Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
existing walls. In England, textile wallpapers were produced during the fourteenth cen-
tury. In the beginning they were woven and embroidered like a tapestry, so they were
in a price class that only kings could afford. During the fifteenth century the Dutch
began painting simple figures and ornamentation onto untreated linen. The price of
wallpaper dropped a little, and rich merchants, statesmen and higher church officials
could afford it.
About 100 years later waxcloth wallpaper arrived, which consisted of a simple sacking
of hemp, jute or flax covered with a mixture of beeswax and turpentine. A pattern could be
printed on the surface. Waxed wallpaper was much cheaper than the earlier types of wall-
paper, but it was only when it began to be made from paper that prices fell so that every-
one had a chance of buying it. It was first available in 1510, initially as small square pieces
of paper in different colours, pasted-up as a chequered pattern. During the eighteenth
century the first rolls of wallpaper came on the market with hand-printed patterns, and
around 1850 the first machine-printed wallpapers arrived.
An analysis of the many wallpaper
patterns throughout history gives a good
indication of cultural developments.
William Morris's organic, flowery wallpa-
pers tell of the great need to keep in
touch with nature during industrialism's
first epoch. Something of the same long-
ing can be seen today, even if in a some-
what superficial way, on the panoramic
photographic views of South Sea
islands, sunsets, etc., which appear on
some wallpapers.
Types of wallpapers
Wallpapers of natural textiles are
usually woven with jute, but other
plant fibres such as wool, flax,
hemp and cotton can be used. The
textile fibres are woven together
and glued onto an underlay of
paper or plastic. A wallpaper is also
made consisting of rye straw
woven
together
with
cotton
threads.
Wallpapers from synthetic tex-
tiles are mainly woven with fibre-
glass. The fibreglass is often used in
combination with polyester thread.
This is usually given a coating of
plastic to prevent it from losing
Figure 15.29: A typical wallpaper pattern from the 'Golden Age' of
wallpaper at the end of the 19th century. Source: Greysmith, 1976
