Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Wedding preparations

Colin the horse was lifted from his bed of nettles to have a new suit of gold fitted.

The bench on the winter lawn was gilded with copper leaf and the wood glazed with layers of green, blue and black.

The colors are a perfect match for the pheasants that share our garden.

Tomorrow the bench will be stencilled and varnished.

The wooden tent frame which served us well for the past twelve years has been replaced with a sturdy new one.  I am sad that I will have no time to make a new canvas cover for it this week. I may have to drape the structure with sheets and I am hoping that I will have a stencilled floorcloth that fits.

We have unwrapped the awnings for the daybed and dressed the dilapidated frame with stencilled chrysanthemums.

This is one of my favourite spots in the garden and I am hoping that I am hoping that the seat will not collapse.

The plastic garden pots have been painted blue and planted with booty from a local plant sale.

Flowers have been transplanted, gravel weeded, lawns mowed and paths carved through the nettles and around fruit trees. We had the most productive weekend with friends and family preparing the garden for Rachel and Stephen's wedding on Saturday.

We hope that the clematis, paeonies and honeysuckle keep hold of their blooms for the weekend

and that the weather is kind on the day.

Helen

Yorkshire Lavender, a recipe for a grand day out.

I adore lavender, I have loads of it my garden and harvest it

to make lavender scones, lavender meringues,

and lavender shortbread.

My lavender beds are a haven for the bees, they smell and look wonderful... 

 

but they are nothing compared to the rolling purple hills of the Yorkshire Lavender Farm.

Every year I try to visit the Lavender Farm near Malton, North Yorkshire. Few of my friends had heard of the place so I am alerting anyone that may be in the North East of England this summer.  It is minutes away from Castle Howard and fourteen miles from York. 

Combine both gardens for a sweet smelling grand day out.

Every year I intend to lavender jelly to my arsenal of floral foods, anyone got a favourite lavender recipe?

Stencil of lavender and pots from The Stencil Library's Garden Room Collection.

Apparantly, our own Kate, Duchess of Cambridge has had a pregnancy craving for lavender shortbread.  Here are some links to some lavender recipes.

http://annashortcakes.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/lavender-liqueur/

http://annashortcakes.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/plum-lavender-crumble-with-almonds-and-oats/

http://annashortcakes.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/lavender-rosemary-potatoes/

http://annashortcakes.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/lemon-lavender-shortbread/

ttp://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/04/how-to-use-lavender-what-to-bake-with-lavender-sweets-recipes.html?ref=search

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/lavender-earl-great-flourless-chocolate-cake-recipe.html

Yummy!

Helen.

 

 

Returning from Japan. Salon 2013 Tokyo.

Last week I was in Japan with a fabulous group of decorative painters from all over the world.

We were attending SALON 2013 Tokyo and had nine days of the most wonderful hospitality from our Japanese hosts. I will tell you more about it once I have edited my nine hundred photographs and checked the names of people and places that I encountered. I would have done that on return but have had a lousy cold and done nothing since returning..except sniff and cough.

All participating artists at Salon paint a panel to be displayed at the venue. The work was outstanding, I was a little nervous because it was the first Salon that I had contributed to, stencil artists are rare at Salon and I was the only visitor from the UK. Here are two of the team from Faux Arts Design displaying my panel.

A similar panel is created on site during the Salon, contempories and visitors watch the process. I took several painted 'backgrounds' rolled up in my case because I expected to stencil a panel a day.

Pic. Natali Hallberg. Sweden

However, there were so many interesting distractions such as kabuki makeup, Japanese guitar, slideshows and demonstrations from artists and vendors, a group mural, massage, delicious lunches, old friends to catch up with, new friends to meet and so much more that it took me four days to complete my panel.

Pic. Tatiana Rugers. USA

Who knew watching paint dry could be so much fun!

Helen  

A big butterfly stencil

Introducing CO13 butterfly stencil and some ways to decorate with it

I made floor mats by stencilling the butterfly shapes onto onto Roc-Lon fray proof canvas then cut around the stenciled butterflies with scissors, varnished them and placed them on the floor in a guest bedroom. 

They have been at home for many years

but now I am reworking the room so I expect that I will sell the butterfly floor cloths in our next pop up sale.  The same design was used to decorate a tree for the diamond jubilee of our Queen Elizabeth.

This time the butterfly design was stencilled onto drafting film then the shapes were cut around. 

Another way to use the stencil is to create a spot motif upon a feature wall....actually,  it may have worked well onto the back of the leather jacket too.

Helen

 

Our new collection of stencils for furniture

I am excited about our new collection of stencils.

They went on line last night at The Stencil Library web site, in the special interest section.  The stencils were designed to decorate furniture and other small scale projects.

Regular readers will know that Rachel and I love making over charity shop furniture with stencils and decoupage. Within the new collection there is a mixture of themed stencil packs, border stencils, motifs, corner pieces and all over pattern.

They appeared on our website a little quicker than I was expecting and I am still writing the instruction leaflet to give helpful hints and ideas for using them.

Over the next few weeks I'll be showing you some of the stencilled items that we have created using the new collection.

I hope that some of you will send us pictures of pieces that you have decorated with them too.  

Helen

Reflections and stencils of tree branches

I stopped to admire reflections of the wisteria vine growing around my window and thought how similar to our VN301 bare trees stencil they looked.

The black lace curtain is throwing a few shapes at the wall too.

The CH45 rococo flower stencil would make a similar effect. Here it is on a corner cupboard door.

I hope that your day is sunny too. Helen.

 

We are having a garage sale at Stocksfield this weekend

Rachel and I are having a garage sale from 11am to 4 tomorrow Sat 11th May. There will be furniture, paint, vintage clothes, decorative accessories, fabric, frames, old stencils and paint, magazines, STUFF and more! We enjoyed looking after them but no longer have the room. Postcode NE43 7TN. We are on the B6309 just before the road block on the way to Stocksfield from the A69, the address is The Farmhouse, Stocksfield Hall, Stocksfield, Northumberland. The Stencil Library will be open as usual from Monday but we won't be answering the phone much over the weekend. See you there, bring a friend.

Helen and Rachel.

Monogram stencil. Simple gift idea.

 

A monogram stencil and a brush to accompany it could make a welcome gift for both practical and creative folk. Here are a few pictures of monogram projects from our home and archives.

Curtains stencilled with Dutch Metal leaf and an empire style monogram 

A simple and stylish Classical monogram stencilled onto a velvet cushion.

Suede or fabric shoes stencilled with Victorian initial, the same design appears in a larger size on this stool stencilled by Judith Wilson for Homes & Gardens Magazine.

 

Rachel Morris used our Floral Initial stencil to decorate a wall.

and I used Initial Cappuccino stencils to decorate coffee.

Stencil decoration is perfect for weddings. I use them for table covers, candles, albums and wedding gifts. All kinds of monogram stencils can be found in the lettering stencils section at The Stencil Library website including the ones in our photographs.

I'll conclude with a simple gift idea.

Take a plain wooden or card stock box, mine came from Ikea.  Paint it, stencil a monogram then varnish it.  Either keep it yourself or give it to someone, fill it or leave it empty. The stencil is Art Nouveau Monogram from The Stencil Library.  All 26 letters are available and they are excellent value.  Re-use the stencil to decorate other surfaces.

Mai day, lily of the valley and a stencil project

A dear, departed friend from Lavergne in France used to send me lily of the valley on May 1st. She told me that is a French custom to send the flowers to loved ones so I did a quick search to get further info.  Wikipedia offered me this:  On May 1st, 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer the flowers each year to the ladies of the court. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom on the 1st of May, to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime. The government permits individuals and workers' organisations to sell them free of taxation.

It is also traditional for the lady receiving the spray of lily of valley to give a kiss in return.

How very civilised I thought....compared to the May Day customs of the British.

In Oxford, it is traditional for May Morning revellers to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6.00am to listen to the college choir sing traditional madrigals as a conclusion to the previous night's celebrations.   In recent years the Magdalen Bridge has been closed on 1st May to prevent people from jumping as the water under the bridge is only 2 feet (61 cm)deep. Although serious injuries have been sustained there are people still who insist on leaping.

When I was a student we would scale the fire escape from our dormitory at sunrise on May Day to wash our face in the dawn dew, much safer.

Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual 'Obby Oss' (hobby horse) day of festivities. This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even through the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing the traditional 'May Day' song. 

In St Andrews, students gather on the beach late on April 30 and run into the North Sea (Yikes, this is not the Caribbean!) at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked. This is accompanied by torchlit processions and much elated celebration.

And there was more! OK, what is it about the British?  Does our loopiness know no boundaries? Are my fellow countrymen barking mad? As an antidote to our daftness here is a perfectly sane stencil project using VN156 Lily of the Valley stencil. 

Firstly, use a plumb line to make sure the stencil is level.  I have sprayed a light mist of repositioning adhesive to the back of my stencil and I press it to the wall.

I take a small amount of paint onto the stencil brush and work away any excess paint onto paper towel then apply damp paint though the stencil.  This stencil has double registration points. I stick low tack tape onto the walls directly below the points and mark them with paint.

See the marks on the tape? Now I remove the stencil and position the next overlay.

The registration points on the second overlay fit exactly over the marks on the tape.

Using a separate brush for each colour I apply paint to the ribbons and flower heads. Make sure that the paint is not wet.

To repeat the pattern just fit the printed areas on the stencil over a bit that you have just painted.

See, how sane is that? May you have spring in your steps this May Day.

Michele, your friends remember you every Mai 1st. 

Helen

 

 

How to get Gatsby style decor with a stencil

Create a luxury look with stencils, metallic paints, imitation gold leaf and a bit of imagination.

SIB18-MR Etruscan stencil was designed for the book Stencil It by Helen Morris. A smaller version of this design is included as a tear out stencil in the book. The table is gilded with Dutch Metal transfer leaf. The following picture shows a smaller design stencilled onto fabric using Dutch Metal gold leaf. Both photos from 'Stencil It'

Here is a period style stencil with a 21st century twist. It has a code number of LTL3 and appears in a brochure for Crown Paint.

This stencil exists as components to make a design from, however if you wanted what you see in the picture, contact us we can cut it as 'a special'.

Stencils CH1-CH4 stencilled with Ventian Plaster by Armourcoat, room by George Bond Interiors. If the budget does not stretch to plaster finishes or Chinese wallpaper style stencils then a similar look could be achieved by using pale, iridescent paint over an ivory coloured wall and use just one of the panels instead of all four.

A dark wall stencilled with Sunset Gold metallic paint and VN47 chevron stencil teamed with crushed velvet and old furniture. The result is inexpensive yet looks luxurious.

I fancy using this stencil design somewhere to create a Gatsby inspired interior in one of my rooms.

or this one.

However, I would use the VN10 button back stencil with a subtle combination of colour and texture.

Finally, two ideas from Rachel Morris's stencilled art deco lounge,

gold coving and a stencilled ceiling. The ceiling motif is a custom sized  MD73 Pulsar

the walls are stencilled with VN7 Chain Lightening and she describes creating the decoration in her blog post.

We have a masculine, art deco style, stencil called Gatsby, although I have had the stencil for years I have not used it yet....now is the perfect time to do so! Have any readers used it and can you show us a photo?

Helen