PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Task of conservation. Case studies
it was decided for the sake of the better preservation and visual
unity of the whole that the pieces should be removed and used
elsewhere. Wallpapers above the oven could not be observed
from the floor and were shaded by the oven. (Fig. 157) To imitate
the movement of the border, a paper in the colour of the
border’s background was chosen, cut into strips and pasted on
the wall. Prior to removal, the wallpaper was measured and
photographed.
Since the whole conservation process was carried out in situ,
a method for filling small lacunae in the wallpaper needed to
be developed. First of all, a method of filling the lacunae with a
mixture of non-acid paper pulp and an adhesive (such as Klucel
G in ethanol) was tested. After the mixture had dried, it became
clear that it left slight tide-lines around the lacunae and had an
uneven surface, which would be complicated to retouch. (Fig.
158) A method described by Thomas K. McClintock in his article
“Compensating for losses in historic wallpapers” (2009) 454
was examined and chosen. In this case, the losses of wallpaper
would be filled with original material, since its properties corresponded
to those of the original.
In addition to the mentioned technique, a piece of Japanese
paper (Gampi, 29 g/m 2 ) was inserted and pasted behind the wallpaper
as a supportive layer for a filling. A piece of original wallpaper
was cut to size according to the shape of the lacuna and
integrated into the cavity. The difference in tone between the
filling and original was evened with watercolours or crayons.
Since the pieces removed from the wall were either too
dark or too small to cover larger areas, the author decided to
fill two larger lacunae on both sides of the oven with a reconstruction.
However, the lacunae were considered too small for
expensive and time-consuming techniques such as digital and
screen printing. Digital reconstruction was out of the question,
since it would have been necessary to remove a strip of
wallpaper to scan the pattern. In addition, it would have been
very time-consuming to retouch the file, set it into a repeating
454
McClintock, “Compensating for losses in historic wallpapers”, 149.
278