I'd like to do a short course in wallpapering skills.
So far all the local colleges I've approached offer only extended
painting and decorating courses aimed at the trade.
Does anyone know of a course that offers what I'm looking for?
Preferred location: within 100 miles of London
Preferred duration: short!
Hope you can help.
TIA
Rob

"Rob" wrote in message
om

I'd like to do a short course in wallpapering skills.
So far all the local colleges I've approached offer only extended
painting and decorating courses aimed at the trade.
Does anyone know of a course that offers what I'm looking for?
Preferred location: within 100 miles of London
Preferred duration: short!
Hope you can help.

Why not try and get someone to show you. It really is quite simple to
do. The technique that is. The rest is just practice.

Funnily enough the best way of plaserboarding is very similar. Get all
the boards cut and laid out first then mix the adhesive and apply it.

Allow the paper to get wet enough to stetch so do four or five at a time
then while waiting, paste another 4 or 5 up. When you have hung the
first paste the third and apply the second set.

You may find that matching the patterns works better every other length
on some designs. And of course start in the middle of the wall using a
plumb line to keep the first one straight. The rest just butt up to that
one.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Janet Baraclough.. wrote in message
...
The message
from (Rob) contains these words:

I'd like to do a short course in wallpapering skills.
So far all the local colleges I've approached offer only extended
painting and decorating courses aimed at the trade.
Does anyone know of a course that offers what I'm looking for?
Preferred location: within 100 miles of London
Preferred duration: short!

If you mean, for DIY home purposes, nobody needs a course; it's
*really* easy to teach yourself to do it very well, just by doing it.

If you're nervous, buy a roll of cheap end-of-line patterned wall paper
for a couple of quid and use it to practise with on your prepared wall
at home. Once you've put up a few matched strips and seen how easy it
is, you can pull it straight off again before the paste dries.
The key to easy wallpapering is to PVA seal the wall so that the paper
glides around easily and you get lots of time to re-position it. Cutting wet
paper accurately is a matter of experience and patience. For me it remains a
frustrating business.

In article ,
stuart noble wrote:
Cutting wet paper accurately is a matter of experience and patience. For
me it remains a frustrating business.

I've got one of those cheap battery operated cutters that makes a pretty
fair job of cutting at skirting boards etc - certainly better than I can
manage with the score pull back and cut technique. Of course many have
mastered it, so it could well just be me.

--
*Acupuncture is a jab well done.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 12:20:02 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've got one of those cheap battery operated cutters that makes a
pretty fair job of cutting at skirting boards etc - certainly better
than I can manage with the score pull back and cut technique.

Does it run down the angle so you don't pull back like you need to for
sciccors? What make/model, can't say I've ever spotted one in a shed
but I've not been looking that hard.

Of course many have mastered it, so it could well just be me.

I'm normally pretty good a cutting straight lines with sciccors but
not with wet wallpaper on the wall. I think it's because of the
awkward angle you have to work and you really need 3 hands, 1 for the
sciccors and one each side of the cut so the paper doesn't move as you
cut.

A plain sharp blade works well on dry paper but soggy wallpaper has a
tendancy to snag, I've a rotating blade on a stick but that still
snags.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"stuart noble" wrote in message


The key to easy wallpapering is to PVA seal the wall so that the paper
glides around easily and you get lots of time to re-position it. Cutting wet
paper accurately is a matter of experience and patience. For me it remains a
frustrating business.

Forgot about that. PVA wil do but paste is acceptable. Sand the wall
first too to remove snots that will really upset you afterwards if you
ignore the little so and sos. A cheap little sander will do it in
moments.

Damn! I just found out you can lose a lot of your post checking the
spelling of scissors in the brand new imported to toolbar set of
dictionaries and encyclopoedias on Firefox. (Beautiful browser though.
AOL learnt a lot in their recent sojourn with them.)

Scissors are the best bet for cutting wet paper and get a nice big
comfortable set (of the right hand for you) from a pucka supplier.

If you are going to push the boat out, get a long wide smoothing over
brush (??) and one of those plastic thingummies they use on dry lining
tape.

If you push the wet wallpaper into a recess with it, you can use a very
sharp knife to cut the excess off without snagging it too badly. After
you have finished it all: remember to do all the painting first.

Especially that bloody awful ceiling.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

In article om,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
I've got one of those cheap battery operated cutters that makes a
pretty fair job of cutting at skirting boards etc - certainly better
than I can manage with the score pull back and cut technique.

Does it run down the angle so you don't pull back like you need to for
sciccors? What make/model, can't say I've ever spotted one in a shed
but I've not been looking that hard.

No make on it I'm afraid. Bought from IIRC Homebase, but many years ago.
Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades. And, yes, it goes
into a right angle - like between ceiling and wall etc so you don't pull
back the paper. It doesn't give as perfect cut as scissors, but more a
very fine wavy one - a bit like a perforated edge. You'd have to look
close to see this, though.

--
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Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 16:49:26 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

No make on it I'm afraid. Bought from IIRC Homebase, but many years
ago.

Done a bit of googling, Trimeasy?

http://bq.unitedkingdomshop.co.uk/5.02017E-12.html

Unfortunately all the links I can find from these discount/cheaper
shopping sites seem to end up at B&Q. Who no longer carry it, maybe
it's discontinued...

Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades.

I wonder if a fine spiked wheel would work to make a perforated edge.
Where can you get fine spiked wheels?

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In message om, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 16:49:26 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

No make on it I'm afraid. Bought from IIRC Homebase, but many years
ago.

Done a bit of googling, Trimeasy?

http://bq.unitedkingdomshop.co.uk/5.02017E-12.html

Unfortunately all the links I can find from these discount/cheaper
shopping sites seem to end up at B&Q. Who no longer carry it, maybe
it's discontinued...

Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades.

I wonder if a fine spiked wheel would work to make a perforated edge.
Where can you get fine spiked wheels?

Haberdashery department?

--
geoff

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 19:51:04 GMT, raden wrote:

Haberdashery department?

Oo, what would they use 'em for and what would they be called? There
is an excellent sewing shop in Penrith.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In message om, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 19:51:04 GMT, raden wrote:

Haberdashery department?

Oo, what would they use 'em for and what would they be called? There
is an excellent sewing shop in Penrith.

Marking out material IIRC, I'm sure my mother has one

--
geoff

raden wrote:

In message om, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 19:51:04 GMT, raden wrote:

Haberdashery department?

Oo, what would they use 'em for and what would they be called? There
is an excellent sewing shop in Penrith.

Marking out material IIRC, I'm sure my mother has one

I have a number of those marking wheels, but none of them is fine enough
for the suggested use on wallpaper.

Sheila

The best cutting method I've found is to hold a 4" scraper hard against the
edge you want to retain and use a cheap, soft steel, pen knife that you can
sharpen every few minutes on sandpaper. The Opinel curved blade is ideal.
A lot of the trouble with papering could be overcome if you could cut a
straight line to join up with a fresh edge. Overlapping and cutting through
both works sometimes but usually one side or the other tears.
Peel back and scissors doesn't work well for me because I can never see the
bloody mark I'm supposed to be following properly.

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 13:41:50 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I'm normally pretty good a cutting straight lines with sciccors but
not with wet wallpaper on the wall. I think it's because of the
awkward angle you have to work and you really need 3 hands, 1 for the
sciccors and one each side of the cut so the paper doesn't move as you
cut.

I dry-cut the top of each strip before pasting and so only need to trim the
bottom edge, which my 2 hands seem to manage reasonably well. I found the
crease at the top made by the back of a pair of dressmaking scissors (nick
them from a handy female) can only easily be seen on the paste side, which
you cannot cut with any reliability, and trying to go along the patterned
side seemed to need not just 3 hands, but also to be tackled from above,
left-handed, and I'm not good at hanging from ceilings.

Cutting to fit when dry does mean you can only work one strip at a time.
But I'm in no hurry. My time costs £0/hr.

--
Hello this is 911, If you're reporting a murder, press 1...

Mail john rather than nospam...

"John Laird" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 13:41:50 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I'm normally pretty good a cutting straight lines with sciccors but
not with wet wallpaper on the wall. I think it's because of the
awkward angle you have to work and you really need 3 hands, 1 for the
sciccors and one each side of the cut so the paper doesn't move as you
cut.

I dry-cut the top of each strip before pasting and so only need to trim
the
bottom edge, which my 2 hands seem to manage reasonably well. I found the
crease at the top made by the back of a pair of dressmaking scissors (nick
them from a handy female) can only easily be seen on the paste side, which
you cannot cut with any reliability, and trying to go along the patterned
side seemed to need not just 3 hands, but also to be tackled from above,
left-handed, and I'm not good at hanging from ceilings.


Hanging to a picture rail/coving helps. If you paint them last (as you
should) you can cover up any slight irregularities caused by cutting along
the idented line on the paste side (as you have to do) (as long as you err
on the slightly long) - ditto with the skirting board. If you are matching
patterns, I would have said dry cutting anything was a very bad idea as you
have to slide the paper to match the pattern. Papering to a ceiling with no
coving is a nightmare and never looks good.

The problem is that less experienced people err on the side of caution and
it's a hell of a lot easier to get wallpaper paste of gloss paint than gloss
paint off wallpaper! If you have the nerve, the brushes and the steady hand,
you should go for it and gloss last. (No responsibility accepted for gloss
splodges ) ).


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 09:24:44 +0100, "Bob Mannix"
wrote:

"John Laird" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 13:41:50 +0100 (BST), "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

I'm normally pretty good a cutting straight lines with sciccors but
not with wet wallpaper on the wall. I think it's because of the
awkward angle you have to work and you really need 3 hands, 1 for the
sciccors and one each side of the cut so the paper doesn't move as you
cut.

I dry-cut the top of each strip before pasting and so only need to trim the
bottom edge, which my 2 hands seem to manage reasonably well. I found the
crease at the top made by the back of a pair of dressmaking scissors (nick
them from a handy female) can only easily be seen on the paste side, which
you cannot cut with any reliability, and trying to go along the patterned
side seemed to need not just 3 hands, but also to be tackled from above,
left-handed, and I'm not good at hanging from ceilings.

Hanging to a picture rail/coving helps. If you paint them last (as you
should) you can cover up any slight irregularities caused by cutting along
the idented line on the paste side (as you have to do) (as long as you err
on the slightly long) - ditto with the skirting board. If you are matching
patterns, I would have said dry cutting anything was a very bad idea as you
have to slide the paper to match the pattern. Papering to a ceiling with no
coving is a nightmare and never looks good.

As long as the pattern match can be seen near the top of each strip, it's no
great problem. Most of the walls in my house are papered either to a
picture rail or coving. In many cases a straight line cut can be made with
a razor along a suitable edge on the paper table, having "nicked" the paper
at each side to indicate the line. Where the top is more wobbly, I will
free-cut with scissors.

The problem is that less experienced people err on the side of caution and
it's a hell of a lot easier to get wallpaper paste of gloss paint than gloss
paint off wallpaper! If you have the nerve, the brushes and the steady hand,
you should go for it and gloss last. (No responsibility accepted for gloss
splodges ) ).

I am curious as to why you regard "gloss last" as the right way to go about
things. Painting onto wallpaper looks terrible, and as (ime) the paper is
changed more frequently, stripping the top layer would yank off bits of
paint. If the paint is underneath, no such problem arises. Painting
coving/rails and skirtings first also means that the room can be re-used
before the wallpapering is completed, if necessary. As soon as the
skirtings are done, I can arrange for carpets to be fitted without worrying
about mess later. Papering is pretty clean.

--
She kept saying I didn't listen to her, or something.

Mail john rather than nospam...

"John Laird" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 09:24:44 +0100, "Bob Mannix"
wrote:


I am curious as to why you regard "gloss last" as the right way to go
about
things. Painting onto wallpaper looks terrible, and as (ime) the paper is
changed more frequently, stripping the top layer would yank off bits of
paint. If the paint is underneath, no such problem arises. Painting
coving/rails and skirtings first also means that the room can be re-used
before the wallpapering is completed, if necessary. As soon as the
skirtings are done, I can arrange for carpets to be fitted without
worrying
about mess later. Papering is pretty clean.


Gloss gives the best definite (enough) continuous line and will cover the
paper edges - there are always some paper edge inconsistencies which will
show (well there are when I do it). I wouldn't repaper a room without
repainting the gloss anyway - the concept of repapering "often" is a bit
foreign though! I agree that obvious paint on paper doesn't look good but I
try to hang well enough all the paint is doing is covering the edge.

I agree that there is a clash with carpet fitting which I have never
resolved but they tend to b*gg*r up the paint as well! I have used a
professional decorator and he glosses last and with the carpets in place.

I used to do it your way but have just started glossing last. I have done
one room with the carpets in place (reasonably successfully).

At the end of the day, once the furniture is in and the family have started
knock 6 bells out of the room anything that looks OK from 5 feet away is OK,
I guess! Painting last covers this category.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 17:15:24 +0100, "Bob Mannix"
wrote:

At the end of the day, once the furniture is in and the family have started
knock 6 bells out of the room anything that looks OK from 5 feet away is OK,
I guess!

Well, quite. That and the fact that the only person who even notices any
slight imperfections is the diy-er him(her-)self anyway...

--
Diplomacy: the art of letting someone else have your way.

Mail john rather than nospam...

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article om,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
I've got one of those cheap battery operated cutters that makes a
pretty fair job of cutting at skirting boards etc - certainly better
than I can manage with the score pull back and cut technique.

Does it run down the angle so you don't pull back like you need to for
sciccors? What make/model, can't say I've ever spotted one in a shed
but I've not been looking that hard.

No make on it I'm afraid. Bought from IIRC Homebase, but many years ago.
Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades. And, yes, it goes
into a right angle - like between ceiling and wall etc so you don't pull
back the paper. It doesn't give as perfect cut as scissors, but more a
very fine wavy one - a bit like a perforated edge. You'd have to look
close to see this, though.

--
*If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I think JML do something similar, Aris Wallpaper Cutter
http://www.jmldirect.com/products/pr...at name=D.I.Y.

Personally I use a Harris wallpaper cutting guide and a sharp stanley
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/produc...PRODID=271 19

"Janet Baraclough.." wrote in message
...
The message
from "Bob Mannix" contains these words:


Hanging to a picture rail/coving helps. If you paint them last (as you
should) you can cover up any slight irregularities caused by cutting
along
the idented line on the paste side (as you have to do) (as long as you
err
on the slightly long) - ditto with the skirting board.

Nah, far better to paint the picture rail and skirting first,
extending the paint about an inch underneath where the edge of the paper
will go so no gaps will show.

Proper wallpaper scissors make cutting much easier, and use a dry firm
brush to block the paper well down into the crease (at the skirting
board edge). If you're a careful person, run the blunt side of the
scissor blade along the crease gently to mark it, without tearing the
surface of the paper. Then peel back the paper, cut along the marked
crease, and brush the paper back down to a perfect close fit at the
skirting board.

Yeah, right. That's what I always do and it's never perfect all the way
round (otherwise you wouldn't need to paint over an inch, would you?? ) )


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

In article ,
Dave Jones wrote:
No make on it I'm afraid. Bought from IIRC Homebase, but many years
ago. Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades. And, yes,
it goes into a right angle - like between ceiling and wall etc so you
don't pull back the paper. It doesn't give as perfect cut as scissors,
but more a very fine wavy one - a bit like a perforated edge. You'd
have to look close to see this, though.

I think JML do something similar, Aris Wallpaper Cutter

http://www.jmldirect.com/products/productdetails.asp?Keywords=&prodID=57&catID=3&cat name=D.I.Y.

The description looks about right, but no pic on my browser, so can't
really tell.

At that price it's worth trying for the hell of it.

--
*I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Janet Baraclough.. wrote:
Proper wallpaper scissors make cutting much easier, and use a dry firm
brush to block the paper well down into the crease (at the skirting
board edge). If you're a careful person, run the blunt side of the
scissor blade along the crease gently to mark it, without tearing the
surface of the paper. Then peel back the paper, cut along the marked
crease, and brush the paper back down to a perfect close fit at the
skirting board.

Yes - this is the method I've tried and failed with. ;-)

--
*The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 01:15:06 +0100, Dave Jones wrote:

Uses a sort of rotating small pair of scissor blades. And, yes, it
goes into a right angle - like between ceiling and wall etc so you
don't pull back the paper. It doesn't give as perfect cut as
scissors, but more a very fine wavy one - a bit like a perforated
edge. To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I think JML do something similar, Aris Wallpaper Cutter

Very similar, though not quite identical. Price about double what B&Q
had the other one "listed" for.

Pesky site though, why does it bother with some nasty low resolution,
low frame rate, postage stamp video when they could have decent
quality still images and not require a plugin...

Personally I use a Harris wallpaper cutting guide and a sharp
stanley

The "sharp stanley" is the problem unless it really is sharp I find it
snags and it doesn't stay sharp long...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 18:49:29 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I had to look again - I'd read the P&P as the price. Which is
ludicrous for something like that - if it's about the same as the
one I have.

Ah I wondered about that "at that price, worth a punt" comment. B-)

I think is the same, that grotty "video" made it look as if it had
something extra sticking out the back end of the battery
compartment/handle. Since found other decent still images and if it's
not the same device I'd be very surprised.

Which cost IIRC something under a tenner.

That's what the B&Q price was, JML looks to tied in with QVC somehow,
no doubt the reason for their =A320 + P&P tag.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In article om,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
That's what the B&Q price was, JML looks to tied in with QVC somehow,
no doubt the reason for their £20 + P&P tag.

Ah - right. You and Yours on R4 was having a go at Auction World - diamond
watches they say have a guide price of about 10 times the actual selling
price should be, an expert reckoned. And the guide price comes from the
selling price on the 'makers' website. Unfortunately owned by Auction
World...

--
*A nest isn't empty until all their stuff is out of the attic

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.