When I study the various colors, patterns, and designs of textiles I sometimes ponder the influence of wallpaper. I am convinced part of my love of the later has to do with my love of textiles. There seems to be little written on this subject, and I am convinced it is vastly unexplored. I have two rolls of old paper that I occasionally will roll out on my dining room table so I can view their beauty, wishing I could duplicate them in fabric.
The paper above has an arborescent stem with flowers and pomegranates. This was a popular motif in the mid 18th c. in textile design. It can be seen in some of the quilts from this time period. The colors of this paper are clear and saturated. Fortuny also used the pomegranate as one of his favorite design motifs.
The next paper is stamped on the back “Made in France”. There is a gold stripe that is the backdrop for this highly decorative design. I am going to search for a similar design in a textile and see if I can find a close match.
Unwilling to leave the paper alone, I decided to try it on a lampshade.
These wallpapers are beautiful and I love, love, love the lamp shade too. It’s beautiful!
great inspiration. my borther sent me some scraps from a house he was renovation. there were layers and layers of old paper. i scanned some of them and printed them on fabric. i will dig them out again, inspired by this post …
The lampshade turned out beautifully.
I know there are companies that will print things on
fabric…or you could do as Jude has done and scan
in a piece of the wallpaper and print it out on
fabric.
Looking at the wall paper I could almost imagine
someone laying this big sheet out and running
layers of color on it by hand and then stamping
it on the back by hand when it was done.
: )
I guess I am a wallpaper addict too. If it is a floral, I cannot resist. I do think there are many possibilities in printing onto fabric as you said. We all just need more hours in each day!