Flocking, foling and flittering

In a workshop we learnt new techniques that can be used on wallpapers; flocking, foiling and flittering. Flocking could be done in two different ways, either with loose fibres or flocking paper. With both techniques the design has to be screen printed with a flock adhesive using a larger weave screen, this has to then be left to dry. With the flock paper you place your paper with the flocking facing down into the heat press for 20sec and once cooled it is peeled off. It is then possible to create the reverse by putting it back into the heat press. The other way is to use the flock applicator, where you use loose flock fibres and then they are attracted to the paper by a charge. This is then put in the heat press to hold the fibres in place.

Foiling. Again this involves using screen printing to apply the adhesive to the paper, then followed by the heat press. It can also be used with photocopies by placing the foil on top of the photocopy and put in the heat press, it then sticks to the black outlines. The reversed can be created by applying bondaweb and then ironing the foil on to the top.

Flittering is like glitter but it is much finer so can be pulled through a loose weave screen, but an easier way is to screen print with the the binder and when it is still wet add the glitter to it. This can then be shaken off, if it is applied thickly it should stick. By then putting it in the heat press for about 1minute it should keep the glitter in place.

Kitty craft fabrics

When looking for a starting point to the wallpaper project i browsed the internet and came across this company. It has several querky designs ranging from fairytale designs to vintage and retro designs.

I like the idea of having a small relatively simple design and then repeating it with slight changes. Or having several pictures along one theme and rotating them, but this will depend on the motif that i choose to use.

Beatriz Milhaze

Milhaze is a Brazilian artist that has quite a graphic nature to her artwork. Her work contains both geometric and organic motifs. Pieces are thought to be representational of the Brazil landscape beacuse of its saturated colours and vivid patterns.

She works in a very complicated and skillful way when considering the composition. Elements are painted onto plastic sheets, once dry they are carefully positioned and then glued into place.

'Guanabara' (left) has been commisioned to be in the Tate Modern restaurant in 2005 and also exhibited in London at the Gloucester Road tube station.

Wallpaper archives

The archives contains wallpapers and wall coverings from as early as the 17th century up until the present day. It began with simple patterns which were hand crafted on small sheets of paper, to 18th century luxurious embossed hangings, to well known designers like William Morris, Voysey and Crane of the late 19th century.

I found this section really interesting as you can see how technology and styles have evolved. Wallpaper designs began being hand printed and were quite simple, but as technology advanced so did the detail within the patterns and the use of machines to print the designs. Also the advances in paper has changed, now there is an 'endless' roll of paper, whereas originally the paper was a limited size.

Whitworth Gallery, Manchester

We recently had a trip to the Whitworth gallery to see its current exhibition of 1920s and 1930s wallpaper designs. We also looked at the wallpaper archives, looking at wallpaper from the early 1900s.

Flights of Fancy

During the 20th century there was a move away from highly patterned walls which obviously affected the manufacturers. So paper decorations were produced on to textured papers. In the 1920s and 1930s this was widely available and varied largely in price. The exhibition consists of papers which were inspired by the outside and brought inside. There were large potted plants and you could also get smaller shrubs to act as a border. Alongside the samples were pictures of how it would look in the house. (as shown above). As you can see there is very little furniture as it would have blocked the wallpaper which also fitted with the modernist style.

Howard Hodgkin

Howard Hodgkin is a British painter and printmaker and his style is very much considered as abstract. His paintings often evoke memories of his encounters with friends or a place he has visited. His pieces are much smaller compared to Rothko but they often take a few years to be completed as more layers are added.


Again colour was my inspiration for looking at Hodgkin, it is more random to Rothko and there is a looser style which i think is more fittting with my project of lights. I like how the painting continues onto the frame so there isnt a border but an extension to the piece.

Mark Rothko

Rothko (1903-1970) was a painter and printmaker and is classified as an abstract expressionist. He is known for his large scale paintings which are rich in colour.

I looked at Rothko for his use of colour as it is really strong and has a high impact on the viewer. I like how there are blocks of colour and it is all quite organised and linear. There is such a range of colours as well within each block and they fade into each other.

Making books

We recently had a project on how to make artists books. I really enjoyed this project as it was something completely new to me and i wasn't aware that it came under the title of printed textiles. We began the project by looking at other artists books and how they were constructed. I especially like the consatine effect and considered it for my own book. We also loked at ways of printing and folding so that a book could be constructed together with just a piece of paper.

After getting the 'objet trouvet' brief i knew that i wanted to do something with photography. I have a camera which has a long shutter speed so i wanted to look at lights and colour because i wanted something bold. I also liked the idea of how a book should look, i didnt want to do anything too plain so i worked with the idea of having separate pages and then putting them together in a box which looked like a book. After i had done this i still had several photos left over so i went back to one of my earlier ideas and put the leftovers together in a consatine book. I mounted them on black paper so that it would stand out more. I finished it off with a hard cover and something which was relatively plain in comparison to the book itself.

Overall i was happy with this project and looked at sveral different artists to reinforce my ideas. These are listed below.