A strip of printed paper twelve yards long is called technically _a piece_. This piece has ragged unfinished edges, and the edges are to be cut away in a straight even line until a proper part of the pattern is reached; for the blocks are so carved, that one edge always corresponds exactly with the opposite edge. The wall, which is generally plastered, is washed or sized, and made fit to receive the paper. The cement with which the paper is fixed up is thin paste; and when that paste is ready, the paper-hanger proceeds as follows. Supposing the height of the papered part of a room to be twelve feet, he cuts on four yards from his piece of paper, with the two ends accurately at right angles to the long edges. He then lays it down on a flat board or bench, face downwards, and coats the whole of the back of the paper with liquid paste, by means of a brush. He then slightly folds the paper over, so as to prevent it from dragging on the ground, and, mounting a ladder or a pair of steps, applies one end of the paper to the upper part of the wall, close to the cornice: then, by letting the paper unfold itself, it falls to its full length, and extends down to the bottom of the room, close to the wall. The workman has now to judge, by the eye, whether the edges of the paper are perfectly vertical, for the whole beauty of the work depends in a great measure on this circumstance. When he has ascertained that the paper hangs perpendicularly, he proceeds to press it firmly to the wall, by means of cloths; and the paste has so far softened the paper, that wrinkles of every kind disappear. This done, he cuts off another piece twelve feet, or four yards long, and pastes it against the wall in precisely the same manner. But here great precautions are necessary; for the workman has to attend to three particulars in fixing the second piece by the side of the first:--to cause it to hang vertically,--to make an accurate joining of the pattern,--and to refrain from soiling the surface of the first piece by the paste of the second. All these are precautions which can only be properly attended to after considerable practice. When the workman is approaching an angle or corner of the room, he must cut his paper to such a width as will just reach the corner, for it is generally difficult to bring the paper round both sides of the angle. In the case which we have supposed, the height of the room is just one-third the length of the piece of paper, so that there need be no joints at any intermediate part of the height. But if the height were any other amount,--say ten feet--three pieces of that length would leave a fourth only six feet long; and as such a piece is not likely to be wasted, it follows that there must be a joint at some intermediate point between the floor and the ceiling. Such a joint requires especial care, as the pattern has to be attended to both in a vertical and a horizontal direction.