Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Chinoiserie, chandeliers and a festive blog call

I was trying to help a reader with a decorating dilemma customer yesterday and recommended that she  check out the blog of Stephanie Jones at Mr & Mrs Jones paint finishes because I knew that Stephanie had designed a stencil that may be the solution to my readers problem. A little later I found myself with a few free minutes and decided to spend them checking in with the aforementioned Mrs Jones.  Imagine my suprise when I found that a current post showed a very pretty and unusual use of our own Chinoiserie Tree  stencil.  Now I have seen photographs of other projects that Stephanie has created with this stencil, it is  a pricey one so I am glad that she is getting lots of use from it. Fabulous chandelier ... I am experienceing sparkle envy.  I met Stephanie at a stencil convention in Memphis TN a couple of years ago have mentioned her blog on a couple of occasions, it is always a treat. 

Other creative blogs that are on my speed dial are Theresa Cheek at Arts The Answer.  She has just self published a beautiful looking portfolio of her work and this post tells how she did it.  

Regina Garay at Fauxology gives us delicious champagne inspired decorative finishes for a fizzing New Year.

Di Overton at Designer's Block shares alternative festive decoration ideas with leopard spot cake and a life size lichen covered tree in the lounge.

I was going to link you to Angela at Spinach Tiger's recipe for anniversary red velvet cake but chose blue cheese with purple potatoes instead. Dribble, enjoy.

Melanie Royals author of DesignAmour visited a stencilled house over Christmas (no it was not mine).  She stayed with her family and gave us a tour of the lovely finishes that were achieved in their home with a handful of stencils and a great deal of flair.

Pink Bow brings us beautiful images of a north east English winter in her Christmas post.  See circus acrobats, outdoor movies in our city's streets, steaming coffees and tree decorations. The ordinary made extraordinary...drrreamy and gorgeous stuff.   

Whilst I am having a couple of days of over New Year I shall be visiting more of my favourite blogs and finding out what other creative friends are working on, but for now I am closing the office for the weekend, putting on my coat and visiting the winter carnival in Newcastle.  Happy New Year.

Helen x

The craft of presentation

Sometimes the creativity and thoughtfulness of friends astound me.

A beautiful squishy envelope arrived from Pennsylvania today. Now any delightfully decorated envelope excites me as they usually contain something good. Demands, bills and bank statements do not usually come in such pretty packaging.  This was from my friend Betty in the U.S.A.  Inside the brightly coloured outer envelope was another one of green, padded silk, inside that was another parcel wrapped in fabric of matching tones, tied with ribbon.

I stared at it for a full ten minutes.  I had no idea what would be in it and at that moment didn't care, the wrapping was enough to make me happy.  

Inside the parcel were Betty's photos from our holiday earlier this year.  Each section was labeled lest I forget where we had been...we went to a lot of places that week.   It was a lovely gift to receive, time, effort and thought made it extra special. 

Betty explained that she thought it daft to put the pictures in an album that had been shipped from China to America and then ship it further to the UK.  Apparently the silk bag was bought years ago and served as inspiration behind Betty's many handmade, decorated bags, she uses transfer paper and a photocopier along with stencils, buttons and hand-sewn embellishment. Betty's gift has prompted me to edit my own pictures from that trip and show you some of the wonderful places to visit in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Maybe I'll work on that tonight. Maybe I shall work on improving my gift wrap skills too.

Helen.

Mum's festive stencilled tablecloth

The Stencil Library team all went to my Mum's the other night for an early Christmas dinner.  The silver and crystal were dusted off and polished and on the table was a cloth that I stencilled for her at least 20 years ago.

It was one of my first stencilled fabric projects. The tablecloth is a damask one with a strong woven pattern.

I measured the table top and made a paper template of it. The template helped make the design fit exactly with the shape of the table.  I used a combination of my stencils with one bought from Dee-signs in the USA.

The paint was a screen printing ink that I used to bottle and sell in the early days of The Stencil Library. The paint was heat set with a hot iron and has survived extremely well over the past two decades.  This style of stencilling where the colours were blended and mixed was very much the look at the time but I still think it looks fresh.

I did it by stencilling random patches of yellow then applying the other colours over it. I began with the lightest colours and applied the darkest colours last.  I used a different stencil brush with each paint colour and made sure that there was very little paint on the brushes.

This cloth is often used at family occasions throughout the year but has become a Christmas favourite. Do you have any festive table traditions? 

Helen.

PS.The dinner was fab!

Vintage Vs Contemporary

My name is Laura; I am one of the design students currently working with Helen Morris here at The Stencil Library. Following the preparation and decoration of the Christmas house tour, we have been working on creating room sets. I thought I would share our progress with you.  

A room set shows the stencil in context.  Here I have tried to combine contemporary and vintage with the modern vase and the vintage side table. The flash of orange in the flower offers a great contrast to the sullen grays of the Elizabethan stencil on the wall. 

Here I have created a retro kitchen set.  The lily of the valley stencil is VN156. I love the contrast between the blue tea pot and the yellow wall. I went with the white table to draw the eye to the stenciled wall and the tea pot.

There you have it, 2 simple room sets fit for a page in a glossy magazine, I hope you will agree.

Laura

 

stars on the ceiling

This is how I spent Tuesday.

I was stencilling the dome of St Paul's Church in North Sunderland on the Northumberland Coast.  I was assisted by Kevin from N&F Young decorators in Alnwick. Kevin held the stencil and I applied the paint.

Occasionally we swapped roles, manoeuvring up there was a little like a game of Twister and we were more close than most strangers are during a working day, Kevin ended up with his finger nails gilded, accidentally.

The benefactors loved their new starry ceiling, Kevin enjoyed most of his stencilling experience and I had the satisfaction of a job well done and the relief of not having to be up a scaffold for the rest of the year.

By the way, one of the origins of the verb to stencil came from estenciler meaning 'to sprinkle with stars'...apparently.

Helen.

Look what I did on my lunch break

I had read that Louis Vuitton had featured pyjamas to be worn at all times of the day as part of their 2012 Resort collection.  Now I am all for wearing pyjamas all day and if LV says it's OK, then that's all I need to know.

Photo: Louis Vuitton

This morning, it was very cold and my bed was extremely comfortable and warm. It was difficult to get up, but I do have to go to work.  However, I decided today I would wear my pyjamas to work so I dug out my best pair of silk pyjamas, a long navy cardigan to go on top and a pair of suede loafers, channelling LV ( decided to leave the motorcycle helmet at home).  I like to think Coco Chanel would have approved too.  I have been extremely comfortable all day and, as I am wearing my
thermals underneath, toasty warm. And although I do not look scruffy at all, I do not look quite as glam as Ms Arizona Muse, the model in the LV photo.  Maybe I did need the motorcycle helmet afterall.  However, I did look at my loafers and think they were not quite up to scratch.

So on my lunch break, I monogrammed them using small version of our 311 Victorian Monogram and Sunset Gold stencil paint.

Much better!  They were only cheap loafers from Topshop so I knew if I made a mess of it, I wouldn't break the bank.  I stuffed the toes with paper to make them firm and then stencilled as normal, very carefully.  It took 10 minutes in total.

We can shrink stencils within reason.  Shrinking does make the stencil more fragile so the smaller it has to go, the less use you may get out of it.  It may even be too small for us to manufacture but we will advise you of this.  My stencil needed to be cut at 45% of it's standard size.  I knew I only need to use it twice so it didn't need to survive long.  It was fine and it is still holding together.  I did have to use it very carefully and treat is as delicate.  But I wouldn't like to use it 100 times. If ever you need a design shrunk, let us know what for and we will be able to tell you how well your stencil will hold up. 

On a side note: rather liking the leopard print of LV's pyjamas.  I think our MD2 Leopard Spot stencil will be coming out sometime this winter. 

Rachel.

Drama in the Parlour presents Victorian Christmas

It's back! By Wednesday my home will have turned into a theatre again for comedy show Drama in the Parlour.

It is the fourth production in just over a year.  Instead of presenting Drama in the Parlour in it's usual guise of a thirties radio show they will travel back in time to England in 1837.  Albert Strongarm has made his fortune from indoor flushing lavatories and Queen Victoria is on the throne....errr not the flushing one though.

Preparations include stencilling the theatre chairs. Students Dyane and Louise did these using a tear out stencils from the Stencil It book.

I make sure that the Strongarm's festive table is set.

 

and the indoor lavvy has been seasonally decorated.

Strongarm (Andrew Palmer) and his wife Meryl (played by me) are hosting a party to show off their wealth and benevolence.  They have invited the famous novelist and playwright Charles Shakesworth ( Alex Swan) and a team of actors to entertain their guests. The coach carrying the actors has disappeared without trace and so the hosts, their cousin (David Walker), their hapless maid Milly (Marie Swan) along with Maude the governess (Margaret Matthews) have been drafted in to assist Mr Shakesworth bring his readings and plays to life. Being the season of goodwill Meryl and Albert bring a poor urchin (Cameron Swan) to their home for an evening.  Will he want to be clutched to the bosom of this family? What is the spirit medium trying to tell Albert?  Will the steam train ever reach the moon? Why is there a governess and no children? What are the rules of posh etiquette? Might miserly Bob Scratchpole embrace the idea of Christmas and will Oliver Twirl?  To find out you will need a ticket for Drama in the Parlour I have some for sale, there are only a few left for each night.  Wed 14th - Sat 17th December 7.30pm in the parlour of Stocksfield Hall. Stocksfield. Tickets are £7. Complimentary hot drink and mince pie. Dress up, dress warm. 

Helen.  

lunar eclipse

Tonight the moon is doing some kind of unusual alignment.  Australasia is apparently the best place to see it although the Shetland Isles in the far north of Britain will also get a decent view.

This was the scene from my garden 10 minutes ago at 8.15, no eclipse of course but still a lovely place to gaze at the moon.

Helen.

Amazing Butterfly Plates

Hi, my name is Louise I recently started my work placement with Helen Morris at The Stencil Library. On the second day of my placement Helen took us on a little field trip to visit an amazing home accessories store called RE in Corbridge, near Stocksfield. This store is tucked away down one of the side streets, and what a find it is. When entering the store you are met with an array of fantastically put together displays, each depicting a different style in its own way.

 

What really caught my attention were the vintage blue and white plates re-fired with bold, coloured butterflies on them. I think this is a great way to modernise more traditional patterns and make them unique.

I felt inspired by these plates and would like to try making something similar myself. To do this I would choose a beautiful stencil and apply it onto a Willow Pattern plate. These blue and white patterned plates can often be found at car boot sales, antiques stores or even charity stores. Helen has lots of butterfly stencils.  The  vintage butterfly plates from RE can be bought mail order too, each one is different.

Louise.

 

behold the festive pug!

Yes, it is that time of year again. When the pug angel clutches the holly branch and the festive tours of our stencilled home begin.  This year I have been assisted by Dyane, Louise and Laura design students from Newcastle College. Over the next few posts I will show you what they have been creating.  The tours are now booked but there is one cancellation for this Saturday morning (10th Dec) 10.00 am. Let me know if you want to buy the last ticket. 

Helen.