Cotton Duck Canvas – All Its Quacked Up To Be?

CanvasLot.com strives to provide all artists and individuals who use pre-stretched canvases for projects with the best product they can offer.  What you may not know is that the material used to create your brand new blank canvases is a traditional, well-known textile called cotton duck canvas.  Let’s explore this remarkable textile that is as rich in its historical uses as it is beautiful hanging on art gallery walls!

This material has been a tried and true textile for the arts community since the sixteenth century!  It gained popularity in Italy, one of the world’s most well-known places for Fine Art and modern design.  Although it is known that panel painting was used most commonly and widely throughout Europe, duck cotton began to make its move within the Arts community as the centuries rolled on.  Today, cotton duck canvas is the common textile used to stretch into a canvas for artists all over the world.

Oftentimes, duck is un-sized, and its uses are determined based on weight.  For those of us outside the textile industry, the material duck is known as “canvas” and is commonly used to make fashion accessories such as shoes and handbags.  Did you know that it is also used to make shower curtains and sails?  What a versatile textile!

The editors of Wikipedia have the most comprehensive explanation for those of us that need information in lay terms:

“A numbering system is used to describe the various weights of duck cloth, based on the weight of a 36×22-inch piece. Weights below 19 ounces are called numbered duck. The grade of numbered duck refers to the number of ounces subtracted from 19 for a 36×22-inch piece of fabric. For example, a piece of #8 numbered duck with dimensions of 36″×22″ weighs 11 ounces (19 − 8 = 11); those above 19 ounces are called naught duck.^[2]

Numbered duck is nominally made in weights from 1 to 12, but numbers 7, 9, and 11 are no longer used. ”

[Retrieved on July 18, 2012 – Gerilyn Hayes]

Another point of interest to you should be the good company that CanvasLot.com is keeping with renowned Fredrix.  Fredrix has been an art materials and canvas supply company for over one hundred and forty years!  That’s quality you can believe in, and one that I recommend for artists in need of bulk blank canvas purchases.

So it’s true!  Cotton duck canvas really is all it’s quacked up to be!  To purchase your very own canvases at discounted, wholesale prices visit CanvasLot.com.