It's no secret that we have a passion for old buildings. ellen j goods is located in an 1846 Main Street building...three stories of history, remnants of long ago, which we are blessed to have had generations of JR's family once occupy. It's also no secret that I have a love for old papers and wallpaper, gorgeous scraps of ephemera. It's pretty cool to wander this building and find bits of 1800's wallpaper still holding on for dear life over a hundred years later!
The whole process of producing wallpaper was fascinating. Once a design was created, pattern makers carved the design on the actual wooden rollers that would be used for printing. Both the designers and pattern makers had high levels of skill in mathematics and geometry in order to create a design that would not only fit around the circumference of the roller but also repeat seamlessly and maintain visual balance when applied to the paper. Paint pigments were mixed and those wood rollers, assembled together on a huge wheel driven machine, would transfer paint and layers of images on the rolls of paper.
Over the years, JR and I have been able to find some of the industrial era wallpaper factory print machine rollers...it's how layers of inks were applied over top of one another to create the depth and interested in these old papers. They are works of art in themselves!
When the IOD Sisters created the Wallflower transfer, there was no doubt it would become one of my favorites...the captured the layered printed ink technique that you see in vintage wallpapers. It immediately became one of our very favorite transfers!
Of course, we've used it in LOTS of different ways...on different color backgrounds, cut apart, layered with stamps, and on signs.
You can see how I used Wallflower on this dresser that ALMOST got thrown to the curb!
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Can you understand how the Wallflower transfer has our heart and has become one of our very favorites?
You can find Wallflower by clicking the picture below!
