Drowning in a Sea of Wallpaper

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That's me, aligning a stencil frame, as I print more wallpaper for an upcoming show.

I've been working twelve hours work days. My legs and feet are exhausted, particularly because we take off our shoes when we walk on our projects. We work on the floor, a lot of the time, and walk on our art. But we don't want to mar the surface of the painted paper. Working without any arch support is murder on my feet! (You can see my socked feet through the plastic of the stencil.)




Can you see how dark it was outside when I took this photo? I just hope we actually created enough of this particular pattern!




Former intern Sheri and current intern Mike hang the wallpaper. I think they probably wanted to kill me today. I had shown them how to hang wallpaper a couple of months ago, and we had talked through every step of the process. But then I had to leave the studio, and go to a meeting, and I asked them to start pasting and hanging the wallpaper without me.

Somehow, the paper and the paste (which we had used successfully just last week) reacted badly to one another, and the paper stretched out of shape, which caused horrible wrinkles and non-aligned patterns. It was pretty hair raising, and they were working without supervision, hanging wallpaper for the very first time.




We took a deep breath, tracked down some thicker paste, adjusted our technique, and pretty soon everyone was smiling again.

How about that awesome wallpaper?

Comments

Gothknits said…
The bogus paper has been acting so weird for the last few years. They changed something about it.

At the end of my pregnancy going around in my stocking feet was killing me. I invested in a pair of Crocs to wear on the art. It was the best thing I ever did. I still wear them. Their construction allows you to submerge the whole shoe for cleaning.

Despite the issues, the wall paper looks exquisite.
Lisa said…
Even more bogus than it used to be!
Eliza said…
I was going to ask what you are stenciling on but now wonder from the comments if it's bogus paper? It looks amazing.

Who is the designer?

I actually met Sarah Ruhl last fall. We were in line to see a play, and she looked familiar so I introduced myself, thinking I knew her from somewhere. She was like, "oh, hi! I'm Sarah Ruhl!" and I realized that I really didn't know her. She was very sweet though.
Abby Hogan said…
Your wall paper is gorgeous!
torirot said…
Beautiful wallpaper! Reminds me of the hat I'm knitting at the moment, Selbu Modern
Anonymous said…
Lisa
makes me appreciate you stamp carving even more

fleetwood7
You should try to find a local massage school and get yourself a free rubdown to ease those aching muscles and release some tension.
Vicky said…
I'm a stencilist in Connecticut. I've just recently started painting wallpaper, too, but I noticed in one of your photographs that you have your stencil framed. It strikes me as a great idea, but I still have to ask: why? how? does it make the stencil last longer?

Beautiful paper!
Vicky
Weeping Sore said…
I once had to ask a neighbor to help me hang wallpaper because if I'd attempted to do so with my spouse, we'd have ended up divorced. Which we did anyway, but still.

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