how to wallpaper on glass ?

[Eddy]

Wilko's keeps lots of it, or, if you're in the Welsh Marches, any of the big Harry Tuffins.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

What about using double-sided carpet tape around the edges of each mirror and stretching the paper onto it, then trimming off round the edges of the glass. Should work, as long as the tape is not so thick it shows through the paper.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

"Solvite Overlap & Border Adhesive"? I see it comes in small tubes. Given that the paper is thick vinyl paper maybe I could push the adhesive, not necessarily coat the entire surface?

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Interesting. A bit like Cow Gum but in a spray? You would spray the paper, right? (Not the mirrors? - wouldn't want to get spray all over the rest of the doors.)

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Well, THAT sounds promising! If putting PVA on glass will let the glass take plaster . . . it'll surely take heavy paper.

There won't be a safety problem as long as I am the owner of the house, and of course I'll win the next owner when the day comes we decide to move on. Probably tell people when showing them round that there's nice mirrors beneath the leather-looking panels if they're interested.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Good to hear, Steve. And if you then submerge one of your bottles in water will the label then float off easily?

Eddy.

[Eddy]

You know, I don't think these mirrors would be a problem. They're not thick and heavy and they're well in-set within mitred wooden frames so someone would have to charge at them with force to bend them sufficiently for them to crack.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Hmmm. This sounds like sense. Even PVA might not be able to "dry". But the spray adhesive or cow gum would cure without having to evaporate, I think.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Sounds promising, but am just a bit concerned about adhesion around the edges if I just use normal paste - you know how edges can get caught, and if the paper isn't tightly bonded to the glass then a little pull and it could all come away.

Is it possible to steam vinyl paper off a surface? (Thinking about the next owner.) I'm wondering if putting a steamer to vinyl attached to glass might crack the glass. Never used a steamer. Are they that hot, or is it more a case of "hot STEAM" rather than "HOT HOT steam"?

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Oooooo. Now that sounds promising. Worth experimenting with. Will Google it.

Eddy.

[Steve Firth]

I steam them off when recycling bottles. The labels are printed with a waxy ink so it's very difficult to soak them off. The steam melts the wax and lifts the label off the bottle in a few seconds.

The PVA we use is a paste rather than a solution because we don't want to over-wet the labels, so I'm not sure if it works with dilute PVA. OTOH I have used woodworking adhesive when we ran out of the "proper" PVA at a weekend and that seemed fine as well.

[Gib Bogle]

Don't paper, hang fabric.

[Eddy]

Already spent hours finding a heavy-weight embossed vinyl paper that looks just like leather. Considered fabric initially but thought paste/glue would seep through and look awful but actually I now remember I used fabric on wood once before and it looked great. Anyway, too late now: I've bought a £20 roll of great-looking paper!

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Steve, thanks for this. Sounds hopeful.

Someone's suggested "Ready Mixed Paste" (being stronger than the usual mix-your-own) should work. Trouble is a tub costs about £10. A bit much for just a few panels. Am wondering if a pack of "Solvite Wallpaper Adhesive" flakes for just £4.27 will do the trick because it's described as "Extra strong all purpose wallpaper adhesive for hanging all papers including heavy embossed, washable, vinyls and blown vinyls."

See:

good to know that if it strong paste (either flakes or tubbed) doesn't work then PVA should work - especially as you say you can steam it off.

Am going to pop into a few shops and ask what they use to paste "Closing Down - Everything Must Go!" signs to the insides of their windows!

Eddy.

[Mike]

Many years ago I moved into a house in the depths of winter, stripped the woodchip in the living room and decorated it with blown vinyl (see I told you it was many years ago!) One bit was in a recess close to the door, but had never been previously papered, instead it had a layer of faded white gloss which I thought was over plywood but never really checked. It got a quick clean and was covered with the new wallpaper.

Come spring and I started decorating the outside when I noticed other houses in the street had a glass panel in this recess where mine was now papered. Sure enough on checking closely I noticed mine was glass too.

The paper was still stuck there 10 years later with no special preparation just ordinary wallpaper paste which was probably much better quality than you'd get today.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You normally peel off the vinyl layer 'dry' as it were which leaves the paper backing which can be soaked off in the normal way. But that's with ordinary wallpaper adhesive - something which isn't water based might need a different approach.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you read the instructions on that it says it won't work *on* vinyl - and to use their proper stuff for overlaps, etc. So I'd guess the same would apply to any non porous surface.

[chrisj.doran]

Thinking laterally, can you just reverse the doors to face the mirrors inwards? Of course, you may then have to varnish or otherwise cover the former inside.

I think I got sticky vinyl plastic from Homebase recently.

Chris

[Eddy]

Unfortunately, no. All the fancy panelling is on one side only and the other side is pretty awful.

Eddy.

[Eddy]

Very helpful, story, Mike.

The paper I have bought is ready-pasted. I've soaked a small bit in water and applied to the face of one of the mirrors . . . and waited for it to dry. It dropped off. Leaving a tough thin layer of cellulose on the glass. So this is why I thought I would enquire here. I sort of assumed that even the ordinary mix-it-yourself paste wouldn't be much better. But maybe I am wrong. I'll have a go with ordinary paste today and see. If that doesn't work, I'll move up to Solvite Wallpaper Adhesive which is supposed to be stronger than most.

Eddy.