How to Care for Canvas Prints

A canvas print needs almost no maintenance, which is exactly why the little it does need is worth knowing. Get a few simple things right, dusting, light, humidity and handling, and a canvas stays looking new for decades. Get them wrong, mostly by reaching for water or a spray cleaner, and you can mark it permanently. Here is how to care for canvas prints in an Indian home.

Dusting: the only regular job

Canvas collects dust like anything else on a wall. Once every week or two, wipe it gently with a dry, soft cloth, a clean microfibre cloth is ideal, or sweep it lightly with a clean, dry feather duster. Work gently and follow the surface, do not scrub. That is genuinely most of canvas care. A canvas that gets dusted now and then will look new for years with no other attention.

What never to touch it with

Liquids are a canvas print's main enemy. The list of things to keep away from it is short and absolute:

• No water. Even a damp cloth can leave a mark or lift the surface over time. Keep cleaning dry.
• No glass cleaner or household sprays. The chemicals can react with the print surface and discolour it. What is safe for a window is not safe for a canvas.
• No furniture polish or dusting sprays. They leave a residue that attracts more dust and can dull the print.
• No scrubbing. Pressure on the weave can crack ink or distort the canvas. Always a light touch.

If something does land on the canvas, blot, do not rub, and let it dry. For anything stubborn, leave it rather than risk a cleaner; a faint mark is better than a chemical stain.

Where to hang it, and where not to

Placement does more for a canvas's lifespan than any cleaning routine:

• Keep it out of direct sunlight. Hours of direct sun every day will fade any printed photo over time. A wall that does not face a window head-on is the safest spot. This matters even though our canvases use fade-resistant inks; direct sun is hard on everything.
• Avoid humidity and steam. Bathrooms, walls right beside a cooking range, and exterior walls that get damp in the monsoon are poor choices. Sustained moisture can loosen the canvas over the months and years. In coastal cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi, favour interior walls with airflow.
• Keep it away from direct heat. Above a stove or a heater, repeated heat cycles are not kind to the canvas or the frame.

Handling and moving

When you take a canvas down or move it, hold it by the wooden frame edges, never by pressing on the printed front. Finger oils and point pressure on the surface cause most of the avoidable damage canvases ever suffer. If you are storing one, stand it upright, face protected, in a dry room, not flat under other things and not in a damp loft.

Why good care pays off here

Canvas rewards care more than most prints because the print itself is built to last. Our canvas prints are made on 400 GSM cotton canvas with fade-resistant pigment inks, the kind that hold their colour for over 100 years. Pigment inks sit more stably than older dye inks, which is what gives canvas its long life, but that life assumes the basics above: dusted, out of the sun, away from damp. Do that, and a canvas outlasts the wall it hangs on. If you are deciding between canvas and other formats for a particular spot, our canvas vs framed vs acrylic comparison covers where each one fits.

Start with a canvas built to last

Good care keeps a good canvas new; it cannot rescue a poor one. Create a canvas from ₹145 on 400 GSM cotton with pigment inks, with free shipping over ₹199, COD, and delivery in 3 to 5 business days across India. Every order is checked by a person before printing. 10,392+ customers, 4.4 stars. For sizing help, see our canvas print size guide, or browse all our canvas guides.