How to make a projection screen that's also a painting

Step 3 Clothing it

So far so good, the next step is to drape the thing. I started with the side that was supposed to house the painting, mostly because I had the material for that side already but also because that material was much thinner and wouldn't interfere with the tensing of the material on the other side. For this I used regular opaque roller shades from IKEA. It's important to check so that there aren't any sharp corners sticking out (since I'd made miter joints there was this one joint that didn't line up properly and I had to sand it down) that could tear the shades when tensing them. You should have so much material that you have at least 20 cm to pull at at each side.

The tensing process is a lot of work since the fabric need to be stretched really hard in order to avoid ugly bubbling effects. You start out by spreading the fabric centered onto the frame, folding it over the back and putting one staple at the middle of each side on the outside of the frame. Don't put the staples too far "down" or you'll have problems when stripping off the excess fabric when done. The first ones are the most tricky and you might have to pull them out and tighten several times before it looks okay. It's not crucial that it looks great at this stage. You can proceed by putting three or four staples around each initial staple and tighten it until you're satisfied. Always alternate between sides to minimize the risk of pulling the fabric askew since it leads to bubbling.