Do THIS and your watercolor paper will STAY FLAT 

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I found if I dampen the BACK of the paper, then weight it down w/books, the ripples will flatten out.

You can also just soak the whole paper - both sides - and stick it on a flat surface and then start painting. The reason paper warps is due to the fact that only one side of the paper gets wet. Warping happens due to moisture getting absorbed unevenly. If one side is wet, the fibers of the wet side expand, but not on the dry side.

You can flatten the warped paper by gently and evenly misting the back with a water sprayer and then weighting it down with books.

We were taught to backwet the paper while painting and skip taping entirely

Excellent! I love that you actually said "You don't actually stretch the paper when doing this" because when I was a newbie that confused me. Can't wait for your class! Both of those paintings are gorgeous. Thanks so much for this and all of your videos. Love from Kansas. 🌻

I saw that stapler, and my eyes went wide. It looks like a modern version of a stapler I have had since grade school that I ADORE and would never get rid of. Then you mention that it's a VINTAGE Swingline, so no, there is no new version for me to try, but I just wanted to acknowledge that those things are... beautiful.

Man, that koi and that cactus painting are incredible. You're amazing.

That cactus looks so damn good!

This. Is great! I used to stretch my paper in the bathtub and tape it down onto plywood with the old fashioned paper tape that’s hard to find anymore. You had not only to have a clean bathtub, but all the soap, shampoo, etc. had to be completely cleaned off. Eventually I stopped stretching my paper and decided to live with the warp. Your way of stretching is so much easier. Thanks!

You can wet your finished pieces from the back, then press them. 100% flat after that

You can easily unbuckle a sheet of paper: put the worked side of the paper face down and with a wide brush lay fairly abundant water onto the other side, then cover it with a heavy flat surface (i.e. a wooden board with some thick books on top). Within a few hours the sheet will be dry and perfectly flat. Don't worry, the water won't pass through the paper and ruin your drawing.

I do this but I eliminated the "soaking bin" I use a hake brush to flood the back of the paper, turn it over (on the gatorboard) and then flood the front. I make sure the paper is soaked and then staple. I even stretch full sheets this way.

Abit out of topic, but your cactus painting looks amazing. The blending on it looks soo smooth✨️

I recently had this problem but luckily saved the painting by backwashing it and then placing kitchen towel on top and pressing it. I will try this to prevent future buckles.

Unless you're in any kind of hurry, you don't need any kind of tub to submerge your paper. You just put your paper flat on the board and wet it with a big, flat brush. Go back and re-wet it a couple of times as it absorbs the water. Give it at least half an hour to absorb enough water. Then fix it along the edges, by whatever means. Most people seem to use glue paper tape, but board and staples may be an improvement. I'll certainly try it. This way allows you to easily use large sheets of paper without risk of damaging them, and also use very fragile, unsized paper (if you bend such paper, particularly when it's wet, you'll very likely cause invisible wrinkles which will stand out as soon as you wet it with paint, as the wrinkle will absorb paint differently). To me, the value of painting on stretched paper, is not so much that the finished painting is flat, as the advantages of painting on a flat surface that doesn't buckle and affect paint flow. A flat, finished painting is just a bonus. A buckled finished painting can otherwise be flattened in so many ways. Flat press does indeed work. You just have to give it time enough, which is months, not days. But you can also iron it from the backside.

I think this is why I prefer using the blocks. But this was a really great video and very well explained!

I absolutely love the way you did this tutorial. No nonsense, straight to the point. I wish everyone did their tutorials work this way. Your work is so beautiful. I’m so inspired. Thank you, I really appreciate this. ❤

Thank you for sharing this tip!

this is perfect! concise but still detailed, thank you for showing the visual indicator of when it’s ready!

Thank you for this information very helpful.

This is a wonderful help! Thank you so much for sharing this info!

I have that exact same stapler! Great job on the tutorial and lovely art. Thank you!

Wonderfully done! Thank you for sharing.

Jackie...This is AWESOME 🎉. I love this. Thank YOU soooo much. I will be trying this with my next painting.😊

Great video and explanation. Thank you for sharing that, it’s a great tip!

I never knew the difference of foam core vs gator baord. This explains so much, thank you

Thanks for the demo. I never knew what I was doing wrong. The paper always buckled when I painted. This is the reason why I gave up on water color. An 'a-ha' moment for sure.

that green is so delicious to look at!

Brava! Very clear instructions!!

I just take a brush and and brush it with water on the back of the painting and place it between two boards. I place some books/weights on top and let it sit for a few days. Comes out flat. The staples DO stretch and flatten the paper very well. I just dont like the stapled edges.

Thanks ….Often, I buy it in a block and you don’t have to worry about this. They are more expensive of course but they save a lot of time. I tape mine down before painting on it and that works for me.

I took a watercolor course it the late 70s. Gadder board replaces the fiber board insulation for housing construction. Now replaced by blue Dow foam sheets and it's competitors. Never hear at the time the other things you mentioned. Still have the original board. Children and other thing caused me to stop painting for decades but I have in the last few years started again.

Thank you so much!❤

what a great idea! it makes so much sense…. i will get some gator board. Thank you

I didn't know you could open normal office staplers this wide. What a revelation! I've only ever used the gum tape to stretch my paper and that often doesn't hold. Thank you so much for this.

Merci, I will trÿ on my next watercolor project. I will have to find a France larger size

Thank you, very helpful

I use a narrow metal palette knife to lift the paper and staples all around -- just seems quicker and there's never any fiddling with the paper edges to pull it from the board

Thank you so much for this tutorial. I just subscribed and am looking forward to watching your other videos. Your method is so straightforward I'd like to try it, but wondered if you can reuse your gatorboard multiple times? It seems like the staple holes in roughly the same place might render it more difficult to staple down new paper after a few times.

oh Thank you for this tip

Brilliant! 👍 Subscribed!

I also used to stretch paper and tape it down with gummed paper. My goodness that gummed paper is hard to get off the board when you are done! I love the idea of using staples. Thank you

Thanks for this, a simple way to stop the dreaded buckling! I love the cactus painting! Can we have a turorial?

I never noticed this- Thank you sooo much for your help! :')

I was taught in college to use stretcher bars and staples. You can use more sizes of paper and since I don’t have huge tub for soaking my watercolor paper I use a wall paper tray and roll my paper through the tray until it is soaked well! I cut my paper down as when using the stretcher bars the paper curls around the edges and it is easier to cut the excess off! Nice video, thanks for sharing.

i attended a waterdolor workshop before where we had to wet paper with a sponge. this process honestly looks a lot faster and less tedious and i can't wait to try it out :DD

You just demystified the stretching process for me! I have watched others do it on videos, but it still confused me. Thank you for very clear instructions and explanation for why to do it. One question: Can you do multiple sheets ahead of time for future use? Does storage time affect the stretching?

I love your channel! Thank you for sharing all your great tips and skills with us

The Cactus painting is amazing! Can we have a tutorial on that?

I have had little trouble painting on a block of Baohong 100% cotton paper(the green one). Honestly, all the 100% cotton stuff does little buckling once dry. It does some when wet but nothing like cellulose paper does. I tried wetting the WHOLE page by brushing a little water on it but that made it all so much worse. Someday I might try this when working with single sheets.

1. At some workshops I’ve seen people wet both sides of the paper then put it on large piece of plexiglass(?) and hold with bulldog clips. 2. Not cheap, but 300 lb paper is great.

Have you tried soaking and stretching 2 or 3 multiple sheets together on the gator board at the same time? Just curious to see if it works.

No I don’t want holes all around my paintings. I find that using heavy paper solves the problem and framing under glass flattens out any bumps anyway. Also using tape is not a problem if you paint after the paper is dry and only remove the tape once the paint is also dry. Flat as a pancake..!

Great idea. If you add “stretch” to the title it will be easier to find this tutorial

I love painting on stretched paper.

What about the staple holes? Love your work.

This looks doable for me as trying to use that gummed “brown” tape was so messy! Now to find the right gator board?

Hoooo boy, with how expensive 100% cotton paper is you couldn't pay me to cut any away

Thank you so much Jackie! I do have a question, though. In your video, you painted on the paper while it was still stapled to the gator board. Would it still stay flat if you removed it from the gator board before you painted?

Could I use multiple pins? I don't like the idea of wasting staples each time I paint.

I used 300lbs cold press and never found the need to stretch, even at 140lbs paper. If I go less than that then its worth doing. If my paper is buckled after the painting I leave it a few days then Iron it between baking sheet paper and then file it for a day of two to make sure it stays that way.

Wouldn't it be possible to use something more reusable to stretch the paper? Just spitballin' here: what if you used those clip-on border frames for the canvas (paper) size? I don't know their exact name, but I used to get them cheap at Walmart when I needed to prep pictures for an art show on the cheap without a whole custom frame.

It’s a trade-off. The painting might be flatter but the edges will have multiple holes from the staples.

I have never had success stretching wc paper. I was hoping this would be a new method. I use blocks or aqua board. I like the aquaboard; avoid the expensive framing process and it is very forgiving.

Do you leave the white border where the staples were? Or cut it off before selling the painting? I like the white border look but i have never tried stapling the paper worrying that the border will look completely ruined after im done 🥲 are the holes too aparent? Will it look unprofessional to sell a painting with holes in the white border? 😅

Did you cut down your gator board to match the size of your paper? Can you cut gator board similar to cutting foamcore? When I was in college our watercolor instructor suggested buying a material called homasote to use as a watercolor board to attach our paper to with tape. Homasote is a material found at home improvement stores. I'm thinking of trying this technique out on the homasote board that I have to see if I can use it in place of the gator board. If not, I will get some gator board. Thanks for this helpful video.

About how many times can you use a piece of gator board before it has too many holes/becomes unusable? I am interested in this method but am also afraid of needing add regular gator board purchases to my supply list.

Thanks for it. Does it work with 200gsm paper?

Joder como pintas!!

I live in a pretty tiny house and have little room for storage. At most I can try having a single gator board. But that means one piece of stretched paper at ready. Is it ok to stretch the paper then remove it from the board to save for painting at a later time? That way I could stretch a few pieces and have them ready. I use blocks some, but they are really expensive, and they still warp for me. That one little spot not glued down warps with the water I use and does not flatten back down. I use Arches and recently tried Baohong. The Baohong did not warp while painting. Although I let it completely dry first, after removing it from the block it curly up significantly on one corner and had a bit of a wave, far from flat. Thank you for the great video!

And if you live in a place that doesn't have gator board? What's alternative?

Pinholes. I still rely on gummed paper tape for stretching paper.

Just use gum paper tap.

Have you tried watercolor tape, when it's wet? Let it dry first and keeps it flat

Don’t use your bathtub. A friend did & some of her hair conditioner must have survived her scrubbing 😢 needless to say it destroyed the quality o the paper.😪

Hi, can I use cellulose water colour paper also like that? I bought a booklet of Canson watercolour painting pad. Later found out that it's not a good absorbant for wet on wet painting. It shows patches every time

I don’t like staples in my white border…

No big deal ! I use a steam iron, a pillow case, and a a piece of 1/2" piece of plywood. I set the iron on 'cotton' or high. iron the painting flat cover with another piece of plywood, weight it down then allow to dry. Been doing this for years. Works great, have never damaged a painting. Storing your paintings flat and properly (temp and humidity) will keep them ready for scanning, copying or mounting!

At art school my teacher taught us to do it with a sponge

Is it called gator board in the UK?

I wonder what Gater/Gator board is called in the UK?

does that work with non cotton paper? i use canson watercolor paper, the cheapest ones. arches is way too expensive for me :/

Watercolor block

Sounds great. Where do I get gator board? How thick should it be? Sounds like it would be good to have a few sizes. Does it come precut to useful sizes? If not, how do I cut it? It looks like the open ends don’t have to be sealed, since it doesn’t absorb water. I hope you’ll answer 😊

Excellent tips! Sure seems like a hassle but i can see the difference. Where did you get your gator board? I believe you can also use that brown tape with glur on one side and then you only need a plexiglass backing. But it is messier.

The paintings are fabulous, but your advice on how to stretch paper is off. You can pretty much stretch any paper and I was taught to stretch it on a board using gum tape. Also, I didn’t dip my paper in a tub, it was enough to run it under a tap. As you are talking about thicker more expensive paper, then dipping it in a tub makes sense to get an even amount of wetness. But, your leading people to think they have to use specialist cotton rich paper.

What about the several holes around the paper?

This isnt the way to stretch paper, just wet the paper, any paper! And use the brown gum tape to tape it down on a wooden board, just leave to dry and your gtg.

Can you re-use the gator board several times?

Wait you’re not supposed to iron the paper flat?

Or...... you could just invest in 300 pound ( weight) paper..it holds up to heavy brush strokes and more water... its a bit more expensive.... but decide how much is your TIME worth? Personally, when i want to paint ..i want to do it.....right now...not think 24 ahead.... but, you be you..😊😊

The issue i have with this is that we have enough excuses not to paint today, and stretching paper 24 hours in advance is a big excuse not to paint today, including the time and setup to go throught this. And bonus for us watercolourists is that watercolour painting is cheap. So make it more expensive and go for heavy weight paper, move from 140lb to 300lb. Buy it in sheets to limit the expense rather than pricey blocks of paper. Then we don't have an excuse not to be painting as we didnt prep. People moan at the cost of materials, but $3 on a piece of paper is less than a coffee. If you painted 3 painting a day with 300lb paper for 5 days a week for a year with artist grade paint that is less than $20 dollars a day $100/week, $5k per year. Sounds like a lot, but doing the same on 140lb paper with artist grade paint would cost about $3.7k per year. Not much of a saving, and i havent accounted for the gator board. That extra $1.3k per year is a lot of money to some people. But not much for a Western mid-level worker to indulge in a pursuit. It's a small percentage of a yearly wage. So don't be giving yourself excuses not to paint, or some prep to complete before you indulge, just cut back on all that excess, make your own coffee and shut up & paint.