Wallcoverings by Hannah Coxon

Project Report – Wall Coverings
Hannah Coxon
Wall coverings is such a wide range collection, ranging from wallpaper, wall hangings, murals and even such simple things as photographs and portraits, I decided to concentrate on wallpaper. Dating back to 200BC in ancient china, china is believed to be the first to use wallpaper as they were the first to create paper they hung up rice paper on their walls these were hand painted with birds, flowers, religious symbols and sometimes landscapes. In the middle ages the Europeans’ paid artists to paint paper for their walls. But wallpaper hardly said to have ‘existed’ until the invention of the printing press.
Europe’s oldest so far found wallpaper was found in Cambridge at Christ’s College it is dated back to 1509. A guild of paperhangers was established in France at 1599 but only small sheets of decorated paper were available.
One of the earliest trends of wallpaper in London was hand painted papers that imitated architectural details or such things as marble and stucco. Borders resembling a tasselled braid or swag of fabric were often added and flocked papers that looked like cut velvet was immensely popular. Even Queen Victoria had flocked walls. In 1839 the British invented the four colour roller printer machine with designs hand cut that could print 400 rolls a day. In the 1800’s scenic wallpapers printed with hand carved blocks was the trend.
The wallpaper that I have produced is based on the flowers choice and I decided to base this on an oriental/Japanese theme, including rich yet vibrant colours also with using foiling to connote wealth and glamour.
Over the six weeks of the project I have learnt new processes such as flocking and foiling, these processes are quite traditional yet are used in contemporary wall coverings. The process to flock and foil is very simple and easy with a very sleek and professional outcome. It involves putting this special glue where you want the flock or foil to go, if its foil the colour foil side goes up, the flock the flocking side faces the glue. This then is put under the heat press for the glue to set just for a couple of seconds, peel away and the flock or foil will be in the position of where the glue was. I also discovered that foiling sticks to photocopy ink so I tried this with a basic photocopy of a flower I drew put the foil straight over the top and it sticks where the ink is. I think this is a very discreet outcome which I liked a lot.
First thing I did for this project was choose which genre I wanted to work in, I chose flowers then I collected research I found this from the internet, magazines and books from library, I also got some wallpaper samples from Laura Ashley. I loved the colour palette of the oriental theme this being reds, gold, bronze, black, gray, navy and plums, or anything that felt really rich and warm. I also loved the works of Tricia guild and Hanna Werning I loved the bright colours and the big flowery patterns which are very bold yet intricate designs.

Once this was decided we went to Temple Newsam to have a look at old traditional wallpapers.We went to Temple Newsam which is an old mansion that used to be lived in and passed down the family it has amazing grounds and full of beautiful antiques we were specifically looking at the wallpaper around this house. The earliest wallpaper was found to be from between 1510-1600. In 1670-1680 the greatest innovation of wallpaper so far was found, the roller printer which the British made the British was also the first to do flocking which was very popular for wallpaper with the upper class. There was also wood block carving which was a technique used quite a lot for pillar and arch wallpapers which were quite gothic using dark grey’s and whites. In 1851 was the Great Exhibition which was an opportunity for artists to show off their works it was a massive opportunity for wallpaper designers and makers to show the difference and the quality that wallpaper had reached so far. At temple newsam I really liked the floral’s and how vintage and beautiful they are.
After temple newsam the observational works began, drawing all kinds of flowers from roses to cherry blossoms to plants I did drawings such as continual line which I really like to do. I also did paintings using water colours and acrylics. I also did pen drawings and pencil drawings. I did some stencilling and put coloured background behinds some were wallpapers that I collected for my research. I also found a book showing Chinese and Japanese painting and drawing techniques I tried these out and painted bamboo, peonies flowers, also I looked into how they drew and painted birds. I found ones I liked those being a Kingfisher bird and Oriole and followed the drawing technique which the outcome I really liked. I looked back at my observational drawings and saw myself concentrating on the oriental theme so I decided this is what I would base my wallpaper on. I looked back at my works and really liked the continual lines I drew of the cheery blossom I photocopied this drawing, overlapped them and painted onto them. I also used the foiling technique onto the photocopies and used this for my gesso.
Gesso is a very old traditional technique by laying the gesso onto pieces of wood or paper and trapping images in between. I decided to use wood I again used to line drawing of cherry blossom, one being a photocopy and the other having been foiled. Next I photocopied the painting of the kingfisher that I painted and arranged it so that it was landing on the flowers I also put hints of the gold bronze on it to tie it in. I put another layer of gesso on top of this then used the waste of a bamboo shoot that had been foiled and put this on the side. I also made two other gesso pieces which have been painted on and again layered up with photocopies and foil.
Next I started my printing I did three practice pieces using three different colour backgrounds being grey, blue and red these all fitting in with the colour palette of the oriental theme, on these I foiled a bamboo shoot, using a foiling technique, at the side using screen printing. I also printed a peonies flower using three different stencils to produce three different colours ones of these being black foil. The background is a stencil of a cheery blossom being made bolder and screen printed in a deep red cherry colour. The bird was then screen printed in a jade green colour.
Once I had done the sample I decided against the blue and enlarged the red and grey I randomised the bamboo shoots again foiled. I used the same screen printing and using the same colours personally I think it works better on a larger scale.
In conclusion I am happy with my project; I like how things aren’t perfect which adds to the rustic vintage kind of feel. I mounted my work onto black cardaswell as white as I think it fits I with the oriental theme more and would of clashed if it was straight onto white. I also think if my work would have a target audience it would be for people who like contemporary, culture and warmth in a piece of work.