Paisley top help needed

blakejcan

blakejcan

Well-known member
Howdy,

I am in the middle of a strat build that I am trying to apply a Rothko & Frost paisley paper wallpaper top to. I followed the directions as listed on the Rothko site here:

https://rothkoandfrost.com/blogs/st...a medium/thick layer,with a sharp craft knife.

I did a test piece beforehand and it was clear that you could apply the paper using titebond, it would look great, then as the paper absorbed the glue a bit it would wrinkle up. If you pushed out the bubbles/wrinkles quickly then it would lay flat.

I tried doing the same thing to the whole top but after laying the glue across the whole thing it was just too much to work with too quickly to get all the bubbles out before it set. I tried to get creative and used a wet towel and an iron to loosen things up and move them around. Definitely helped a bit but not perfect.

Anywho--now I'm left with a top that is great in parts and a bit wavy in parts. Not awful, just not flat.

I could either:
  1. Say screw it and move forward and try to really bury it in clear and level it out. Will prob look mediocre
  2. Work some sort of unknown magic to remove the remaining wrinkles? Not sure what that would be?
  3. Sand it off, start over.
I'm hoping for option 2 but leaning towards a version of option 1 where maybe I sand it level in parts, screw up the paper, spray over the whole thing and relic it and only have pieces of the paper showing.

I can throw up some pics in a bit.

Thanks for any insights hive mind.
 
99% of the time this happens, whether on a guitar, tinting windows, or wrapping a car body panel, you will have to take it off and reapply. Given it's paper you probably want to apply a new sheet
 
what's the fix for the next time? My only thinking is instead of applying the whole sheet at once, just do small sections at a time and really make sure each part is fully flat before moving to the next part.

wrinkle.jpg full top.jpg
 
That can definitely be better, but it's not as bad as you think it is. I'm guessing you cleaned the surface, applied glue, placed the full sheet of paper, removed the bubbles, and then once it dried you got the wrinkles? If that's the case, it may have been the drying process.

I'd say remove it, remove the remaining glue, and try again, but this time weight it down with some towels as it dries, making sure to get the forearm contour. Also, once you get it where you want, sanding the edges of the body will make it look nicer.

If this is your first time doing it, it's quite a good job. If you've got enough wallpaper, no harm in retrying until you get it where you want it.
 
yes, exactly as you described. It looked good as it went on then as it dried wrinkles appeared and the glue was too set to move them about at all. I'm wondering if titebond is really the right adhesive for this.

Each sheet is like......$30. I have extras but if I can make this work somehow that would be preferred.

And yes, my first time doing it. I'm ok with failing. That's just learning. I screw this stuff up all the time. :)
 
id think less glue and maybe different glue? never tried this, following to see how ya make out.
 
I'm going to play with trying to fix what I got and then yea......super thin wallpaper glue or something seems like a better deal. And working slow.
 
no laughing. That's exactly what I was doing. Sort of.

Ironing it with a wet towel on top of the paisley and trying to get things moving. Did another round today. It's better. I might just leave it and clear it real quick to see how bad/good it looks.

I also tore the paper in one small spot which is not so rad but it's near the burst edge so we'll see.
 
haha well great advice. hah

given that the manufacturer's instructions say to use titebond that is where I started.

I ironed it again it started sanding the edges. I think I'll try and use it. A lot of the cruddier parts will be under the pickguard or a burst band.
 
For future, I would have reverse-wrapped the paper on a roller and rolled it onto the body so it was pushing out air and excess at the same time as being applied. Maybe you did that and it still had a problem?
 
I don't know how you could wrap it around a roller in a way that would have made sense but I see what you were thinking. It's thick paper. It would have probably just unrolled itself.
 
I wrapped a guitar in contact/shelf paper back in the 80's and I just rolled it around a kitchen rolling pin, once it's one time around, it holds itself until you get to the last round unrolling it. Maybe wall paper is tougher, but that was my first thought anyway.
 
I like the spray adhesive idea better for sure. Seems more manageable to get an even layer down than titebond and likely not as wrinkly
 
I used 77 spray glue for the backside. Worked way way better. The only screwups on the back were of my own doing trying to get the belly contour. I really don't know how people do that part?

Next time I'll test it on a tele. All good tho. Lots of it will be hidden by the burst band I plan on doing.
 
blakejcan said:
The only screwups on the back were of my own doing trying to get the belly contour. I really don't know how people do that part?
Click to expand...

I think you need a thinner more flexible base for the art part of it. If wallpaper is thick and stiff, it's not going to bend into concave cuts and such. Unless maybe you wet it completely and it streches a bit?
 
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