Replication of Heritage Area Linoleum Rug
Damaged 1890 Linoleum Oilcloth at Pinhey’s Point Museum, Ottawa
Pinhey’s Point is a museum in Dunrobin Ontario and operated by the City of Ottawa. In 2024 the museum suffered water damage because of a leak and a beautiful area rug that was made from linoleum circa 1890 was damaged. I was asked to replicate it. I took a rough tracing of the extremely intricate design and matched colours on site. I will outline my process but first a brief history of linoleum.
In the 18th century painted canvas for floors called Floorcloths or Oilcloths were becoming increasingly popular. They were primarily painted to imitate blocks of marble but overtime many different stencilled patterns were offered. These were painted using linseed oil and oil paint. With the passage of use and time they became brittle and not many exist today. These were very popular up until the late 19th century when linoleum was invented, after that painted canvas for floors was replaced by printed linoleum. Many remnants of these can still be found in heritage homes and museums.
Here is a brief history from the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Journal No 5 (1996) written by Ralph Parsons:
Linoleum was invented in 1863 in Chiswick England by a man named Frederick Walton.
Frederick Walton was born at Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax in 1834. When Frederick was 21 he entered into partnership with his father and elder brother to form the firm of James Walton and Sons at Haughton Green, near Manchester. While working with his father Frederick gained a background knowledge of the processes and use of india rubber. Frederick had his own small workshop and experimented and produced a brush design that was able to be marketed and sold (he produced clothes brushes, hair brushes and horse brushes which were sold in a shop in Wellington Street, London).
During this period he saw something that was to have a great influence on his and many other people’s lives. In his own words: “There was a paint pot in the laboratory, and, as usual a skin or surface of dried oil had formed upon it…it occurred to me that…I could use it as a … waterproofing material, similar to india rubber.” He managed to produce a quantity of oxidised oil and treated it in the similar manner as india rubber and discovered that it had some of the properties of rubber. Frederick continued to produce brushes but the enterprise ran at a loss which was made up by his father. Eventually his father refused to help him further. Cashing in his £2000 share of the business, Frederick Walton set off to London.
Late in 1860 or early 1861 Frederick Walton took a factory and house in British Grove, Chiswick.
Making the invention
One of Frederick’s problems was that of obtaining workable quantities of oxidised oil. At Chiswick he constructed square iron tanks, with sides about three feet long. The tanks were heated so that the oil could be boiled. Arranged above the tanks were iron frameworks onto which he fixed cotton cloth. The frames were lowered into the tanks and then raised, allowing the excess oil to drain back into the tank but also leaving enough on the cloth to dry or oxidise. The frames were lowered about once a day, and after several weeks the layer of oxidised oil was about one eighth of an inch thick. Cutting the oxidised oil from the cloth proved to be a difficult task.
Frederick tried for some time to dissolve the oxidised oil in a solvent. He found that it was unaffected by water, oil or heat, unless it was burnt. These properties gave it an advantage over india rubber. At last he found that it would dissolve in alcohol.
In September 1861 Walton took out a patent for the manufacture of varnish applicable to the waterproofing and coating of fabrics and other uses. This patent bears the name of Frederick Walton and Richard Beard, both of British Grove.
Frederick obviously kept in close contact with his family because in January 1862 he applied for a patent in conjunction with his brother William of Manchester. The patent was for improvements in the manufacture of wire cards. Wire “cards” – brushes with short wire bristles used in the woollen and cotton industries – were originally made with the wires held in a leather backing. James Walton, Frederick’s father, patented the use of an india rubber backing and now it was the turn of James’s sons to take the next step by using a plastic material for the backing. The advantage of the plastic backing, was, as Frederick had previously discovered, that it was impervious to grease, oil and moisture; it was also cheaper than india rubber.
Frederick’s idea was that his plastic material could be used as a replacement for india rubber. India rubber was being put to an increasingly large number of uses. One that had been invented a few years earlier was called Kamptulicon; this was a floor covering that had advantages over ordinary floor cloth in that it lasted longer. But its disadvantage was that as india rubber became more popular so the price went up. In an attempt to overcome this problem the india rubber content was reduced, which in turn made for poorer quality Kamptulicon. This damaged its reputation and led to lower rather than higher sales.
In April 1862 Frederick Walton read a paper at the Society of Arts. His paper was divided into three sections. The first discussed india rubber, the second section related to gutta percha and the final part was devoted to the properties and uses of a new substance, namely oxidised vegetable oils. Frederick listed applications to which the new substance could be applied. At the end of the list came Kamptulicon and paints for floor cloth.
Patenting the invention
Rubber-based Kamptulicon was not capable of being rolled onto a backing because the compound was too tough. Frederick discovered that his material could be rolled out in a single pass through rollers. It then occurred to him that the material could be rolled directly onto a backing fabric. These were the big steps in the invention of Linoleum and he filed his major patent in April 1863.
To quote the patent document: ‘… this invention has for its object improvements in the making of fabrics for covering floors and other surfaces…. canvas or other suitable strong fabrics are coated over their upper surfaces with a composition consisting of oxidised oil, coal dust and gum or resin, preferring Kauri or New Zealand gum, such surfaces being afterwards primed, painted, embossed or otherwise ornamented….’ Coal dust was soon to be replaced by ground cork but the basic idea for linoleum remained as stated in the patent.
Originally Frederick called his floor cloth Kampticon. However he soon realised that this name could be confused with the india rubber product. He changed the name to ‘Linoleum’ based upon the latin linum, flax or linseed, and oleum, oil.
Towards the end of 1863 Frederick patented his second idea for Linoleum. This was a bold step to try to alleviate the problem of the painted surface of the floor cloth wearing out. The solution was to interlock two differently-coloured patterns, each with its own backing. The resulting sandwich was then split, so that each backing sheet held a coloured pattern that went right through the backing. The backing would therefore last the life time of the material.
In order to maintain his works at Chiswick Frederick had taken partners who had put money into his ventures. It became obvious to them that Linoleum could be a profitable product.
The British Grove Works were going to be too small for the enterprise and larger premises were sought. A vacant water-powered mill was found at Staines. It had previously been used for calico manufacture and contained a set of large rollers, a pivotal piece of machinery in the manufacture of Linoleum. A new company was floated in 1864 with a capital of £25,000. It was called The Linoleum Manufacturing Company.
Below are pictures of the process which I will outline here:
Travel to site for analysis, cleaning, colour matching and tracing.
In studio, redraw tracing to be precise and accurate reflecting entire section of repeat.
Block out colour separations in repeat design.
Digitize drawing and colour separations.
Laser cut 60 stencils.
Stretch and prime canvas (both sides)
Using custom stencils, apply texture mimicking that of the original.
Basecoat entire surface in appropriate colour.
Do mock ups.
Apply 8 colour overlays using stencils.
Apply antiquing glaze.
Apply 5 coats of clear protective sealer.
Hem cloth (turn over edges and glue down).
