Damask wallpaper I don't need a second mortgage for!

[CatherineB]

I think it looks better to paper up to the dado, and paint above in a colour you like that's in the paper. That may just be personal preference though, not sure there's any kind of hard and fast rule about that these days.

I agree, Joce, that was indeed my plan.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I can just about sing "Mae hen wlad fy nhadau" for international matches.

Oh, come on FW! Are you telling me that you don't know the (nonsense) lyrics to "Sospan Fach"?

A Welsh immigrant in my one-time Suffolk local had the entire pub singing it - in not bad four-part harmony!

Mae bys Mari Ann wedi gwywo,
A Dafydd y gwas ddim yn iach;
Mae'r Baban yn y crud yn crio,
A'r gath wedi scrapo Johnny bach
Sospan fach yn berwi ar y tân
Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr
A'r gath wedi scrapo Johnny bach.
Dai bach yn sowldiwr,
Dai bach yn sowldiwr,
A chwt i grys e' mas.

Mae bys Mari Ann wedi gwella,
A Dafydd y gwas yn ei fedd;
Mae'r baban yn y crud wedi tyfu,
A'r gath wedi huno mewn hedd.
Sospan fach yn berwi ar y tân
Sosban fawr yn berwi ar y llawr
A'r gath wedi huno mewn hedd.
Dai bach yn sowldiwr,
Dai bach yn sowldiwr,
A chwt i grys e' mas.

A good, slightly menacing version, for St David's day. Sing along, Penners has provided the words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_aM4Ar73j0&feature=related

 

[Penners]

Hmmm, yes... that version does suggest that it might have been arranged for the Third Reich. Anyway - it's not a song that requires instrumental accompaniment. Just a large male voice choir (or a drunken rugby crowd).

 

[CatherineB]

Joce, have you visited Blickling Hall in Norfolk, by any chance?! We were there at the weekend, and when I entered the print room I immediately thought I'd walked into yours!

 

[JoceAndChris]

OMG!! I didn't know it had one. Thanks so much for telling me, I absolutely must visit Blickling now.
I've never seen a Print Room other than on the screen, it would be just great to see one up close. I'm trying to work out if they've varnished the prints there, the lady in America said to do that but I'm putting it off as it could ruin it all.
It looks like a rather restrained and elegant one, compared to mine, a little austere. But how fascinating!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wow - I've just found details of the layout - apparently copied from an original, decayed Print Room in Blickling.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-blickling-pictures.pdf
All Piranesi and architecture then - but less silly than mine. Thanks again Catherine! Never thought I'd turn into a Print Room geek but I have!

 

[CatherineB]

Darn, it never occurred to me that you wouldn't have seen it, as it was so reminiscent of yours! I'd have taken more pictures if I'd realised. Here's the only other one I took.

The prints didn't seem varnished; at least they weren't shiny. And you could feel the raised edges where they (and the paper ribbons) had been glued to the wall. (Perhaps they should have been varnished, to protect them from grubby visitors' fingertips like mine :lol: ). And the room was yellower than the pictures show; the curators at Blickling don't seem to have adopted the new-age attitude of those at Wimpole and other places, regarding natural sunlight and flash photography not being that harmful after all, and it was all rather dim and depressing. But that room's definitely worth a visit for a print room afficionado (sp?).

 

[JoceAndChris]

Hmmm. I wonder why it was dim and depressing - perhaps because Piranesi is a bit nightmarish?
I also find their repeated use of the landscape shape, rather than more upright perky ones, rather monotonous. And there don't seem to be enough frills.

But they didn't have Mr Hughes to advise, I expect.

Thanks for the extra info!

 

[Penners]

Hmmm. I wonder why it was dim and depressing - perhaps because Piranesi is a bit nightmarish?

Or perhaps because the flash on Catherine's camera wasn't working? Terribly prosaic, I know.... :wink:

 

[Moo]

Come on, Catherine - 'fess up!

 

[CatherineB]

Correct, I did not flash (I did have some respect for NT rules, even if I fingered the pictures :lol: ).

It wasn't so much this room that was dim and depressing - it actually looked very nice in the flesh, although not as bright as Joce's lovely yellow room. (But then Joce probably did flash for those pics :wink. It was some of the other rooms, more darkly decorated, that suffered from half-lowered blinds etc.

So what do I need to 'fess up to, again? That I am not as good a flasher as Joce? Guilty as charged!

 

[Penners]

I am not as good a flasher as Joce

Until and unless we have some empirical evidence, I don't think I'd be prepared just to accept your word on that.

May I suggest some form of photographic contest?

 

[Penners]

It was some of the other rooms, more darkly decorated, that suffered from half-lowered blinds

The half-lowered blinds are, of course, an important conservation measure. They help to protect the treasures of the house from that mortal enemy - daylight.