Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

Using Embossed Wallpaper for Low Relief

Kelly Dean Allison

For a production of The Imaginary Inualid at the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse, we gave our shop-built French Baroque furniture the necessary low-relief surface decoration with appliques of Anaglypta®, an embossed wallpaper manufactured by British Crown Relief, Ltd. The following list outlines the steps we followed.

1. Cut lengths and shapes of the desired pattern from a roll of embossed wallpaper.

2. Soak pieces of wallpaper in clean, room-temperature water for one minute.

3. Allow the wallpaper to shed excess water.

4. Apply a thin coat of flexible glue and water (2 parts glue: 1 part water) to the surface of the piece to be covered.

5. Adhere the wallpaper to the glue-coated ...