NEW NEW TOY

Krazy Bob's Spring Blog Specials Continue!!!!!

Note: that was _5_ exclamation points!

New toy of the month, the famous 10" "hammer head" broadknife.
The best trimming device I have found in over 35 years of paperhanging.

This is the real deal from Hyde (Southbridge, Massachusetts).

For the price of $26.50.

Order today, there are not many left!

NEW TOYS.....blog special!

hard on the heels of the successful March Madness, the thundering hooves of......new toys!

as demonstrated at the show, everyone who has a laser NEEDS a focusing rail.

what is it, you ask?

look, and marvel:

this nifty unit is ordinarily used for macro-photography; it allows a camera to slide down a rail to capture tiny objects; the aluminum cast alloy body has rack and pinion fine-tuning which saves your sanity by putting your laser line EXACTLY WHERE YOU WANT IT.....

once it's there, a separate precision device (ok, a screw) locks it in place.

laser heaven!

and all for the low low price of 26.50! how can you beat it?

actually you could beat that price, but then you would be getting a thin package from halfway around the world now, wouldn't you? at least we use paper packing and shiny white boxes!

so give it a try. this is not yet on our web site, so we'll call this one a BLOG SPECIAL!!

and, more toys to come.............

UPDATE, FEB. 10: counting down to March Madness

N  E  W  S FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The Berkshire Chapter of the National Guild of Professional Paperhangers 

will host the March Madness Paperhanging Workshop in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

ALL DAY on Saturday, March 31, 2012.

Location: The West Springfield Elks Lodge, 429 Morgan Road, West Springfield, MA 01089

please mark your calendars!

FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact person Bob Kelly, tel. 413-243-3489, email wscom@roadrunner.com

==============================================================================

- Registration is taken up to 9:00 am, and the cost is $30 at the door. Price includes breakfast, lunch, program!

- The workshop is open to ALL who wish to attend or participate. You need not be an NGPP member.

- This will be a day dedicated to sharing knowledge and gaining skills. Don't miss this affordable opportunity to network with your peers!

- The West Springfield Elks Lodge is conveniently located minutes from the intersection of I-91 and I-90, in south-central Massachusetts.

- Hotels are abundant. Make a weekend of it! The social scene is as rewarding as the workshop itself. 

PROGRAM

Once again outstanding professionals from the Northeast have agreed to share their skills to help attendees reach new heights of expertise and earning power. We highlight two up front:

 • Close-Up on Shelly Wilkins (Westminster, Maryland): Shelley will present her solutions for handling a most unusual wallpaper.....a 9-multiple drop. Even though the internal repeat is 36", the pattern drops 8" for each side to side match. It's necessary to cut 9 drops to complete the pattern. Learn how she was able to quickly cut the pieces and even run them through a machine. Come and be a part of this discussion! Why are these types made? And HOW are they made? Can they be stopped? How do they differ from other types? How can you recognize them quickly?

• Close-Up on Larry Cohen (Brooklyn, NY)

Larry, a popular presenter, will give a lecture on the basics of blueprint reading. The main topic is explaining what common symbols and conventions mean, while leaving room for specific questions about rarer symbols or specifications that attendees may have encountered. As a busy commercial hanger in the Big Apple, Larry has likely seen it all (or at least most of it!). Larry will display many types of blueprints and draw larger symbols and sections of elevations on a pad for maximum visibility. A printed handout of the most important points is included in this workshop.

ALSO:

- Mike Germain (Kingston, NY) will demonstrate Faster Plaster. This material completely transforms cinderblock walls and other problem surfaces.

- Bob Kelly (Lee, MA) will demonstrate how to join borders: topics include continuation, mirror images and balancing larger motifs at extremities. 

- Charlie Gilley (Vermont) will show his award-winning work on an overhead ceiling installation. This solo, overhead performance was made possible by using Zip Walls (adjustable poles).

- Phil Reinhard (Millville, New Jersey) will present the acclaimed workshop he gave at the NGPP Convention in New Orleans (Commercial Work in Tight Spaces)

- Panel Discussion: paperhangers who use smart phones and phone apps discuss the pros and cons of their current operating platforms.

- PLUS, at no extra charge, a multitude of 5-Minute tips to save you time, presented by paperhangers from the most important city in the Northeast.....Boston.

And more.....! 

A one-and-a-half hour slot in the middle of the day accommodates lunch, announcements, and swap & sell.

50/50 raffle prizes are awarded throughout the day. Go home with goodies!

--- the end ---

FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact person Bob Kelly, tel. 413-243-3489, email wscom@roadrunner.com

March Madness Update

UPDATE: Phil Reinhard has agreed to reprise his "Commercial Work in Small Spaces" at the March Madness Paperhanging Workshops on March 31. This was presented at the New Orleans Convention of the NGPP to great acclaim. We are delighted to hear this news!

Marching To Madness

that's right folks, once again the intrepid Berkshire Chapter of the National Guild of Professional Paperhangers is hosting the March Madness Paperhanging Workshop in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

this edition takes place all day on Saturday, March 31.

location: Elks Lodge, 429 Morgan Road, West Springfield, MA 01089

mark your calendar!

workshops will include: "Cornering the Market on Borders" by Bob Kelly and "Faster Faster Plaster" by Mike Germain.

the border workshop will show how to make scads of money and thereby become part of the 1%. this is surprisingly easy once you how how to miter borders effectively. customers essentially open their wallets and say "how much would you like?" the hard part is deciding which border designs should be continued around the corner, which should be mirror-imaged at 45 degrees, and which are important enough to start and balance at the corners. examples of several types will be included with plenty of time left over so I can be told that I did it wrong.

the faster faster plaster workshop will be a revelation to those who have never had the pleasure of completely obliterating cinderblock walls. Mike knows this stuff backwards and forwards and has the scar tissue on his hands and the grooves in his now-useless plastic sweeps to prove it. come and be entertained and educated, because in this economy, more and more building managers are looking for a way to get a totally new look and  a new surface to boot...this stuff will do it!

Historic Paperhanging Techniques: A Bibliographic Essay

"Historic Paperhanging Techniques" is now available as a free download from the wallpaperscholar.com web site.

There has been little written on paperhanging technique. Most information is handed down or learned on the job. Trade magazines are helpful for learning about the workaday world of the historic paperhanger, but these did not begin until 1875 and are not widely available. Nevertheless, there's a considerable body of information out there if you know where to look: this essay helps you do just that.

This essay is 6,000 words and was written for the International Preservation Trades Workshop, Lancaster, PA, Aug. 2-6, 2011. It is dressed up with a fabulous postcard image of an early 20th century paperhanger gettin' down to business (supplied by master paperhanger friend Don Leetz of Wisconsin). Thanks, Don!

The essay brings in European sources like the interesting articles by Geert Wisse (Belgium), and Phillippe Fabry and Bernard Jacque (France). I only regret that the Commonwealth countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada) were not addressed this time around. Surely they deserve further study. Wallpaper use was rampant in the 19th century and we see the same widespread use of hessian on plank walls, for just one example, in all of these countries, just as it was used in Hawaii, California and Texas.

Hard copies are available in a plastic binder, so let me know by email if these would find a good home in a library or other archive: info@wallpaperscholar.com

Download: Full Article

UPDATE: this article is now available on:

www.scribd.com/doc/63701733

MARCH MADNESS KEYNOTED BY LARRY BIRD

Ok I totally made that up. But, I wanted to catch your attention: here is more news about the best one-day workshop for paperhanging in the country.

We've been getting great feedback on attendance. Of course sometimes plans change.....but, we have heard from Ric Fish in New Orleans, Al Smith who will be leading a group of merry men car-pooling up from Delaware Co. in PA, Shawn Lawler in Chicago, and others.  We have posted a list of motels on the Delphi Forums run by Chris Hayes, but we may as well post that here, too:

the top of the pile would appear to be Hampton Inn at 135.00
other motels for March Madness:

Comfort Inn, cost about 120.00
Quality Inn, perhaps 90.00
Red Roof, about 75.00
and, others are lower in cost, but...
...you usually get what you pay for, and YMMV.

all of these are within about 10 minutes of the Elks Club.
if you go to www.tripadvisor.com and search for "West Springfield, Ma", a map pops up on the right.
click on the map, and you can see Morgan Rd. running east-west just under Interstate 91. the Elks Club is at 429 Morgan Rd.

all of these motels are in the Riverdale Rd. area, near the intersection of Interstate 90 and 91.

also, Buffy Groves says:
"I stayed at the Wilbraham Inn near Roger's place (Roger lives in Springfield). Last year it was $75/night".

Because I am contact person, I get many calls and emails. 

Here's the scoopa de la poopa. THE DETAILS of the event 

are here in this post.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME, and there is no pre-registration.

you just pay at the door between 8:15 and 9. 

The first program is at 9.

More news: the surgery for Roger was successful and he has 

already emailed me. Cliff Hayes is planning on using his

camera to project a "jumbotron" on the wall or screen so 

people can actually see Larry Bird, oops, I mean Larry

Cohen, tawlk about how to anticipate and solve problems

with touch-up before they drag you down to perdition.

This includes not only seam coloring but also minor 

annoyances such as fingernails nicking the corners of 

sensitive goods and causing a last-minute panic of how

to make tiny blemishes disappear. It sounds simple but

Larry is a master paperhanger and his bag of tricks is

going to surprise and delight you. 

The sound system provided by Howard Hamm, ye wandering

troubadour, will ensure that people in the 7th row can

hear, despite the enthusiastic re-cap of the Super Bowl

that will be carried out in the 5th row by those lunk-heads.

More news to come!

To get a load of the 80-plus posts on the Delphi Forum 

about March Madness, hit this link here.