A properly made canvas print needs remarkably little maintenance — that is part of the format’s appeal. The eco-solvent inks we print with bond into the coated fabric surface, and a hand-stretched canvas on a spruce/fir frame has no glass to smear, no mat to yellow, and no frame joints to loosen. What canvas does need is the right environment and a light touch: most damage we see on returned or photographed pieces comes not from age but from wet cleaning, steamy rooms, or careless transport. This guide covers the full care cycle — routine cleaning, marks, light, humidity, and moving — for all three of our fabrics: 270 g/m² polyester, the 300 g/m² cotton-poly blend, and 370 g/m² cotton.

How do you clean a canvas print?

Dry, soft, and gentle is the whole method: dust the canvas with a clean microfibre cloth, a soft feather duster, or a wide soft-bristled brush, working lightly from top to bottom. Once a month is plenty in most homes; high-traffic commercial spaces may want it weekly. Do not press into the fabric — the aim is to lift dust off the surface, not rub it in, and the canvas should barely deflect under the cloth. Avoid anything wet or chemical for routine care: no household sprays, no furniture polish, no glass cleaner, and no dusting products impregnated with silicone or solvents, all of which can interact with the ink layer or leave residues that attract more dust. A vacuum cleaner’s soft brush attachment on low suction, held just off the surface, works well for textured cotton weaves where dust settles into the fabric grain. That is the entire routine — canvas rewards restraint.

Removing marks and stains

Act early, blot gently, and stay damp rather than wet — that sequence resolves most marks a canvas picks up in normal service. For a fresh mark, lightly moisten a clean white microfibre cloth with lukewarm water, wring it until barely damp, and dab the spot from its edges inward. Never scrub: eco-solvent ink is durable against contact, but abrasion can burnish the surface, and rubbing spreads whatever caused the mark. Never soak: water driven into the fabric can wick along the threads and, on natural fibres especially, leave a tide ring larger than the original stain. If plain water does not lift it, stop — do not escalate to alcohol, acetone, kitchen degreasers, or “magic” eraser sponges, all of which can strip or dull the ink layer permanently. For valuable large-format pieces with serious staining, a conservator or a reprint quote (request a quote) are both better outcomes than an experiment. Prevention beats all of it: hang canvases away from cooking splatter and children’s marker range.

Sunlight and UV exposure

Keep canvas prints out of prolonged direct sunlight — this is the single most important placement rule for print longevity. Eco-solvent pigment inks are a durable interior print technology with good fade resistance in normal room light, and a canvas hung on a wall that receives ambient daylight will hold its colour for many years. Direct sun through glass is a different regime: concentrated UV plus heat cycling will eventually fade any printed artwork, whatever the technology, with reds and yellows typically retreating first. In practice the rule costs little — the difference between the wall that faces a south window and the wall beside it is the difference between a print that shifts within a few years and one that outlives the sofa under it. For sun-drenched rooms, choose placement first, and consider that fabric matters at the margin: dye-dense dark images show fading sooner than light, airy ones. Interior use, as specified for all three of our fabrics, assumes exactly this: indoor light, not weather.

Humidity, temperature and where not to hang canvas

Canvas lives happily in the conditions people do: stable room temperature and moderate indoor humidity. What ages it prematurely is atmosphere at the extremes. Sustained steam — an unventilated bathroom, the wall directly above a kitchen hob — loads the fabric and timber with moisture; natural fibres respond most, which is why the 370 g/m² cotton and 300 g/m² blend prefer dry rooms, while 100% polyester, a synthetic and dimensionally more stable fibre, is the sensible pick for kitchens, entrance halls, and other humidity-variable spaces (Cotton vs polyester canvas). The spruce/fir stretcher frame is seasoned timber and tolerates normal seasonal swings, but chronic damp can slacken fabric tension, and heat sources are worse: do not hang canvas directly above a radiator, wood stove, or fireplace, where rising heat dries and cycles the material daily. Also avoid exterior walls with known condensation. None of this is delicate-flower territory — it is the same placement sense you would apply to a good piece of furniture.

Storing and transporting a canvas

Store and move a canvas upright, padded, and dry — never flat under other objects, and never leaning face-against anything unpadded. For transport, wrap the face in clean tissue or glassine, then bubble wrap with the bubbles facing outward (bubbles against the surface can emboss their pattern into the print under pressure), and box large pieces with corner protectors, which is how every canvas leaves our production line in Sofia. In a car, stand the canvas on edge, secured so nothing can fall against the printed face; the fabric is tough, but a point impact from behind can stretch a visible dent into the weave, and one from the front can crease it. For storage, keep the canvas upright in a dry, temperate interior room — not a garage, attic, or cellar, where humidity and temperature swing hardest. Wrapped storage should breathe: avoid sealing canvas in plastic film long-term, particularly cotton, which as a natural fibre should not be trapped with moisture.

What to avoid: the short list

Most canvas damage traces back to a handful of avoidable actions, so here is the blacklist in one place:

  • Wet cleaning — no sprays, soaked cloths, or immersion; damp-dab only, and only on marks.
  • Solvents and abrasives — no alcohol, acetone, degreasers, polish, or eraser sponges on the printed surface.
  • Direct prolonged sunlight — placement is your UV protection; no print technology is immune behind glass-free south light.
  • Steam and heat sources — no unventilated bathrooms, no hanging directly above radiators, hobs, or fireplaces.
  • Pressure on the face — no stacking flat, no leaning objects against the front, no bubbles-inward wrapping.
  • Unstable storage spaces — no garages, attics, or cellars for anything you intend to rehang.

Everything else — dusting, normal handling by the frame, seasonal climate variation in a lived-in home — the canvas takes in stride. Sensible hanging placement is half of care, and that is covered in the hanging guide (How to hang canvas prints).

Frequently asked questions

Can I use water to clean my canvas print?

Only sparingly, on marks — never for routine cleaning. Use a white microfibre cloth wrung to barely damp, dab the mark from the edges inward, and let it air-dry. Routine care is dry dusting only; soaking canvas drives water into the fibres and can leave tide rings.

Will my canvas print fade over time?

In normal indoor light, not noticeably for many years — eco-solvent pigment inks have good fade resistance in interior conditions. Prolonged direct sunlight is the exception: concentrated UV eventually fades any print technology, so keep canvases off walls that take unshielded direct sun for hours daily.

Can a canvas print hang in a bathroom?

We advise against it in bathrooms without good ventilation. Sustained steam loads the fabric and timber frame with moisture, slackening tension and shortening the print’s life. For humidity-prone rooms, 100% polyester (270 g/m²) is the most stable of our three fabrics — but ventilation matters more than fabric.

How do I fix a small dent in the canvas surface?

Shallow deformations from a light knock often recover on their own within days as the fabric re-tensions. Help it along by lightly misting the back of the canvas at the dent with water and letting it dry naturally — the fabric tightens as it dries. Never wet the printed face.

Do canvas prints need varnishing or sealing?

No. Our canvases ship ready to hang: the eco-solvent ink layer bonds into the coated fabric and needs no additional varnish for interior use. Aftermarket sprays and sealants are unnecessary and risk clouding or unevenly glossing the surface — care is dusting and placement, nothing more.