Hanging Flat Canvas panels

Often times, when I am browsing through the many beautiful paintings here on ebay, I come across something just magnificent. I click on it and start to read about the wonderful piece of art only to realize that the artist opted to use canvas panel. There is nothing wrong with that, many good artists use canvas boards from time to time, I even use them for some of my own artwork. But nether the less, I have many times clicked my "Back" button in disappointment. I didn't want to pay such a high price to have the piece framed. That is, until I discovered some new ways to hang paintings that are not gallery stretched.

First I would like to point out that you will want to find out if the edges of the canvas panel are painted. When you are not going to hide the sides of the painting behind the edges of the frame you want to make sure you will not see any exposed canvas on the sides. Many artists would be happy to paint the sides for you if they haven't already (All my paintings already have the sides painted.), or, if you already have a painting you would like to hang without framing you can opt to touch up the sides yourself.
Here are some of the ways you can hang a flat canvas panel:
1) Attach picture hardware to the back with a glue gun.

2) Buy stretcher bars from an art store, or get a wooden frame. Paint it the color of your choice, and then use a hot glue gun to affix the painting on the pieces of wood so it looks like a stretched canvas.

3) You can also get a piece of wood that’s larger then the painting, drill hole on the back so you can hang it on a nail (kind of like a plaque) paint it and affix the painting on the wood. This method gives the painting a nice border.

4) Buy mirror hangers. They are clear plastic pieces that let you hang a flat mirror.

5) My favorite way to hang a flat piece of art is to get some nice ribbon. cut it to the size I want. Glue both sides of the ribbon to the back corners of the painting. Then, you can hang it on a nail. You can also tie a bow in the top of the ribbon to make it even more decorative. This makes a nice wall hanging.
Well, I hope you find this to be a helpful and fun way to hang your paintings.