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Many of Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers’ patterns are initially hand painted on acetate or by cutting a stencil. For every pattern created, a separate stencil or silkscreen must be prepared for each different color. Silkscreens require a coating of photo-sensitive emulsion, essentially creating a large piece of film. The screen and artwork are sandwiched in a large vacuum frame and exposed to light. Areas exposed to the light become impervious; the other areas are washed away. Paint is forced through the stencil using a plastic-bladed squeegee. The printer must skip every other repeat to prevent the silkscreen frame from falling in wet ink. Each screen lays down one color at a time. St. James, which has seventeen colors, requires seventeen different prints with seventeen separate screens, each of which must perfectly align with the next one. Printing tables are ninety feet long and hold six rolls of wallpaper. A complex pattern for an average size Victorian room can require over one thousand individual impressions! Special thank you to Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers (@bradburywallpaper) for making this exhibition possible. “The Victorian Papered Wall” is on display pre-security in the International Terminal and online at: https://bit.ly/VictorianPaperedWall
This image was posted on November 16, 2022.