Robby Raccoon
Trash Digger
As we tear open the walls and rip down the plaster put up starting in the 1870s, we keep finding fabric shoved in the walls-- used as chinking in the cabin-- and behind the wall paper (with a penned in date of February 1862 on one seam) which is itself behind 1860s and 1870s newspapers and journals/magazines used as further insulation before they began plastering. So it was used to both join pieces of wall paper and to fill in gaps in the walls and floors.
But its one problem is, most of it is too fragile to even get a picture of before it unravels. This is the best sample I have of this variety. But I can't even open it up fully. If I try, it will end up like the prior sample I had pulled out-- unraveling to where the designs disappear. Is there anything that can be done to keep it from unraveling so I can open it up and frame it?
Since the fabric is behind 1860s wall paper, 1870s plaster, and 1920s siding, we know it must be very old (as it's sandwiched between very old layers and was stretched over some of the gaps behind the wall paper).
Here's two types of wall paper from the 19th century. Behind one layer is still yet another layer. On the seam shown was the 1862 date. Thus, that there is an entire wall of other paper papered over with this suggests the other paper is even older.
The journals and such put up before the plaster helped preserve the wall paper.
Here is the oldest layer of wall paper. The entire stairway is lined with this on one wall. The stairs aren't original. Originally it was just a ladder to a loft, so at some point this was a room in the center of the house where the fireplace was. The construction of the house is more like that of a barn. Vertical planks up to 20 feet tall (and over 2 inches thick and over 2 feet wide at times) are nailed into beams of large timbers. There are no 2x4's. It's a primitive plank construction 3/4 Cape Cod. As such, no bottles in the walls because there is no frame to set them on. Hah hah.
But its one problem is, most of it is too fragile to even get a picture of before it unravels. This is the best sample I have of this variety. But I can't even open it up fully. If I try, it will end up like the prior sample I had pulled out-- unraveling to where the designs disappear. Is there anything that can be done to keep it from unraveling so I can open it up and frame it?
Since the fabric is behind 1860s wall paper, 1870s plaster, and 1920s siding, we know it must be very old (as it's sandwiched between very old layers and was stretched over some of the gaps behind the wall paper).
Here's two types of wall paper from the 19th century. Behind one layer is still yet another layer. On the seam shown was the 1862 date. Thus, that there is an entire wall of other paper papered over with this suggests the other paper is even older.
The journals and such put up before the plaster helped preserve the wall paper.
Here is the oldest layer of wall paper. The entire stairway is lined with this on one wall. The stairs aren't original. Originally it was just a ladder to a loft, so at some point this was a room in the center of the house where the fireplace was. The construction of the house is more like that of a barn. Vertical planks up to 20 feet tall (and over 2 inches thick and over 2 feet wide at times) are nailed into beams of large timbers. There are no 2x4's. It's a primitive plank construction 3/4 Cape Cod. As such, no bottles in the walls because there is no frame to set them on. Hah hah.
