Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

A repeat visit on a repeat pattern

The wall was painted with Prom Night, a deep purple matt paint from Crown Paints. The pattern is stencilled in black using a design called DE82 Repeat No 16 from The Stencil Library.  There is a step by step project showing the creation of this wall it in our how-to stencil section.  In this follow up project, I will replace the purple and black stencil scheme with colour.  This is just to show you a different look with the same design. 

The design repeats in any direction by fitting the printed areas on the stencil directly over the area that you have just stencilled.

I quite like the idea of only colouring part of the wall.....

...but seeing as that was not the object of the excerise, I completed the pattern in colour.  This is a very traditional style of pattern given a non traditional treatment.  What do you think?  Colour or monochrome?

Helen

Another winner from Crown Paint

After the success of the winning design ‘Image Furniture’ by Kyu Seon Lee, Crown present the next instalment in their collaboration with the Royal College of Art.

‘Baroque Cats’, by Alex Mattsson is the latest design in the Crown Jewels collection of modern, stylish and inspired wall stencils for the home, to be painted directly onto walls using Crown paint.

Hailed as one to watch by Dazed and Confused in 2008, Swedish born Alex is currently completing his MA in Menswear at the RCA. His forthcoming graduate collection is eagerly anticipated by the fashion establishment and he is being hailed as one of the top new menswear talents to emerge in recent years.

The new stencils are available to purchase online from the Stencil Library, Baroque cats is an oversized cat design which can be combined with an enlarged  stack of classic art books, also designed by Alex. 

Crown's PR says "The designs mix the familiar with the irreverent and will add a unique dimension to the walls of any home.  Used on their own, or as a set, the avant-garde stencils are perfect for anyone who wants to make a playfully bold style statement in their home.  We say "Yep, indeedy!"  They might be rather handsome to decorate the work space too.

Rachel and I are excited to be helping with design guidelines for the students and will be cutting and distributing the winning designs. You have already seen the first winner on the pages of Design Inspiration.  It was the chandelier stencil that one can hang things from.  See it here and also here. It is so encouraging to us that two such prestigious names as Crown and the RCA are endorsing creative stencil design. 

To recreate the look above, Crown recommends using a dark Matt Emulsion such as 'Dramatic' for the stencil detail.  We used their suede finish paint in the picture below and once again Spike the cat helped to provide a sense of scale to the wall decoration.

The Crown Jewels stencils have been produced by the Stencil Library and are now available to order from http://www.stencil-library.com/crown-rca-stencils.html

The Cat stencil Retails at £50.00 and the Book Stack retails at £115.00. If purchased together the Stencil Library is offering the special offer price of £150.00 for the two.

I will be posting step by step instruction with photographs for both the cat and book stack stencils.  Visit again soon.

Helen.

Staycation day three: The Stencilled Tent

We are staying close to home today.  The weather is kind and I would like to resurrect the stencilled tent in our garden.

 

It had been shoved into an outhouse for the past two years and is badly stained by mold and chocolate (from the last party we had when the wind wreaked havoc with the chocolate fountain).

There are inner and outer walls to the tent.  The inner walls went into the bath tub to soak.

Then they were scrubbed and laid out in the sun to dry. 

The outer walls were smelly and very moldy.   Chips and I hauled them into the bath and although the tent now smells sweet, we could not shift the stains.  Chip's solution was to stencil them with leopard skin pattern.  If we were unable to remove the stains, why not make a feature of them?  We filled plant sprayers with dilute brown paint and some pigment glaze and sprayed drifts of colour onto the damp canvas to make a background for the leopard spot stencil. The picture shows the original tent outer years ago when it was clean.  It is to show you how the tent is constructed.

When dry, I hauled the newly washed cover into position on the tent frame. I found that it had shrunk by at least two feet.  It is tied on to the wood frame for now, but I will need to order waterproof, rot proof canvas and start again. I still like the leopard idea though.

Meanwhile the inner panels (also shrunken) have been staple gunned into position and I am enjoying the tent again.  It is long past its glory days and despite it's stains, it is still a lovely place to be.

The stencils are all from the Ottoman Collection and I chose these colours to mimic Islamic tiles seen at The V&A Museum, London.  I have an outdoor chandelier suspended from the roof support.  It gives a very good light.

When the tent is remade, I am thinking of having inner panels of stencilled lupins and hollyhocks from our Garden Room collection.  Rachel has bought some old canvas chairs and this setting would suit them.  The beauty of the stencilled inner panels means that the interior of the tent can easily be changed.  The canvas is not too expensive and the sewing is fairly simple.  Another of our stencilled tent interiors is shown below.  Goodness knows where I put that one.

Another project this summer will be to clear out the storerooms.

They are probably full of mislaid treasure.

Helen

Staycation day two: Belsay Hall and Gardens

  Fabulous art installations appear at Belsay every few years.  Today and for the rest of this year Lucky Spot, the beautiful crystal horse designed by Stella McCartney, is the star attraction.

Chips and I have visited the horse on other occasions, but the lack of crowds today meant that we could take photographs without anyone but each other being in the frame.

From this angle, it looks to me like the British flag.  Lucky Spot really needs to live in our home.  I have a place in mind for him.  His present home is the main tower in Belsay Castle.

It's on the second floor.  The wall between the castle grounds and the pasture is known as an ha-ha.  Is that not a fab word?  When viewed from the castle the pasture and ornamental grounds appear to be level, but the deep ditch on one side of the ha-ha means that the livestock can not reach the building.

 We reached the castle through this laburnham arch

leading to Belsay's famous quarry garden.

Belsay Hall stands empty when not housing artwork, I like to wander around it's rooms, touching the  pillars

and admiring the carvings and friezes.  This one is similar to stencils found in our Empire Collection.

Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens are cared for by English Heritage.  I bought an annual membership from them in the hope of many more days out this year.

Does anyone know how or why ha-has got their name?

Helen.

Staycation

We are having a break from stencil related stuff today and I am taking you on stay-cation with me.

I forcefully suggested to my husband that we take a week long break from the studio.  "Let's go on holiday", I said.  " Now!"  

He protested that he did not want to go anywhere. "We don't need to", I explained.   "We will stay-cation.  We will get up when we want, tend the garden, read on the lawn and just wander around the local countryside with no agenda other than just being and enjoying."

So with that intention, we kicked off the duvet and went into the sunshine.

The first day we headed for Barter Books in Alnwick.

It's a tradition that we visit at least once a year.  Barter is housed in the old railway station.

It is one of Europe's largest second hand bookstores and it is the birthplace of the hugely popular "Keep Calm and Carry On" merchandise.

Rachel wrote about it here.  Today there were new posters bearing the words 'Freedom is in Peril.  Defend it with all your might' and 'Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution will bring us victory'.

 A model train whirs around the miniature rail track above our heads.

 See the mural above it.

 There are comfy sofas and log fires and coffee to tempt the customer.

Do you see the green book?  On closer inspection I saw a description above it bestowing the dubious honour of 'weird book of the month'.  I bought it.  It's called 'The Botanical Footwear of Dennis Kyte'.

And here is a page from it.

Close to Alnwick is Rothbury so we stopped there to visit Cragside House and Gardens.  Cragside was the first home in the world to be lit using hydro-electricity.

It also boasts one of the largest hand made rock gardens in Europe.  See the house reflected in the stream at the base of a steep ravine.

In May and June, the garden is famed for its rhododendrons and azaleas.  One can drive through miles of them on a circular scenic route around the Cragside estate.

There are some fantastic gizmos in the house.  There are many lovely rooms and a couple of fab painted ceilings.  I asked for permission to photograph them for you.  It was refused.

Tomorrow we will visit Belsay Hall and Gardens.  I prefer their rhododendrons and they let me take pictures.

Am I sulking? You bet!

Helen.

Chinoiserie romantic style

The brief for this commission was to create a calm, romantic bedroom.  Feminine, but not girly.  I  painted the trim on the furniture and the lampbase with 'warm silver' from Metallics by Modern Masters.  I used the same paint through the stencil on the wall, chair and lampshade.

This is the same spot in lamplight.

The stencilling appears around the room, growing from corners, winding onto upholstery and settling in niches.  I am extending the design in the picture above.  I want to lengthen it horizontally so that I can take a branch of it onto another wall.

In the following picture, you will see the stencil being cut to accomodate a shelf.

See how it fits within the space.

Then I turned my attention to the bedside lamps.

I was rather fond of these lamps.  They did look better though for a few rows of stencilled beads on the shade.  See how the pattern is printed around the edge of the stencils.  That is to ease the repeating of the pattern.

All the soft furnishings were made by Fionda Furnishings in Newcastle.

The French style furniture was bought from The Stencil Library shop in Stocksfield.  The floral stencil was CH12 also from TSL.  I enjoyed putting this room together and hope that it's owners enjoy it too.

Helen.

Chandelier stencil...getting the hang of it

Remember this chandelier stencil?  We  recently wrote about the designer Kyu Seon Lee and the stencil design competition that he won.  The competition was a collaboration between final year students from The Royal College of Art and Crown Paints.  The Stencil Library was to produce the finalist's designs.

I promised Design Inspiration readers that I would stencil '"Image Furniture"  and hang things from it as it's creator had intended.  I did, and here are the results.

A chandelier for the kitchen...

and one for the bedroom or dressing room.

Actually it might be rather quirky to hang ones garden tools, or screwdrivers and hammers from it.

Isn't that a yummy pink?  It's called 'Cheeky Wink' from Crown Paints

We will be showing stencils from the other competition finalists soon.  Watch this space.

Helen

Theresa Cheek

Meet Theresa Cheek, talented artist, wearer of stenciled jeans and author of a new blog called "Arts The Answer". I discovered Theresa when she submitted photos of her work to the Gallery of the International Decorative Artisans League (IDAL).  One of my extra curricular tasks as a volunteer for IDAL is to select photographs from the submissions and feature them on the gallery. Do visit.  You do not have to be an IDAL member to see the pictures.  Initially, Theresa had sent me details of a beautiful Chinoiserie mural and I wanted the gallery viewers to see more of it.  A correspondence and more pictures of her work followed.  Now, I do like to treat my lovely readers.  But too much of a good thing is not wise for anyone, so I am saving Theresa's Chinoiserie project to show you soon.  However, she has restored and recreated some fabulous historical stencilling in Texas, USA and I cannot wait to share this one. 

Theresa tells me,  "The home was built in 1888 for a prominent family.  It is known as the "Senator Chilton home" in Tyler, Texas.  The stenciling was not original to the home, but was done somewhere between 1888 and 1908.  There is no documentation as to who did it or how long it took."



She adds,  "It has been covered my whole life with layers of paint and wallpaper. I had always heard rumors of the murals and stenciling from older people.  The current homeowners are on a historical board and wanted to find out if the rumors were true.  They began to scrape back paint and found wallpaper.  This layer is what saved the stenciling.  The paper was applied in the 1930's and had a muslin liner behind it.  It wasn't until around 2000 that the murals began to emerge with the intense labor of removing multiple layers of paint and paper.  We assume itinerant painters did this, but the scale and quality is very high.  There are at least two more rooms with stenciled walls and ceilings.  We have uncovered a section in each room to show the patterns, but money is not available at this time to do restoration. There is also rumor of a mural going up the staircase wall.  Nothing has been removed in that area to prove or disprove this.  ANY HELP you might have on the style or origins of this job would be appreciated by me and the current owners." 

So if anyone can help her please comment here or on her blog.

Theresa goes on to say, "With a degree in Art History, I have always had a fascination for art.  I love the execution of a project but the historian in me enjoys researching a project to get the details accurate.  I have been an artist for over twenty years specializing in murals, gilding and restoration.  I have traveled to Europe on a yearly basis since 1999 and enjoy talking to and working with artists there.  I now specialize in decorative art, working with stenciling, faux marble and faux bois."

So there you have it.  More of this fabulous project is featured on Theresa's blog and I will be featuring her again soon.
Helen

Classical stencil decoration in black and white

This simple black, white and gold decorative scheme uses classic stencil design in a 19th century flat.  Although this style of decoration would have traditionally combined with period furniture it works well with these modern pieces from IKEA. 

  Stencils are from various collections at The Stencil Library. Contact us if you want more information.

Helen

stencils and tapestry

Are you looking for yet another use for your stencils?  Here is a gift of an idea. Simply stencil your design in colours onto tapestry canvas and fill in the different areas by stiching them with matching colours of tapestry wool.

  This could make an inexpensive but thoughtful gift for someone creative.

  You could stencil the canvas in colours to suit their home, buy the matching wools and display it all beautifully in a decorated box.  All stencils shown above are found in the budget collection from The Stencil Library. Helen.