The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-10
EVOLUTION OF WALL PAPER.
When and Where First Used-Mod-
ern Methods of Manufacture.

From the Paper Trade.
While various kinds of printed fabrics
were known to the people of most remote
antiquity. 1t was not till the eighteenth
century that wallpaper IN anything like its
present form came into common use in
Europe, though 1t appears to have been
used much earlier in China. A few rare
examples which may be as early as the
sixteenth century exist in England, but
these are limitations generally in flock"
of the old Florentne and Genoese cut vel
vets, and hence the style of the design in
no way shows the date Of the wallpaper,
the same traditional patterns being pro-
duced with little or no change for many
years. Ia was not till the end of the last
century that the machinery to make paper
in long strips was invented. Up to that
time wallpapers were printed on small
square pieces of handmade paper and
were very expensive On this account
wallpaper was slow in supercedlng the old
er rural decorations, such as tapestry,
stamped leather and paper cloth
A work printed in London in 17i4 throws
some light on the use of wallpapers al that
time: THE method of printing wallpapers
of the better sort IS probably the same now
that IL has ever been. Wooden blocks with
the design cut in relief, one for each color,
are applied by hand. after being dipped in
an elastic cloth sieve charge with wet tenn
pera pigment, great care being taken TO
lay each block exactly on the rght place
so that the various colors may register
or III together. In order TO suit the pro-
auctions of the paper mills these blocks
are made in England twenty-one inches
wide and in France eighteen Inches wide
The length of the block is limited to what
the workman can easily lift with one hand
two feet being about the limit, as the
blocks are necessarily thick, and in many
cases made heavier by being nlaid with
copper. especially the thin outlines, which,
If made of wood. would not stand the wear
and tear of printing.
"In flock and gold or silver printing
the design Is first printed In strong size,
the flock (finely cut wool of the required
coIoD or metallic powder, rs then
sprinkled by hand all over the paper &c
adheres only to the wet size, ana Is cas-
ily shaken off the ground or unsized part.
If the pattern Is required to stand out in
some relief, the process Is repeated sew
eral times and the whole paper then roll
ed to compress the flock. Cheaper sorts
OF paper are printed by machinery, the
design being cut on the surface Of wooden
! rollers under which the paper passes. The
chief drawback to this process Is that all
the colors are applied rapidly one after
the other without allowing each TO dry
separately. as Is done In hand printing. A
somewhat blurred appearance is usually
| the result"
To-day, with the great improvement In
machinery, and thorough knowledge OF
preparing the colors, equally as good ef-
feots are produced by machine work as
by hand printing. The principal difficulty
has been that sufficient number of col
! ors TO produce artistic effects could not be
! procured in machine work, but as wall pa
| per printing machines are now made
which will print II, IS and "a colors. as fine
| results may be obtained this way as by
| hand printing, at one-third the cost. thus
bringing artistic wall papers within the
reach OF "a large portion of the popula-
! ton, who thoroughly appreciate mural
| art decorations in their homes, and no
wall paper factory is complete to-day
without one of these many colored print
ing machines.