Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-05-19
and Where Paper.H angings are
Made.

Tho making Of paper-hanggings is an
Inc stino process. Paper-hangings
e,.onorted to have been produced in
arc VA and Holland previous to 1856.
sP'1;ncns of leather paper used in a
Speech castle in the fifteenth or six
Moo lh century have been found, and the
. LESSONS equal those OF modern times,
o1siS the material surpasses anything
NS.thsmpted by manufacturers of to-day.
a ave- japanese, whose requirements have
INV since ceased to awaken surprise,
lons also adopts in paper-hanging maxi
ate Init their distorted conceits and
'nS, combinations of color are not
1antf;ned to more than q temporary
oaenn1arity anywhere outside of Japan.
Ro.5gaed. when a Yankee originates any
larice so odd that he does not care to
a'.hor If himself, he dubsi it Japanese"
1 pahleomatic Germany has. given little
NAV to fancy in paper.hangginggs, but
R,ru and England had the field al
most to themselves till American enter
, "r%. wrcsted superiority from them.
Ehe Yankee, as has been said, is quick
- catch and copy effects, combining
o1so in his ordinations the brighter tints
and fancies of the French with the more
Massive and elegant English designs.
New York and Philadelphia produce
most of the paper-hangings used in this
em,ntry, much the larger share coming
rom Gotham. The grades, as classified
bv the trade, are numerous. There are
tbe ..brown blanks" made from the
cheapest kind of material, and the low
est priced hangings in the market.
..Buff blanks arc an improvement in
quality. The "white blanks; the
Grounded" so called from the
ground color given before the
npaper is printed; the ''satin" paper,
with a polished surface; the s'machine
bronze" the most popular quality o fgilt
goods; the ''embossed gilt and the
ss.hand -made'' follow. The process of
making all machine goods varies a little.
Having placed a large roll of paper in
position for being fed out to the machine,
the paper is grounded" or passed IN
der a series of brushes whichapply color
of one shade evenly over the surface.
The paper is then caught up in loops,
carried by an endless chain over steam
pipes, being completely dried in its
Journey q about 400 feet, and then
recled up for printing. A second trip
takes it over a large cylinder, having a
series of nicely adjusted rollers, each
one printing a separate pattern and
color. The rollers are of wood and the
patterns are skillfully cut in brass on
their surfaces. The drying process is
then repeated and if gold or bronze is
used in the pattern, the paper, in its
progress by the endless chain, passes
through an auxiliary machine which de-
posts gold or bronze dust on parts that
have been printed with varnish instead
of color. In expensive papers
times a dozen different colors are used.
When finished the paper is reeled into
rolls of eight yards or double rolls of
sixteen yards.
The costliest papers, the rich borders,
special orders where the quantity to be
printed would not warrant the expense
Of preparing rollers, specimen patterns,
ETC., are handmade. The designs are
cut on wooden blocks, each color having
a separate block, and as only a small
part Of the paper can receive an i'm
preston at a time and great care is
necessary, the stamping process is mo-
%notonous and slow. While a machine
will print about 1000 rolls, oftwelve colors
each, in a day, a man can print only 100
rolls of n color. Velvet papers are
also made by hand, the design being
built up in layers. The designing de-
partment of a paper-hanging manufac-
tory is a hive of industry. Artists are
busy studying effects and obtaining
hints from foreign patterns, tapestries,
stutfs of various kinds, pottery, etc.
Their success does not always depend,
however, on their artistic sense, but on
their ability to strike the popular taste
and produce a pattern which will
..takn s. Sa,,.i,,n Goid R~aa,alhLana