Fabric of Britain

Fabric of Britain 

Wallpaper has been considered in the past as boring. Only a handful of British designers have become house hold names. Wallpaper broadens and taste and aspirations.

“more than just a background it is a fabric of our lives”

During the early 18th century wallpaper was considered to be fashionable, Back then most wallpapers were created through the use of black screen printed. This technique goes back even further to the 16th century. During this era these were mainly simple black and white prints that were produced by stationers. These prints were used for document box’s. By the 1500’s people began to use these prints and sticking them to they’re walls by matching up lines to create a repeated pattern, these were known as paper hangings.

During the 18th century Flock wallpaper was created to imitate the same effect as rich silk velvet. Flock is a raised fury design. It is made by adding the background color to the wallpaper which is applied with the use of round brushes in circular motions to work on the color. even pressure when doing this is essential. The pattern is printed using carved printing blocks. By carefully lining the patterns a repeated pattern is created. A sticky, slow drying paint is used for the printing process so that it grasps the flock later on.

The flock is cut up wool which is sprinkled over the sticky wallpaper. When this process is complete the finish result is matte flock with a sheen background. These Designs have recently come back into fashion and are widely used as a feature wall in most homes today.

Chinese wallpaper

These were considered to be very luxurious and expensive. These designs were all hand painted, Britain later than began to follow this trend and also began painting similar designs.

During this program it showed that you are able to book private viewings to view a selection of wallpaper print catalogs.

one of which is the was order book of cowton and sons (1824)

the wallpapers were expensive rolls. This was the first time you could get rolls of wallpaper because they were single sheets glued together.

In 1839 wallpaper machines were made which was a slow-moving development until 1850. Whereas block printing was converted into manufacturing machines which could produce up to twenty different colors and could produce up 250 prints an hour which could produce up to 2000 meters of wallpaper. During this time bright and bold wallpapers became popular because they aged slower and houses were so dirty from people works down the mines est. People didn’t like overly realistic wallpaper designs that had too much shading. Flat geometric or two dimension simple motifs designs were more desired.

I found this program particularity interesting because I find my self often being inspired and influenced by modern day designs and older designs.  Print making is one of my passions and i will be looking forward to the follow up episodes of this series.

BBC Four – Fabric of Britain