Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

My new favourite thing

It is dangerous trawling the internet.  I was investigating alternative headboard ideas last night and came across this on Skylon Interiors:

Have you ever seen anything so fantastic and fantastical?  Sadly it is sold or I would have to have it, even if I am not entirely sure what I would have done with it.  It is a painted canvas and wood backdrop used by a touring theatrical company in the 40's and 50's.  It is beautifully painted and I love it's faded shabby glory.  I sent a photo to my intended saying, "You should thank your lucky stars this is sold or I'd be saying, 'You'll never guess what I bought today!'" and a total replan of the intended dining room scheme.  He pointed out that at 3 metres tall, it never would have fit into our dining room, but I wouldn't let such practical details get in the way of an amazing decorative detail. Funny how recently during our DIY trials, my partner has been very quick to offer up the services of his new multi-tool with saw attachment (to my slight worry) at any opportunity, but as soon as I mentioned this work of art, he was mysteriously silent with regards to using the multi-tool to get it to fit.  All of this means nothing of course, because some other lucky person is in possession of this unique piece.  If you like the idea of willow pattern, standard size or giant, we do quite a large range of willow pattern stencils be it motifs from the china or stencils of the china itself e.g. plates, cups, teapots.  Check out our Blue & White range or put willow pattern into the search on our site.

Rachel 

Black Lace. Trend Alert?

 

Carole King of Dear Designer's blog  wrote yesterday about her love of black lace and it pinged into my twitter feed just as I was compiling pictures of the same subject from around my home. Four of our rooms feature lace in decoration and all of it is black. We might be more goth than frilly in our house.. 

 

In a sunny recess you may get the double whammy of reflected lacey shadow. So its at a window in Rachel's bedroom, at the front door,

and a black lace curtain surrounds a bath

and there is a black lace stencil pattern on the walls. The last one is in our studio, but still counts. The lace stencil is VN124.

Is this a trend alert? If Carol is featuring it then it may be so, she shares a couple of scrumptious pics of lace panels from silk supremo James Hare  

photo from james-hare.com

What about you? Black lace in decoration.. a yes or a no?

Helen

 

Jennifer Bernard, then and now

When The Stencil Library moved to Stocksfield Hall in the 1990's we had a 15 year old girl called Jenni Bernard helping us to decorate it.

Jenni was sent by her school for work experience. We thought she was brilliant so she stayed on as a 'Saturday Girl' helping in our shop. Years passed, Jenni trained as an interior designer. We kept in touch sporadically. she opened her own design business, got married, won awards. Rachel, Chips and I would read about her in newspaper and glossies. I would bump in to her at the design shows in London and we'd have a quick catch up over tea. We both have fond memories of her Saturday's at The Stencil Library. Jenni is now Jennifer of Bernhart Interiors and was the subject of a recent 'Then and Now interview' so I thought I'd take this oportunity to give her a shout out, not that she needs one. The very small picture shows the fifteen year old Jen being featured in House Beautiful Magazine.

Winter White

Last night I travelled through snow to the observeratory in Kielder Forest, the darkest part of England. Inspired by glittering white landscape against ink black sky I raided my photo file for some white images.

I found, refelections in Jenny Packham's shop window, London.

 

A detail of dress made from rubber gloves,

 

A library in Capri, I think the designer was David Hicks. I tore this photo from a magazine years ago and have decorated rooms for others using this picture as my starting point.

Spike reaching for the camera strap,

My Christmas table decor

Stickyweed stencil on floor, wall and furniture.

The sheep next to our office, my friend Sarah-Lee thinks the sheep in Northumberland have the best faces.

White lights at Mum's house.

Paper cuttings in a shop window at Haworth.

Snow bowls with candles in my garden 

white stencilled pattern on a window using Ottoman stencil OTT20 photo Victoria Magazine

and finally...white stencilled pattern on a white wall. Our customer used shimmer paint and the MD38 grass stencil.

Helen

Large stencil of Birds & Blossom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bedroom wall stencilled with a huge version of JA116 Bird & Blossom in metallic and iridescent paints.  Contact us to enquire about special sizes of our stencils.

my new obsession

I have many, many obsessions.  I may be a bit slow to pick up on this one, but here is my new obsession: overdyed rugs.  Just to share, I googled overdyed rugs and clicked images and this is what I got:

How lovely.  I am not a big fan of Persian, Indian or Turkish rugs generally (which are the main style used for this process it seems), but once overdyed they become something else and are just gorgeous.  I like that it is a twist on a traditional look.  You can click on the image to bring up a larger pic or google overdyed rugs yourself to indulge.  Meanwhile, I have a new house and need floorcoverings.... :)

Rachel 

Brad Pitt has seen our stencils (maybe)

I am a sensible, level headed person (generally).  There is not much that makes me go weak-kneed (except when my boy proposed to me, but I digress).  And I like to think that I have fairly unique taste.  But the exception to both those statements is Brad Pitt who first came to my attention in a trailer ad for Levis before the film "Thelma & Louise".

image Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair

And then to answer every female's question "who IS that boy???", appeared in the film itself getting down to less than his Levi's (note to self: must see if You Tube has that Levi's ad).  And I have been a (dribbling) fan (like many) ever since.  Yes, I do appreciate his acting ability, but he is rather good looking as well.  It's a nice combination.  So imagine my (over) excitement upon reading a clip from Elle magazine that he hed recently been a guest at the Pool House in Scotland.

If you haven't seen previous posts on this, the Pool House is a gem of a place tucked away in the glorious west highlands of Scotland in the most beautiful surroundings.  Also, they have used quite a few of our stencils in the rooms, restaurant and reception area.  So, yes, I was more than a little joyous that Brad could have seen this:

stencil OTT14 Border No. 14
Or maybe even this:

stencil OTT14 Border No. 14
Or perhaps this:

VN210 Chandelier
And gotten naked...oh, sorry, maybe my mind shouldn't go there.  At least not whilst at work.

image from www.mrandmrssmith.com,  stencil OTT1 Border No. 1

stencil OTT55 Panel No. 3
I hear he has rather discerning taste and is an aesthete so I would like to think that if he had noted our stencils, he would have approved.  Especially as they have been used in such spectacular fashion at Pool House.  It is a tenous connection between us, but one has to grasp a very, very, very small thread every now and again. Now what would really make me faint headed would be if Johnny Depp had been staying in the next room as well.

Rachel 

(unless specified, photos from the Pool House, photographer unknown)

New private class at The Stencil Library for groups of 6 or less.

Invent your own creative day at The Stencil Library. £390 per group (max 6 persons).

Get a group together and plan a creative day to suit yourselves. Lunch, refreshments, a teacher and basic paint/stencil equipment will be provided. The core charge is £390 so if the price is shared between you and five others your share becomes £65 plus any extra materials you may need. You can chose to learn general stencilling skills or work on a specific project. The cost of any extra supplies will be determined once you have decided what you would like to learn.  So, you get to choose the project, the date and the people that you spend it with...which sounds pretty good to me.

The private class has worked well in the past for training as well as celebratory occasions such as birthdays and 'get togethers' . Contact us for more details.  Non private stencil classes are scheduled at Stocksfield Hall on Feb 3rd and May 4th 2013.

Recreating design from the Topkapi Palace

I have said it before, but I will say it again: we love it when customers send in photos of their stencilling projects.  Especially when it is a project that we have discussed in detail.  It is a thrill for us to be able to see the final results.  A customer in Scotland had taken these photos of some porcelain plates at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.

The Topkapi Palace was the primary residence for the Ottoman sultans for about 400 years and is beautifully decorated in elaborate painted and tiled pattern.  It was turned into a museum in the 1920's and the end of the reign of the Ottoman empire.  Such is the beauty and complexity of design from that empire, we created an entire range of Ottoman stencils.

Our customer has a rather splendid large fireplace with a panelled section above it that was "crying out for an original touch".  He decided to recreate the effect on the plates within the panels using shrunken versions of our stencils. 

 

The fish net effect was done by hand and then various fish stencilled on top.  We have fish from stencils DE316, JA129, MS95, DE348, CA6, TP10, MS101, CS8 and A2 as well as a few shellfish and shells.  Some of them were used at standard size, but most have been shrunk to suit the space.  We can shrink designs within a certain degree and will advise you if that makes them too fragile to use.

The results are terrific and add a unique and personal touch to the room.

Rachel.