wallpaper art

Artful and intricate, "Leather Papers" contributed mightily to the elegant late 19th century interior, but we still know too little about them.

I was surprised yesterday when out of nowhere out pops an old friend in the middle of a list of search results: the fine article about Japanese leather paper by Felicity Leung.  The link is below, from which a free PDF can be downloaded.

LEUNG, F.. Japanese Wallpaper in Canada, 1880s-1930s. Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle, North America, 28, jun. 1988. Available at: <http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/17363>. Date accessed: 31 Aug. 2011.

This article is almost a companion piece to Richard Nylanders "Elegant Late Nineteenth Century Wallpapers,"  The Magazine Antiques. August 1982, pp. 284-87. Nylander's article shows many of these wonders.

"Who's stoned? I am merely travelling incognito."
- Jacqueline Susann's Neely O'Hara



5 more sleeps until Paris. I think I left my soul there last time, will have to retrace my steps. 
City breaks are hard when you have a crap amount of suitcase allowance, an incessant longing to take a pair of heels for each outfit because you ARE going to look glamorous despite being either tired all day or drunk all day, and you need a coffee every five minutes but it's the price of a Hermes bag so you're in constant turmoil whether you should buy a Hermes bag or a latte, and you have six million and ten things to see/places to be but all you want to do is see if the H&M is as good as it is at home. Apart from that they are the greatest most exciting and wonderful activities ever to have been.
I'm planning to look half like this:



and half like this:



while looking a little bit like this:



and at the same time a bit like this:



With evenings being based around this:



And shopping trips like this:



Museum visits will see me looking like this:



And for cocktails I'll switch between the following:






If I need a little rest I'll look like this:



And if it's chilly I might wear this:



I'll save this for the last day:



And travel home in this:



I can't wait for such a delightful melange of glorious robes!! I may have to have a back up wardrobe in case the above doesn't turn out as planned.

after sending out the essay on historic paperhanging technique I got several interesting "thank you" emails and links to new and interesting sites, like this one in Sweden:

http://www.handtrycktatapeter.se/

Handtryckta Tapeter are busily engaged in "...handprinting wallpapers for castles, mansions, appartements and huts around the world for 30 years now..."

I do work in castles on occasion (even if my own house is probably closer to the "hut" category).
______________

MORE NEWS: architectural conservator Richard O. Byrne sends a note that he has an antique crank-type wallpaper trimmer kicking around:

"You know anyone interested in wallpaper slitting machines c. 1900? I've one that I doubt I'll get the time to restore, and even then I'm not sure what I would do with it. Seems to be all there with typical surface rust, but nothing the new chelating agent Evapo-Rust would not soak off rather readily."

I may have just missed out on the BEST opportunity and I am feeling physically sick thinking about it. Not sure just yet if I can do anything about it but until I know I'll be crying into a bottle of Absolut, chain smoking watching Will and Grace. Still, might enjoy that which would be besides the point. Wallowing activities are too fun.

Katie Shillingford. Fashion Editor at Dazed & Confused, right hand bitch of Gareth Pugh, the dip-dye Godmother and THE most stunning bride of 2011's plethora. She had pink hair before you, your mate, and that try hard weapon in your local. Hauntingly beautiful and undeniably talented, she has got it. And I want it.

Winter, and a subsequent need for fur, leather, metal and gold, is just around the corner. I am over-prepared.