That 'big project' I've been banging on about for a few years now....

[J. Wilhelm]

What are you planning for inside the panels?

On the panels I'm planning, I'm going for stencilled damask patterns in bright, dark blue and deep purple, sprayed on (because I found my old paint sprayer  ) with slight colour differences to try to make it look more like material. The stencils should be easy to cut with the laser cutter.
Not sure if it will work, but it should be fun trying.

That sounds a great idea and I'm looking forward to see how it plays out.  I've done stencilling before - by hand, with stencils made from cereal box card - and it took ages.  Looks really good, but took ages. 

For these panels I'm planning to do something a little different. 

What I'm aiming for is something along the lines of the pattern / mural that Joseph Maria Olbrich proposed in one of his Vienna Secession / Darmstadt Colony projects;



It won't be exactly the same of course because the size and ratios of the panels are different, and a literal copy would be somewhat compromised as a result.  But that gives me opportunity to introduce something of my own into it. 

At first, I was going to say it looked fairly medieval- maybe Early Renaissance, then I thought it was Art Nouveau, and when I read about the Vienna Secession movement, it all came into perfect clarity 

Is it practical to get large size paper stencils so you can cut them fist, apply to the wall amd then use a spray pen?  With a project of that size using brushes will take forever.

[Sir Henry]

The Vienna-Glasgow links are so obvious in that picture. The designs in the panels are very Mackintosh, though you might want to look at some Frank Lloyd Wright glass designs if you haven't finalised the design yet. He did a series of geometrical grain-inspired patterns (wheat/barley/etc.) that lend themselves to things like this. Just google 'Frank Lloyd Wright windows' for a good selection of patterns to be inspired by.
C.R.Mackintosh

F.L Wright

[James Harrison]

Great minds think alike

I actually 'bought to have gifted to me' a couple of Mackintosh-style mirrors last Christmas and was thinking about whether I could get some of the Glasgow Roses worked into the panel designs (I think those would have to be done by hand, if they could). 

Is it practical to get large size paper stencils so you can cut them fist, apply to the wall amd then use a spray pen?  With a project of that size using brushes will take forever.

The problem I found with paper was that with much smaller stencils it was liable to fold on itself, warp, twist, do anything it could really to get itself out of shape.  You need, ideally, something a bit thicker with a bit more stiffness about it.  I could of course fix the paper down with decorator's low-tack tape, but I'm wary that that would damage the paint (or rip the lining paper). 

Now that I can see how large my panels actually are, I'm reconsidering how I want to treat them.  I think to absolutely fill them with a design would be a bit too coarse, Olbrich's rendering has a certain delicacy about it which would be lost in translation if I were to do that.  One thing I might do is to keep a very wide border and have the designs just as a much smaller focal point inside each one. 

As a point of reference the panels on my wall are about 6' tall and nudging 3' wide.  Those in the rendering are what? - 3 to 4' tall and look about 18" across? 

[Hez]

Are you putting a design on each panel or using 3 panels to get the 18" width?

[James Harrison]

My thought is to put a design into each of the panels.

The more I consider it, the more I like the idea of having the design being a small focal point in each panel rather than completely filling it.

The question then is, what should the design be? I'd already got in my head the idea of a Glasgow-meets-Darmstadt mash up, but Sir Henry's suggestion about Frank Lloyd Wright also piques my interest.

[J. Wilhelm]

I would buy cheap Chinese made mirrors or frosted plastic panels and modify them:

Some ideas:

1. How to Make Stunning Faux Stained Glass With Just Glue and Paint

https://www.recreateddesigns.com/2023/04/easy-faux-stained-glass-art-project-how-to/

2. From Walmart: $95 each, 14 inches wide by 5.75 feet long, 2 inch thick frame

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Frank-Lloyd-Wright-Robie-Window-Stained-Glass-14-x-5-75/211858462

The Frank Lloyd Wright Robie Window Stained Glass is adapted from the Prairie style masterpiece, the Federick C. Robie House. Geometric lines and shapes reflect other accents in the house. The design of this product is based on the art glass of a casement window indentified as No. 51. On this panel, enamel colors are individually applied to a single sheet of glass, which is then kiln fired to permanently fuse the enamels to the glass. The glass panel is then framed with a metal came and includes hanging chain and wood stand for desk or table display. Ht: 14". W: 5.75". This Frank Lloyd Wright glass panel is officially licensed by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

[Sorontar]

Surely you don't need to cover the entire panel? With geometric patterns, they can form their own edges, or just be positioned in the corners.

Sorontar

[Cora Courcelle]

Decisions, decisions. I love the Rennie Mackintosh designs but the symmetry of FL Wright is very appealing particularly for windows. (There you go, absolutely no help at all  )

[James Harrison]

Surely you don't need to cover the entire panel? With geometric patterns, they can form their own edges, or just be positioned in the corners.

Sorontar

I'm thinking more in terms of having a small design or motif in the middle of each panel rather than completely filling them. 

Decisions, decisions. I love the Rennie Mackintosh designs but the symmetry of FL Wright is very appealing particularly for windows. (There you go, absolutely no help at all  )

I could have both! 





These are Mackintosh designs from the mid-late 1910s.

[Sir Henry]

Those later Mackintosh designs are fascinating! I got very into the Glasgow school half a lifetime ago and never came across that style. As far as I knew (as far as I remember) in his later life he went to France and painted watercolours of flowers and suchlike; nothing like these.

The upper picture does look very similar to Wright's work - where is it? And is there a collection of more of this later style somewhere?

My enthusiasm says " yes, do something based on this. Maybe incorporating those small (10mm?) square mosaic mirror tiles you can get sheets of (often cheap)."

[James Harrison]

The upper picture does look very similar to Wright's work - where is it? And is there a collection of more of this later style somewhere?

For once I have some good news.  This is Mackintosh's house for W J Bassett Lowke in Northampton, which has been restored and opened as a museum. 

https://www.78derngate.org.uk/

[James Harrison]

This week's update; I'm afraid it's a case of 'snap' (or, more accurately, 'bugger').



The paper started to peel away from the wall at top and bottom.  I think that the cause was the first layer of paper that I put down, that wrinkled.  When I papered over that I think it built some tension or force into it, with the consequence that the paper bubbled and pulled away at the top.  Multiple efforts to stick it back in place just resulted in it pulling away again and this time starting to take little chunks of plaster with it. 

The eventual solution was to tear the paper down in large strips and thoroughly saturate it.  That loosened the paste between the first and second layers, and the wrinkled stuff was ripped off the back.  The second layer was then very pliable and I could paste that back up.  It resulted in a real mess and now I'm in the process of repainting it.  Hopefully that's fixed the issue. 

Worryingly I'm also seeing a few places at the bottom which has done the same, but not nearly to the same degree.  I'm hoping that won't need as drastic a fix. 



Meanwhile in the paddock I'm starting to dig a wide trench between the lawn and the neighbour's fence.  You might also see that the spoil from that trench is being piled up on the lawn.  I'm trying to kill at least some of the lawn off and remove it to make garden maintenance just a little bit easier in the short to medium term. 

The plan remains that at some point this year I'm going to start remodelling the patio area around the house, but at the rate the bedroom is advancing I don't think I'll quite get that far with it.  I haven't worked out exactly what I want to do with the paddock yet but I do know that the billiard table look doesn't work for me, I want some change in level in it.