Beginning of the week: Screen details

When adding the details onto the screen such as swirls and raised carvings we had to consider weight. If too much weight was added to the front of the screen then it would topple over or need the extre weight re enforcement box applied to the back of the central panel. polystyrene and paper mache seemed the cheapest, quickest and lightest option. I purchased a range of sized polystyrene balls in the university shop for 50p each. Cutting them in half and applying them with pva to the wood added some enhanced detail on the shaped frame. A piece of thick string and cord/braid was easily appied once drenched in glue, it was manipulated into swirls and borders. All these details were held down with two or three layers of pva, water and blue tissue. We used ble tissue instead of newspaper because it would sink into the small swirls and not hide the detailing underneath. The flat pieces of MDF had a final layer of newspaper added to stop the ridged texture of the tissue showing through the paint later on. While layers of the tissue were drying Rob and I tacked the crimson velvet in place using a stapel gun. By holding the two pieces of the screen together we were able to draw around the inside of the top frame, indicating where the fabric had to stretch to. In the original design only the outer panels had fabric inlays but we had enough spare to cover the central panel too so we did as we prefered this textured finish to just a painted effect. On the sections of the screen that had the smashed hole we merely notched the fabric with the intention of pinning it around the back later.

During this first half of the week the wallpapering was completed and dulux paint purchased in pale and darker shades of dusty pink and green so stenciling could begin. Before Rhyan and Jenny commenced with cutting out the stencils they painted the lining paper first with a thick coat of the lighter pink in the drawing room and darker green in the study. Fiona began painting the 60 tiles for the heater in the blue and white traditional pattern. Once a batch of tiles were completely dry they had a few coats of glaze to illde to ceramics rather than the wood they are made from. Callum and I gave the heater a rolled on layer of white emulsion to ensure once the tiles were applied that no MDF was visible beneath. Dan and Chloe and Nuria began construction of the bookcase in the alchove. By measuring out the sizes of the shelves and drilling positioned blocks they were able to arrange the plywood shelves and create a false front which the 'draws' woud be applied to later. Abbi and Nicki sanded down a coffee table they had purchaced over the Easter break for the central focus of the drawing room.