Stenciling vs Wallpaper

The production, “The Exact Center of the Universe” is set in the same region as Baton Rouge and many of the homes around where I live have maintained their charm from the very same period as the play.  So I have a unique opportunity to see wallpaper from the period and contemporary reproductions used in the restoration of some of the homes. Wallpaper is a wonderful asset for set design work but even in small batches can get expensive when trying to get that “right look”.  Also, many of the materials won’t work well in stage lighting due to the reflective nature of the paper itself.  So to reduce that reflective  issue, stenciling can produce the same effect with flat paint.
I broke the pattern down into three elements – Twig, leaf and flower.  Since my tech minions are volunteers from Scotlandville High School, they have yet to do much scenic painting and their volunteer time is limited.  So we staged the painting tasks of the set flats with layout and base paints, the wainscoting and then the three stages of the stenciling layout and painting.

 

Phase two of the scenic painting of “The Exact Center of the Universe”.

The wallpaper reduced to lines to separate out the three elements

The twigs or branches of the magnolias isolated from the rest of the pattern

The magnolia leaves isolated

The magnolia flowers isolated from the main pattern

Twigs laid out starting from the center line at the top of the wainscoting

 

Leaves are next with same method of layout

The stencils are hand cut from the pattern and since the effect will look cohesive enough from the distance the audience sits at.

The stencils are hand cut from the pattern and since the effect will look cohesive enough from the distance the audience sits at.

 

 

The magnolias are created and made poofy by stippling the paint thickly onto the surface

The final effect making the illusion of a complex pattern from simple elements and paint colors