WALL coverings are not
a newfangled idea in the
world of interior fash-
ions.

The desire to decorate
walls has been ingrained in us
ever since our ancestors paint-
ed themselves and their ani-
mals on the stone surfaces of
their caves. Children seem to
be born with a single-minded
determination to write and
paint on walls, and the
Pompeiians made spectacular
wall paintings before the vol-
cano erupted and covered
their beautiful work in ashes.

Since then the inventive
human mind has thought of a
multitude of materials with
which to enhance the vertical
surfaces in a dwelling.
Nomadic tent dwellers used
rugs and kilims; the Romans
liked mosaic tile and French
aristocracy had glorious hand-
woven tapestries which also
served as insulation in their
breezy castles.

Depending on the style of
the day, walls were covered in
leather, silk brocade, velvet,
cotton prints and damask.
Countries with a good suppl
of hardwood dad their walls”
in rich wood paneling.

The Chinese t traditionally
covered walls with painted silk
or paper. They were, in fact,
the first to make wallpaper
which they exported in small
rectangular sheets of approxi-

works

Unravelling wallpaper’s history

mately 12.5 by 16.5 inches.

France was probably the
first country in the western
world to produce wallpaper in
the early 17th century.
Ironically i it was “flocked

aper” which, in this century,

has connotations of raunchy
drinking establishments and
less than genteel houses. It
was an imitation even then —
a poor imitation of brocaded
velvet.

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always wondered how it was
made: the pattern was printed
in varnish on colored paper
and then sprinkled with dye-
powdered wool. When dry,
the excess was removed, leav-
ing a paper which looked very
much like velvet.

It is said that Madame de
Pompadour was fond of
flocked wallpaper and helped
to make it fashionable.

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As the demand for wallpa-
per grew, other manufacturing
methods were invented. One
of them, hand-blocking, is
occasionally still used to make
reproductions of 18th century
wallpapers. It is a painstaking
process since sections of the

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pattern had to be carved sepa-
rately for each color in the
design. The most intricate
designs required up to 3,000
wood blocks. It comes as no
surprise that this method of
production was largely aban-
doned when, around 1840,
printing rollers were invented.
Most of today’s wallpapers

HOWARD'S Paints’ Greg
Foster shows off one of
the floral patterns avail-
able at the West
Vancouver store.

NEWS photo Terry Peters

are made by the cylinder
process in which the paper ts
moved through a press with as
many metal rollers as there are
colors in the pattern.

A more expensive method
is the silk screen process which
requires one silk-covered
fraine in the size of the pat-
tern repeat for each color to
be printed on the paper.

There is a final painstaking
process to go through before
your walls can shine in the
covering that is just ight for
your decor: the all-important
selection.

Should it be traditional or
modern, flowery, abstract,
checkered or striped, and in
which shade of which color?

The selection can be fun
though because Greg Foster
at Howard’s Paint and
Wallpaper is just the nicest guy
to help you. You will find
him, surrounded by hundreds
of large sample books, at
1491 Marine Drive in West
Vancouver. He knows every
book in the store and will
even mix your paint if you
give up on wallpaper.

On the other hand, if you
do make just the perfect
choice, look for this column in
two weeks to find out how to
measure for quantity, how to
make it stick and what to
avoid.

Edith Santkamp practises
and teaches interior design on
the North Shore.

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