What will be involved in the design process-
-Most wallpaper isn’t actually made out
of paper, it’s made from vinyl
-Wallpaper made from actual paper will
be a very eco-friendly which could be a real positive to our product if we
chose to go down this route.
-Health benefits as eco-paper breathes
better and doesn’t trap as much water, reducing risk of mould
‘Many
designers are looking at Wallpaper to make a statement not just as wall
covering, many are using it just on one wall, as an intense and huge piece of
wall art.’
‘Vinyl
takes up a lot of space in your local landfill where now we have the option to
buy eco-friendly wall paper made out of, you guessed it, paper! This
makes the disposing of the paper recyclable friendly and if tossed in the trash
has a shorter life in the landfill than its harmful vinyl counterpart.’
‘Eco-friendly wallpaper is
better for the environment, but it also carries with it many health benefits
opposed to using vinyl wallpaper. The eco-friendly wallpaper breathes
easier than vinyl. This will help with the paper from trapping moisture,
especially if used in bathrooms. This will hopefully eliminate or if not
reduce the ability of mold to growing behind your walls.’
The wallpaper industry divides the manufacture of
wallpaper into those used in residences and those hung in businesses or other
public buildings. The two categories of paper differ in weight,
serviceability, and quality standards. Residential-use wallpapers are made from
various materials and can be purchased prepasted or unpasted.
There are no mandated serviceability tests for residential
papers. The commercial-grade wallpapers are divided into categories based on
weight, backing composition, and laminate/coating thickness. All commercial-use
wallpapers must have a vinyl surface and pass rigorous physical and visual
tests as mandated by the Chemical Fabrics and Film Association.
Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Wallpaper.html#ixzz2tWi3Enjg
Read more: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Wallpaper.html#ixzz2tWi3Enjg
-From
this it seems that we will have to look into the Chemical Fabrics and Film
Association to see what tests we need to carry out on our product; and these
tests will differ from paper used commercially.
-
Wallpaper
consists of a backing, ground coat, applied ink
-
Woven backings
are those made of sturdy woven textiles such as drill (heavy woven cotton much
like jean material). The woven backing is then coated and printed.
-
Coatings or
laminates are made of latex or vinyl (polyvinyl chloride) and render the paper
durable and strippable. Ground coats also include additives that enhance the
ease of handling, opacity, and drapability of the paper.
-
Printers choose
inks carefully as the solvents they include affect the drying time and
production time between color applications of the paper.
THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS
- Wood pulp sheets are made by debarking a tree and chipping the
tree into a slurry. The mixture is run through a pulp mill where chlorine
dioxide and oxygen are added to separate the lignin (which cements the woody
cell walls together) from the rest of the wood pulp and bleaches the pulp. Wood
pulp sheets with fibers can have synthetic fibers added to give the paper
additional texture.
- A roll of paper from
the paper mill is 65 in (1.65 m) wide, possibly as long as 22,000 ft (6,706 m),
and weighs approximately one ton.
- Once sold to a printer, each paper roll is cut
into six sub-rolls which are 21 in (53 cm) wide by 10,000 ft (3,048 m) long.
-
Before the pattern is printed, the backing must be coated with a ground
color. Ground wood sheets are coated with colored vinyl (PVC), which varies in thickness depending on
the durability and strippability of paper under production.
-
Wood pulp sheets
are coated with one or all of the following: kaolin clay for drapability, titanium dioxide for
opacity, and latex for ease in handling and color.
From my knowledge of printing processes I
would suggest that rotary printing is the method that we will want to be using
to print the wallpaper as it is the most cost effective, time effective and
widely used by other companies. I’m not sure yet as to what glow in the dark
inks/pigments can be used in conjunction with this method but if we find it’s
not compatible, we can use a separate process to add the glow in the dark
pigment afterwards; perhaps hand screen printing?
-
Printed wallpaper
is rolled with a wet cornstarch or wheat starch-based coating and then dried.
-
8 Residential-use
wallpapers are cut down from 3,000 yd (2,742 m) rolls to 15 yd (13.71 m) rolls.
Commercial-use rolls are generally packaged in 30, 45, and 60 yd (27, 41, and 55 m) rolls. A printed label, run number, and
hanging instructions are placed against each roll and shrink wrapped together.
Rolls are stored in a warehouse until final shipment.
QUALITY
CONTROL
-
All papers must undergo testing on such attributes as minimum coating weight,
tensile strength, tear strength, coating adhesion, abrasion resistance, flame
spread, smoke development, shrinkage, heat aging, stain resistance, etc.
-
Each wallpaper printing company conducts visual inspections in
the form of spot checks or representative product samplings to ensure their
product conforms to certain values established by the manufacturer. Generally,
wood pulp and ground wood paper backings are given visual checks to see if there is foreign
matter imbedded in the backing. When woven backings are received by printers,
the printer checks thread
count and physically tests the fabric for minimum requirements.
-
As the backing is printed, constant visual checks ensure proper
adhesion of vinyl to backing, correct color, no streaking or unwanted shading, trimmed edges,
etc. Representative samples are physically and visually examined before being
cut into smaller rolls.
Laura x
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