions: And this printing is supposed to remind the person stretching the canvas what to do. Like, say, NO HANGERS. But all of my prints (over 20 in various formats) came with the metal hangers drilled into the canvas and stretchers. Ugh. 
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Backing: You are given an option to back your canvas with ANOTHER MDF board. Because your canvas wasn't heavy enough? I guess it covers up the CanvasChamp printing! But no-one backs a canvas like this! 

That's my take on the subject. What's yours? 

#canvaschamp #printingyourart #julenehunter #artoncanvas #giclee