Follow us while we print our Alexandria eye wallpaper! From concept to production, every roll of Grow House Grow wallpaper is traditionally made by hand using the silk screen method. Here’s how it works:
Before a pattern can be printed, each color (or layer) needs to be burned (or transferred) onto its own separate screen. The screen acts like a stencil for the inks, which are squeegeed through when it’s time to print.
We partner with a workshop in Pennsylvania to handcraft each of our screens. This pattern, Alexandria, has four colors/screens: the dark blue background (called a blotch screen), the royal blue rays above the eye, the metallic gold rays below the eye, and then the black eye outline.
Above, you’ll see how we create the rich dark blue background for this pattern. The blotch screen is printed along the paper bolt, skipping every other repeat to allow the ink to dry. Once cured, the same screen is used to fill the empty areas to create a continuous dark blue along the bolt. For this pattern, the white eyes are the paper ground peeking through.
Next, above and to the left, our metallic gold and royal blue rays are printed in. The same technique is used here as for the blotch screen: every other repeat is skipped to ensure there’s enough drying time between prints, which prevents smudging along the repeats.
If you look closely at silk screened wallpaper, you can occasionally spy the gentle ink overlap where these screens meet. I always love sleuthing this out, especially with vintage and historic wall coverings. There’s something delightful about being able to find the printer’s hand in a beautiful pattern, especially in the age of digital production. Perfection with a mix of wabi-sabi is what brings magic to the handmade.
Here, our final screen is printed: the black eye, along with important markings that line the white edge of the paper. This area is called a selvedge, and it serves two purposes: it protects the edges of the printed paper while it’s in transit to be installed, and it holds important information such as the trim line, join marks, print direction and screen alignment. Your wallpaper installer will cut this off when they’re ready to hang the paper on the wall.
Although hand-printing our wallpapers takes time and a steady hand, nothing compares to the rich, layered look of real ink on paper. For those of us who appreciate the craft behind art making, these prints offer something a little different than many of the machine made wall coverings on the market today.
At Grow House Grow, we proudly partner with One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every individual roll of wallpaper we produce.
