apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What is silver chinese tea paper? I love this ceiling too, and have to ask how to did it -- I painted my ceiling silver, but do not like the effect, and am wondering about silver leafing it instead... but now you present another alternative...

I would also love to know how to achieve this effect. I thought about aluminum leaf (as silver leaf will tarnish over time) but the application seems difficult.

Are you sure that pic is tea paper? It looks more (to me) like silver leaf.

There are also several wallpapers that mimic the effect.

If applying tea paper, I would experiment with decoupage medium.

Pearl River is a great source for inexpensive tea paper.

http://www.pearlriver.com/v2/FramesSearch.asp?search=tea paper

Good old Mod Podge would work well for this application. Be sure you pick the right finish -- glossy, matte, etc -- for the look you're trying to achieve.

I don't evny the next tentant that has to deal with removing this...maybe you could apply it to some sort of posterboard and put on your wall in sections???

I would love to know exactly how you do it. Every time I something with Mod Podge, the paper crinkles and can't figure out how to smooth it all out.

Pearl River

the wrinkles in mod podge are the worst. i just use a ruler to smooth them out while they're still wet, but it's sort of a toss up. for this project though i'd consider a spray adhesive. i use it for all sorts of thing and it doesn't wrinkle, plus i know 3M makes one that isn't permanent so it might make removal easier for the future owner (or you if you decide you don't like it)

There was a post about tea paper at Pearl River not too long ago on Domino's blog:

http://www.dominomag.com/daily/blogs/dailydose/2007/10/whos-the-joss.html

Hi P2!

Yes, I thought it looked like silver leaf, too, but the site where I saw this said it had been done in tea paper. I'll look into the spray adhesive and see if it can come off easily.

Thanks, guys!

What about rubber cement or starch? They both wash off.

Hmmm, that's joss paper. I don't think it really has anything to do with tea. It's meant to be burned for a certain holiday (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

the holiday is for the dead. this is money for the dead. my parents would make me move if my ceilings were lined in this... but thats just my culture.

it does LOOK pretty though.

sadly, i have to agree with rantingpixie. i LOVE the look of the ceiling and would love to do something like that myself, but i'd go with silver leaf rather than joss paper. joss paper is known as ghost money, and is burned in traditional chinese funerals.

Oiy.

It sounds like it would be much easier to apply than aluminum leaf (yes, thanks for reminding me about silver leaf tarnishing -- although I think if you apply a varnish on top -- which I think you should do anyway to protect it-- it stops the tarnish. At least, I think I saw that somewhere...).

Now if only I didn't know that it was ghost money... but heck, I am not Chinese, so why should it feel like bad luck to me...(even if it now does)?

Well, apparently, they have found a way to make gilding a ceiling a lot easier... But...

Well, see for yourself:
http://www.gildedplanet.com/gildingceilings.asp

The stuff now comes in rolls, although they make it look like it still comes in little rectangles... the effect looks too even for my taste. I like the irregular quality of real gilding, and of the joss paper above.

Just thought you'd like the alternatives...

monika1 -

Thanks for that site! But it seriously DOES look like it's the real deal, but that instead of having them stacked in impossible-to-separate little stacks of them, they're just packaged in a more user-friendly way, but it looks like it's seriously actually the authentic thing. Which actually means that it's NOT exactly like putting up wallpaper, so it's not really ALL that easy.

During traditional Chinese funerals (like my grandfather's funeral which I attended several years ago) paper representations of everything the newly deceased might need are burned as part of the ceremony.

For my grandfather, this included a paper house (fully furnished down to the VCR) that was more than 10 feet tall as well as a paper car, along with handfuls and handfuls of this type of paper, which we spent days folding into little "hats" to resemble the gold ingots of the past.

On the anniversary of his death afterwards we would fold more of this money, then go to his gravesite with offerings of fruit and burn it - meaning the money, not the fruit. With typical Chinese practicality, after the offering we'd take the fruit back and eat it!

eeeck:

That is one cool funeral ceremony.

I highly recommend that you try working with a few sheets of tea paper before you fall in madly love and want to DIY on a whole ceiling or wall. I’ve used Tea paper, it is burnished (you rub with a tool) onto a surface. Its light and flies away and you use tweezers to place it.
Understand the material before you commit to doing something crazy with tea paper.

That room in the photo probably had a whole staff of decorators, photo stylists, and assistants doing this to the room.
*-)
Dewi

I'm just (finally) checking back now, but joss paper and tea paper are two different things. Tea paper is heavier.