Wallpaper craze - wallpaper stickers

With feature walls and patterned wallpaper becoming more and more fashionable, I came across a new craze - removable wallpaper! It seems like a pretty good idea to be honest, as if you are renting accommodation you can't really paint the walls how you want as its not your house!
The company wallcandy (website) has some really cool designs and it is so simple, there is no priming, preping or gluing to be done, instead the 'wallpaper'  is a self adhesive vinyl sheet that can be cut out to any size and there are no traces left when you remove it from your wall!

Specialist Research Project - What have I learnt?

During my course module AA 4/5 which began in mid October, I have broadened my knowledge on the vast and growing industry of handpainted wall paper. It seems their is a lot of skill needed for this industry as many companies such as Cole & Son, A.L Diament & Co, Gracie Studio ... still use original methods of wallpapering to create their opulent designs.

Through out my project it was interesting to find out that most companies use the original large printing blocks or screen printing, instead of actually just handpainting the designs. I think these techniques are something I would have to learn and try out if I wanted to go into this profession, and I just don't really know when I would get time to do that!

Moreover, I've done a lot of thinking about my future career during this research project andthat maybe this isn't an area I want to go into, despite being so eager to learn about it at the start. There is no doubt that there is a great demand for handpaint wallpaper ranging from normal bars wanting to stand out, to the interiors of famous houses such as Buckingham palace and it would a lovely skill to be able to do. However, I feel I need to push myself in the scenic art profession and maybe I shouldn't think negatively about not getting work. Its been great learning about the history, techniques and the demand for handpainted wallpaper, but I know my main focus should be scenic art. Anyways come to think about it, their are so many production which need handpainted/hand printed wall paper designs so I guess I will picks up these skills throughout my profession.

Cole & Son

Ahhhh I'm so happy that Sarah Crooks told me about the wallpaper company Cole & Son, I have been looking for ages for this pattern:

Gracie Studio

Came across this websitehttp://graciestudio.com/ the other night, it's really interesting and I never really gave much thought on restoring hand painted wall paper so think I am going to do a bit more research into it!

Timorous Beasties

Psychedelic, tripping on acid and beatuiful are the words I would use to describe my favourite interior design company - Timorous Beasties (their website). It is this quirky company founded in the West End of Glasgow in the 1990s that made me interested in researching handpainted wallpaper. Okay, so technically speaking my research project is on hand painted wallpaper and er Timourous Beasties does use machines to create some of their designs but they still use handpainting approaches.

Paul Montgomery Studio

I've just finished reading a book/catalogue about the hand painted wallpaper company 'Paul Montogomery Studio' and their work is amazing! Seeing their detailed hand painted Chinoiserie, European Panoramics, Decorative Panneaux designs ... it just motivates me to be as good them and makes me all the more determined to understand the process of hand painted wallpaper.

Murals vs. Hand painted Wallpaper

From the beginning of my specialist research project I have been so confused about the cross over in Murals and Hand painted wallpaper. When I think of a mural I normally think of a picture painted on a wall, but when I think about hand painted wallpaper i think of a chinoiserie scenic setting painted on fine paper. However, I guess the word mural is so vague, and from doing my research it seems anything can be a mural if its painted directly onto a wall/ceiling/floor, so I came to the conclusion that hand painted wallpaper is basically a large mural. And then ... I got confused again, if the wallpaper is painted on panels then maybe it isn't mural? Is it only a mural if your just paint the design directly onto the wall? Oh golly i'm confused again!

So to make things easier for myself, I'm going to focus on hand painted wallpaper styles either in a mural style or not.

A.L. Diament & Co. - Fine hand painted wallpaper

I've been very bad at blogging for my specialist research project, and its not because I can't be bothered, rather the contrary - I just don't know where to start! I come in from SLS (for those who don't know thats Spiers Lock Studios where I spend most of my time painting in the scenic department) and I go online to blog about my day. Once I've finished blogging, my fingers automatically type into google 'hand painted wallpaper.' Typing that into google is lethal for me, literally I could look at opulent wallpaper all day every day; I get lost thinking about one day painting my walls in a Chinoiserie style, I look at hand painted wallpaper companies one after another and then when I log back onto blogger I just don't know how to begin blogging about them!

Murals in interior design

Today everyone likes to have a nice interior, so it isn't surprising that having a hand painted mural in your home or hip restaurant is back in vogue. Think of the feature wall, its normally some really nice wall paper, a bold colour or more recently something really eye catching. This craze is something I'm really interested in, why do people want them? Who is likely to buy them and how much do they cost? How do you go about painting one?

A very BRIEF history of Murals

Murals are probably the oldest form of art dating back thousands of years, to the late stone ages and there are many surving murals from the Egyptian ear (around 3150BC) and is a piece of art painted directly onto a wall/ceiling.

Some History of Hand painted wallpaper

Wall Paper first began in China, no surprises here seeming they invented paper and it is believed they first began to glue rice paper to their walls in 200 B.C. However, painted walls/murals are dated back to the wall paintings of the Egyptians and the Romans.
By the 12th century wall paper had taken off in Europe as it was a cheaper alternative to fabric (however this was still the norm at the time) which covered walls and windows to keep drafts out, the upper classes also used elaborate fabrics/ tapestries on their walls.
It is believed that the first hand painted wall paper in Europe dates back to the early 1400s using a printing block method of religious scenes, this technique is known as 'helgen' but there is evidence to sugest that the Chinese began using this method since the 5th century.

Specialist Research Project

I have decided to do my Specialist Research Project on hand painted wallpaper/murals as I feel this is an area I could go into as a freelancer after I graduate if I can't find any jobs in theatre or film/tv! I keep on finding myself on Google images looking at chinoise wallpaper, or on Timorous Beasties website (the Glasgow based textile and wallpaper company) and I find myself in awe of their beauty and I am desperate to try replicate some designs for my walls in my flat - however I am beginning to run out of walls!