For room 2, I decided to make an insect print for the wallpaper. Insects are used in forensics to determine the time of death and they can reveal to a forensic entomologist if the body has been moved. They are in tiny informers who help to solve crimes.
Fly wallpaper design, ink and watercolour on paper
I started my wallpaper design with a black ink base colour and let blue ink bleed into paper. The blue as with my other ink interior images is a link to BlueStar the chemical used to reveal blood stains which have been removed from surfaces and are invisible to the naked eye. I then added flies to the image. The plan was then to scan the drawing and put it into Photoshop to repeat the image to look like patterned wallpaper. However, I really am not happy with the whole image. It’s too busy and the flies don’t work on that background. Thinking about it I should have had a plain background, maybe a light wash of grey and then drawn the flies on. But it’s not working it so I’ve started again.
Sarah Bale (2016) Dolls head wallpaper design [digital imagery]
For my second attempt, I’ve used a found image of doll heads which I have distorted in Photoshop. I’ve then shrunk and repeated the heads to make the wallpaper for room 2. Like the wallpaper in room 1, I have printed each sheet using acetone. The thing with acetone printing is you don’t know what you will get when you pull back the printed sheet. Sometimes it can be an all-over black inky almost perfect print, and other times areas can be faded or not printed at all. But that faded strange imagery that is the produced is perfect for my rooms.
Printing the wallpaper
Here is the finished walls and floor for room 2. Now I have to make the furniture.
