Silk Dynasty ?

[Chris Murphy]

<< He has become much wiser with age and I now look forward to getting to work with him.>>

"When I was 14, my father was the dumbest person on the face of the earth. When I was 21, I couldn't believe how much he had learned in 7 short years."
Mark Twain

[Chris Nelson]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by prowallguy
[B]Paul P said:


Where would a brother in St. Louis get some of these?

How about Maryland?

[Bill Archibald]

Good points Eunice,

There are many at-large members who benefit greatly from NGPP.

Tim, if you're still reading this thread, you may want to delve into this subject also

Another great at-larger who obviously has benefitted from the Guild is Belenda Comboy.

The list could extend for many pages.

Paul, before I joined the Guild just four years ago, I had the COMPLETELY wrong impression. I thought they were a bunch of ego driven elitist snobs who would force me to do things THEIR way. I couldn't have been further from the truth.

Through the two list serves that Eunice mentioned (APN and PaperNet) I realized:

A) Everyone was committed to sharing ideas techniques, and knowledge.

B) They were interested in knowing my tricks and procedures

C) They made me realize that many of my procedures were correct.

Through the Guild I have gained knowledge, confidence, and skill and have increased my love for this craft.

Also, I am not sure if I understood your words, "I understand the ego involoved"
Many times ego is used to mean an exaggerated sense of self-importance while at other times it means a confidence and satisfaction in oneself .

If you are using it in the latter definition I can agree. Those who have responded to you all have confidence. We need that in this business. But I do not know any of these folks to have that dreaded over exaggerated sense of self-importance. Don't worry, the Guild has a few of those egoists, but they haven't surfaced on this thread.

Paul, I would suggest that you further investigate the NGPP and would highly recommend investing the $150 yearly membership.

-Bill

[Chris Nelson]

Where would a brother in St. Louis get some of these?

How about Maryland?

[Tim Bodine]

Yeah, I'm a member'at' large. I personally believe the guild has helped my business tenfold over the couple of years I've been a member.

You get out of it what you put in.

I've never been to a chapter meeting, there is no chapter in StL.
I do make the time to attend as many functions as possible. I make a point of going to the Midwest Regional Workshop in Wisconsin in Nov., recently attended a one day workshop in cleveland, and last year was my first NGPP convention. Everybody I've met has been nothing but nice, even if those east coast guys do drink funny tasting beer.

The networking/resources available have astounded me. Hanging on my own for 15 years, I assume I knew most everything about paperhanging. HAHA I was pretty close but I always learn something new every day. I ever had a question, there was always somebody to answer it, usually more than one.

I think Paul got a bad start because he happened to ask a question about a wallcovering that maybe less than 1% of all existing paperhangers have had the pleasure/displeasure of dealing with. any other paper, response would have been much better.

All in all, I think $150 annually is way too cheap for what I milk out of the guild every year.

[K.L. Conner]

I'll give you quick run down, I don't have much time tonight.

I have installed over 100 panels of the Silk Dynasty, and without
a doubt it is a different beast.

First, pour it out of the box and let it relax on it's own. Try
incorporating some heat into the process to speed this up
(sun, heater, or so forth). Once all of the panels have unrolled,
try shading them.

Second, paste the wall and the material, it has a one hour
relax time once pasted. As far as adhesive I use clay, but
remember they recommend clear.

Third, if I remember correctly the directions say do not use
a heat gun. That's great, but if you are turning outside
corners or have tricky molding, you better get one. Play
with a scrap piece to see how hot you can get it before you burn
the material.

Last, you are going to have to double-cut the seams, it's not
alot of fun but they don't look that bad.

Also, you get a touch-up kit, but I have had better luck matching my own color. Remember balance your sheets for the best
look. Gotta go
K.L. Conner

[Paul P]

KL,

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!!!!

This is really all I needed... just a few words from someone who has battled the beast. The funny thing here is, the 3rd day I worked with a crew (15 years ago) we were running type 2 vinyl in some long halls with columns & a lot of turns. I grabbed the heat gun and was doing pretty well with it to get around a corner when the BOSS saw me and YELLED " OH MY GOD !!! He's got the heat gun!" To this day, it is a joke between us when we come together to do a commercial job.

Thank you very much for your reply.

Thank you all for your promoting the guild. I have it on my books to get aligned when the $$$$ are available. Right now it seems like Disney gets the wallet but be sure that I will be joining soon. My son would never forgive me if the Guild got paid and Mickey didn't. Hey, around these parts $150.00 is only a small (6 roll) bath with a little prep work. I bet you guys get more but I'm marketing myself right now.....

I'm sure I'll get way more out than I'll put in, but hey.... you guys set the price.

OK, Chris Murphy..... I get the feeling you have something to do with this...... Thank You.

[Joseph Parker]

Hi Paul,

We've hung the product several times also and KL is right on the mark. You need to let the product relax as long as possible, if you don't the installation will be far more difficult.

In our case we have trimmed the material on our table and have double cut. I reccomend purchasing a stanley "quick change" utility knife. The utility knife blades give you plenty of cutting surface, use each blade for one cut only. A box of 100 blades is only 12 bucks at the depot.

Plan on having to address some of those seams after your finished. They supply you with touch up paint, we found in some areas a bit of caulk used first then applying the touch up paint to the caulk worked best.

We have also "ground up" the finish coating from some scrap and made a "mix" to put in where the finish may come loose.

The product looks difficult but really is not that bad to install, relax, relax, relax, is the key. Apply the paste generously and we clay sized the wall prior to installing.

Please feel free to call if I can be any help. 610-388-7749

Joe

[Paul P]

Thank you for the reply Joe.

The funny thing is that I just walked in from testing with the sample we have. From what I can tell, this beast can be tamed with the right tools and 'frame of mind'. It seems that I bought into all of the stories before I had a chance to see for myself.

The only thing that is still at issue is what to smooth it out with. I tried a plastic smoother and it did OK till I knocked out a chunk but it was just one big chunk and it went right back in place with a little V.O.V behind it. You couldn't tell it was ever away from the sheet after it set.

I'm going to be taking my camera with me when we do this job so I'll put some pics up on my server and post a link here so you guys can see what we are doing. This house is amazing. We are also doing some foils and some cloth in the same place in other rooms and halls. I think Christian Thee is also doing some work in this house. It should be fun to watch him work.

Christian Thee

Thank you all again for your support. I feel a little silly now that I have some hands-on time with the material. Armed with the info gathered here and the chance to work with the material, I know we are taking on the job.

Best to all,

Paul Pabst

Added / Edit :

Joe, I just realized who I was being addressed by just now. (6 hours later) Thank you for your input. To have the Pres. of the Guild reply to my post is an honor. I would like to repeat my apology for my earlier post. My opinion of the Guild is nothing short of awe at this point. You guys are great. Expect my application soon. I can't wait to see what is available, that comes with the membership.

[Chuck Berkman, CP]

Paul,
Just a short one here. I too saw your original post and did nothing account I have no experience with this material. I was looking forward to the replies...guess you finally got a couple.
I did not realize how much I DID NOT know about the craft until I attended my first NGPP convention in 1986. Yes, we all have egos and attitudes...and we know where to turn when we have a question about the mundane or the exotic. The Guild helps keepme honest.
I wish you good luck with the upcoming job. I also hope to meet you some day...maybe you could tell me what you encountered and show me the material and how you handled it.
Thanks.
Chuck

[Paul P]

Originally posted by Joseph Parker
Hi Paul,

I reccomend purchasing a stanley "quick change" utility knife. The utility knife blades give you plenty of cutting surface, use each blade for one cut only. A box of 100 blades is only 12 bucks at the depot.


Joe

Just a note - I have always been a single sided razor blade kind of guy BUT... I got one of THESE to do a job with some real thick grass-cloth a while back. It came in handy today. The blades are like 1/2' wide and very sharp. I also use a plain old Olfa knife a lot when working with vinyls and a lot of "off the shelf" materials.

The Olfa may cost a little more, but it is just what I have gotten used to.
--------------------------------------

Thank you for the reply Chuck. I hope we get to meet as well. I will pass along anything I learn working with this material. To be honest, it looks like heck out of the tube. There isn't much you could do to make it look much worse. The sample we got, anyway. It does look good on the wall though if you have that LOOK in mind ....

-----------------------------------------

One other thing.... I posted the link to Christian Thee's website and I thought I should give a little credit where it is due with his work. Christian does a lot of work on canvas in his shop and takes it to the site and has it hung there. He has a local guy named ( I know I'm going to spell this wrong... ) Robbie Reasoner hang all of his stuff. My hat is off to Rob, he does a great job with such one-of-a-kind materials. Can you imagine messing up a panel of that work.....

[Bill Archibald]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Paul P

The only thing that is still at issue is what to smooth it out with. I tried a plastic smoother and it did OK till I knocked out a chunk but it was just one big chunk and it went right back in place with a little V.O.V behind it.



Paul,

First, good choice of "Avatar", gives me a better insight to your sense of humor and irrevalence

Second, although I have no experience with Silk Dynasty, I have found a tool to smooth fragile material that could be damaged by sweeping with something "too aggressive". The tool? A foam roller. Yup, buy a cheap foam roller sleeve for a normal roller frame and roll the material smooth. Some people have found solid foam rollers, but when I needed one once, it could not be located, so a foam sleeve was used with great success. Now, a few are packed in my bag o' tricks.

As said, I have no experience with Silk Dynasty, so this is just a shot in the dark.

-Bill

[Paul P]

Originally posted by Bill Archibald


Paul,

First, good choice of "Avatar", gives me a better insight to your sense of humor and irrevalence

Second, although I have no experience with Silk Dynasty, I have found a tool to smooth fragile material that could be damaged by sweeping with something "too aggressive". The tool? A foam roller. Yup, buy a cheap foam roller sleeve for a normal roller frame and roll the material smooth. Some people have found solid foam rollers, but when I needed one once, it could not be located, so a foam sleeve was used with great success. Now, a few are packed in my bag o' tricks.

As said, I have no experience with Silk Dynasty, so this is just a shot in the dark.

-Bill

I use Curly as my avatar on almost all of the forums I visit. He has been with me a while now. The funny thing is, when I get on a forum with people outside of the States, they ask me if it is really a picture of me.....LOL

We are thinking along the same lines with the foam roller thing. It was one of the things I plan on trying when we get into the job. After this is all over we will have hung about 36 panels so I will probably be pretty well versed in ceramics after it is all said & done.

[Chris Nelson]

Paul says,

The funny thing is, when I get on a forum with people outside of the States, they ask me if it is really a picture of me.....LOL

I have been following this thread from the beginning and do not remember if you ever said where you are from?

[Bill Archibald]

Originally posted by Chris Nelson
Paul says,

The funny thing is, when I get on a forum with people outside of the States, they ask me if it is really a picture of me.....LOL


I have been following this thread from the beginning and do not remember if you ever said where you are from?

Chris,

If you notice on the left side of this page, under the person's name and avatar, it shows what info the poster has submitted in his/her profile. You are from Hagerstown, Maryland, I am from Norfolk, MA, and Paul is from Columbia, SC. .......

hope that helps
-Bill