Mural Painting — BLOG: IN THE STUDIO

How nice to revisit my 2018-2019 commission, the Mary Chapel, for Our Savior Catholic Church near USC’s campus. This 700-square foot mural covers the chapel’s Dome and four walls. I painted it in pieces in my studio on Polytab, a wonderful smooth polyester material that is lightweight, strong, and does not shrink or expand. After the pieces were finished, I then rolled them up for transport in my small car, and then had it professionally installed in the Chapel.

The post just one earlier than this contains information on Polytab, how much it costs, where to buy, weights, sizes and so on.

Painting on strips of Polytab in my studio

Rolling up the entire 700-square-foot mural and transporting it in my Honda Fit.

Here is the information on Polytab, the 100% polyester non-woven fabric that is being used by muralists. The material can be used primed or unprimed. It can be used for drawing and painting, and is also suitable for printmaking. Polytab is available in various weights, though the 2.0 ounce version of the product is far and away the most popular among muralists. Incidentally, you can obtain similar non-woven materials, usually in smaller dimensions, from fabric stores who market the item as “interfacing,” which is used in various applications for garment tailoring. Note: Be sure to use sew-in (non-fusible) interfacing rather than the fusible version, as the latter contains an adhesive surface.

Polytab has been recommended by muralists such as Kent Twitchell, The Getty Conservation Institute, Golden Paints’ technical support staff, as well as several mural groups including one in Philadelphia whom I am familiar with. The video link highlighted here shows the process of utilizing Polytab in creating a mural: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC8_ixnK3xc. Just one caveat: This video shows rollers being used to prime the Polytab. However, I prefer my surface texture to be primed using a brush rather than a roller.

That said, the best place that I’ve found to purchase Polytab is through a wholesale distributor located in downtown Los Angeles called STC-QST. The salesperson to speak with there is Tony Spagone (E-mail: tspagone@stc-qst.com). Tony can assist in providing muralists with information regarding the product, handle requests for sample yardage, as well as walk you through the ordering process.

STC-QST’s pricing on style #320 as of January, 2021 is as follows:

320-60-WE @ $1.24 per yard. Standard roll size: 60” X 250 yards

*There are 15 square feet contained in 1 linear yard (36” X 60”) of 60” material*

320-46-WE @ $1.01 per yard. Standard roll size: 46” X 250 yards

*STC-QST’s minimum order requires a 25-yard purchase.

Note: Their less-than-standard roll pricing is $.60 per yard higher than the pricing quoted above. Therefore, 320-60-WE would be priced at $1.84 per yard, while 320-46-WE would price out at $1.61 per yard.

STC-QST’s full range of wet-laid non-woven products are as follows:

319 = 1.9 ounces per square yard

320 = 2.0

324 = 2.4

325 = 2.5

328 = 2.8

330 = 3.0