I have found that an an old, prestretched canvas is useful for supporting sheets of paper for painting. The soft wooden stretchers are lightweight and ideal for taking drawing pins. It provides a good rigid back to gessoed paper, and can be held firmly on an easel.
As long as the texture of the canvas is not too coarse and there are no lumps, I don't get any rubbing through. Though it will depend on the pressure you intend to apply, I have used gessoed watercolor paper without problem. Thin paper may act like a brass rubbing (maybe that can be used to good effect?), in which case I would re-gesso the canvas and sand it down.
Tip from: Pete J.
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