Is it possible to treat a stretchered canvas with polyurethane, epoxy resin or some such, to make it waterproof enough to hang over the bathroom shower?

If you put on enough coats to be certain that there weren’t any untreated areas, no matter how small, I don’t see why not. Isn’t this what they do with fiberglass coatings to make sure a boat is waterproof?

Maybe call a place that caters to boating people and ask them what they would recommend.

Is this an Acrylic painting you’re talking about?

If you frame it up, yes. I’m not sure how it would react to doping if you left it unframed.

Seal all of the back too, not just the front.

@hiphiphopflipflapflop why would a frame matter?
@dabbler I planned to do just that. The whole thing dipped or equivalent, even the wire

Lacquer the shit out of it?

I’m wondering if it might shrivel rather than remain flat after doping without being kept in a frame.

@Ponderer983 I don’t think that would create a safely impervious surface and it would discolor the artwork too much, especially as the lacquer aged.

@hiphiphopflipflapflop The stretched canvas has been leaning against a wall for about 40 years and stayed quite the same. The paint is acrylic, probably cotton duck canvas, pine stretchers. What would a frame have to do with it? Stretched canvas paintings are not enclosed in a frame, they just have molding chops around them to make them look more finished.

The canvas might be ok, but I would think that all the moisture from the shower would warp the pine it’s stretched on

I’m just saying that because if you read the link, doping will make the fabric contract and that could lead to wrinkling if it isn’t kept taut by something. I’ve never done something like this before, so I don’t know for sure.

@hiphiphopflipflapflop doping is different. It is not making a solid thing of it, more like an airtight kite, still flexible. And those old planes may have had silk fabric which shrinks easily. I’ve never done anything like this either—I may just talk to someone who does restaurant tabletops or encases scorpions in acrylic.

Also, it may be a dumb idea.