Wallpapers in custom patterns: hand-print and digital
If you have a pattern and would like to have it printed as wallpaper, please get in touch. I will explain the process and the likely costs, and if you decide to go ahead, you will be consulted at each stage to ensure that the final result meets your expectation. The process is different depending on whether you opt for hand printing or digital.
What is the process when ordering a custom wallpaper pattern?
Artwork and Design Stage:
Your pattern will be drawn in repeat so that it matches correctly when installed. If your historical fragment is incomplete, I will usually be able to fill in the missing elements. The colours will be separated, which means a separate drawing will be created for each printed colour in the pattern. The separation process is slightly different for hand printing and digital. When the artwork is complete, you will be sent a pdf file showing a single repeat and another one showing how the pattern looks repeated across a wall. You can propose changes to the drawing at this stage. Changes to the design are no longer possible after you have approved the drawing, without incurring extra expense.
Trial print Stage:
Digital: The artwork will be sent to my digital printing partner in England, along with your colour reference material. You can read my guidelines for specifying colours here. They will produce a trial piece, usually the full width of the pattern and around 75 cm long. You can approve the trial print for colour, or suggest minor changes. A second trial print may involve a small extra expense. Once the colours have been approved, the wallpaper can be printed.
Handprint: The trialling and production processes are more complicated and expensive with hand print. Before a trial piece can be hand-printed, the printing screens have to be made. There will be one screen for each printed colour in the pattern. You will be invoiced for the cost of the screens before the trial is printed. Based on your reference material, the colours will be mixed in my studio and the trial piece printed. You can read my guidelines for specifying colours here.
The cost of the trial and final production will depend on the number of colours in the pattern – a pattern with five colours will take longer to print than one with two colours. When you have approved the hand-printed trial the wallpaper can be printed.