How to wrap canvas neatly over a frame? Don’t use a frame

This method/kit just struck me as a really genius way to make a difficult task very easy. Three difficult tasks, in fact, because

— Stretching canvas evenly is hard — it puckers

— Wrapping canvas around corners is hard — you get those annoying thick wodgy triangles of fabric, and your nice neat corners suddenly look like hell

— And mitering corners — cutting a 45-degree angle at the ends of two pieces of wood so that when you join them together, they make a nice neat corner — is the devil himself.

So what did they do? They deconstructed the frame, created a clever reusable gadget, and simplified each step to the point that the hardest thing you have to do is cut a straight line.

The kit appears to be kind of expensive, but I’m not suggesting we all go buy ’em — I’m just appreciating it for the beauty of the idea. It takes all the frustration out of the process while also yielding much better results. Clever.