Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

How to stencil wallpaper with a repeating design of dogs

Linda Barker created a study room on ITV1's television programme 60 Minute Makeover which featured hand stencilled wallpaper with our pattern of SIB14-LR Dogs on it. The homeowners appeared to love it and if you are quick then you can catch the programme on line for a few more days. It's the Wallington episode.

Now, I will show you how to stencil wallpaper using a repeating pattern.

The 'Dogs' stencil is one of 20 designs given in the book Stencil It by Helen Morris. The design was enlarged for this project. The book and stencils can be ordered from The Stencil Library.

This is how to make your own version of the dog wallpaper.

Cut several lengths of paper from the roll, make them a little longer than is needed.  The wall was 250 centimetres high so I cut them at 275. My paper came from Tesco...very inexpensive.

I used a foam mushroom and household matt emulsion paint to stencil the wallpaper. Mushrooms are available from The Stencil Library and are useful for stencilling large areas of flat colour.  I could have used a foam roller to stencil, but there are floppy bits on the stencil which may catch on a roller so a mushroom or a large stencil brush is a safer option.

 

I sprayed a slight misting of spray repositioning adhesive on the back of the stencil and aligned the edge of the stencil along the edge of the wallpaper. 

 

Dab the rounded end of the mushroom onto the paint then bounce it onto scrap paper until the paint is just moist and no longer wet. Rock and tap the mushroom through the holes in the stencil until the shape is covered.

 

Before removing the stencil place some low tack tape under the registration diamond and mark the tape.

  

Reposition the stencil for the next repeat by aligning diamond shapes with the marks on the tape.

 
 
As each length of paper is completed join the next one to it with low tack tape. The pattern needs to run concurrently.  Number each length so that they can be easily matched when pasted to the wall. 

 
 
Try to stencil the join evenly.

 
 
like this.

 

After fifteen metres the stencilled imprint was losing clarity so the stencil was soaked in a hot bath, cleaned, then laid flat to dry.

Paste wallpaper into position!

Helen. 

 

Stencil of the week

Let me show you how to stencil china using a simple technique and introduce you to stencil no 297 rose solo. The rose stencil is a sweet, two layer design based on the traditional folk art roses found on canal barges and narrow boats.

Traditionally they are painted in bright red, yellow and white over a dark base colour similar to the way I have stencilled the wooden storage box. I have chosen to interpret the same design onto crockery using magenta and turquoise china paints. 

I have a draw full of glass and ceramic paint. They are the kind that you fire in a home oven.

I find it easy to use sponges when stencilling this kind of motif onto china. I cut a foam square into four and used a different piece to stencil each colour.

Tape the stencil into position. Not all parts of the stencil will lie flat on a curved surface.  Concentrate on applying paint to the secure area then press the next part into position whilst releasing the area that has just been decorated.

Gather all corners of the sponge square to create a firm, smooth paint applicator.  Take paint from a pallet by dabbing the sponge onto it.  Further dabbing onto a clean surface ensure that the paint gets evenly worked onto the surface of the sponge and is no longer wet.  Rock and dab the paint lightly over the stencil. Roll and release the stencil until the pattern is complete.  Before applying the top layer of pattern the stencilled china will need to be fired.  Follow instuctions on paint pot. Mine read 45 minutes in moderate oven temp.  After removal from the oven wait until the piece cools thouroughly before matching the second stencil over the previous decoration.

Dab, rock, roll and release as before then put it back in the oven to fire the top layer of paint.

This should give it a dishwasher safe finish.

In addition to the decoration of crockery and furniture I like the idea of stencilling this rose design in a haphazard fashion over a wall or fabric. Possibly condensed in one area then scattered randomly over the rest of the area.

There are other barge painting stencils in The Stencil Library's 'Special Interest' collection. 

Helen

Inspired by David Hockney and Barbara Chandler

'David Hockney has put trees on the map — and the design world has them on everything else' wrote Barbara Chandler for the London Evening Standard.   

Barbara suggested that readers could Hockney-fy their walls using spray paint and our largest bare trees stencil.   I reckoned that this was a brilliant idea and worthy of experiment, I told my husband that I'd be late home (again) as I wanted to stencil a wall of vivid coloured trees in our shop.  This reusable, plastic stencil stands at 97 inches (almost 2.5 metres) high, so it is not a five minute job to paint a wall full of them. He suggested that I spend an evening at home instead and he would mock up some walls of trees on the Mac. 

So he did!

A stencil is a tool to apply pattern and colour. The scale of pattern, the colours and method of application are the choice of the user. Bare trees is a negative stencil, this means that the surface becomes the tree colour and one applies another colour to surround the tree shapes.  

This is our version of how to Hockney-fy a wall with our tree stencil. Start by randomly spraying or painting the wall in a similar fashion to this.

Much of the background will be covered when the trees stencil is applied.

The stencil is positioned over the painted background, I use a light misting of repositioning adhesive to hold stencils like this in place and it is important to have the stencil flush to the wall when spraying paint through it. Tonal variety can be added to the stencilling as well as the background.   Pictures 1-3 show this effect. Careful use of a foam paint roller is an alternative way to stencil large areas of single colour.  The following illustration demonstrates the effect of stencilling with flat, peach coloured paint over the painted background.  

Voila, an homage to Hockney's Bigger Trees using paint, stencil and courage. 

Prefer something more subtle? How about beige paint stencilled over a white surface? Or use a silver paint that can reflect the colours surrounding it.

A word about the duo that inspired the experiment. I have featured Barbara Chandler on previous posts, She is a very interesting lady, a best selling photographer, a well respected writer, a champion of contemporary design, a well known Londonphile and her Love London work is enjoying much praise at the moment. See it on murals, fabrics, furniture, cards, books and more.

David Hockney is so much the man of the moment what could I add? His website tells much about current and previous work.  See Hockney's Bigger Picture at The Royal Academy London until April 2012. My husband is a fan of his and says that Hockney has inspired him to take a closer look the landscapes round him and see them not as ordinary but as something to be celebrated.

Bare Trees border and wall stencils are available in various sizes from The Stencil Library.

Helen.

stepping up to the stencilled plate

Louise is one of the design students that spent their work placement with me in 2011.  Whilst here, Louise wrote a blog post about some plates that she had admired at RE a wonderful shop in Corbridge, Northumberland.

Because she was inspired by her visit to RE I taught her how to stencil porcelain and ceramic. We used china paints that can be fired in a domestic oven to achieve a dishwasher safe finish.   We were about to host a Christmas open evening at The Stencil Library so Louise chose a reindeer stencil to decorate two plates that would carry the festive pastries.

Here she is creating her stencilled festive plates.  We used paints from Pebeo and Liquitex.  The paint was stencilled onto the plates using a dense foam sponge.  Gather the sponge into a ball shape take a little of the paint onto the sponge then dab it onto paper or a spare plate.

The result is to get an even, moist application of colour through the stencil without the paint bleeding under the design.

If that should happen clean up by gently scraping the smudges away.

The plate must be scrupulously clean before stencilling it. Louise stencilled the reindeer onto both patterned and plain plates.

She used Pebeo paint onto one plate and Liquitex on the other.  Both were red paints.  I put them into my cooking range to fire over our lunch hour.  Once they had cooled Louise put the reindeer stencil back into place and overlaid a Moroccan tile stencil over it.

She stencilled the overlay with gold paint and we put them back into the oven.  Unfortunately I forgot about them. It was a couple of days before I opened the range door and discovered two very hot plates!  The red Pebeo paint had gone a strange brown colour, both my mother and my husband tried to scrub the plate mistaking the reindeer design for a brown sauce stain. I apologise to both of them, also to Louise and Pebeo.

The other plate is looking fine though and it is a testament to the longevity of both paints that I can not remove either of the patterns.

The pattern on my kitchen work surface is the same pattern stencilled in gold over the reindeer.

In the San Antonio Express, Molly Glentzer writes about my new book Stencil It and the new one from Ed Roth.  Molly is explaining how she decorated a plate using a stencil.  I would not have used marker pens and would not have relied on spray adhesive to stop the paint running as Molly did but she made a good job of it and the result looks great.

Want to have a go? There is a project in the Stencil It book which explains with photographs how to stencil ceramic tiles using a sponge,  oven fired china paints... and a free stencil of a fish.

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!

How to make a stencilled draught excluder.

A creative way to keep chills at bay this winter is to make a draught excluder.

Start by measuring the width of your door. Your draught excluder needs to be longer then your door width. This is important as to ensure the draught excluder is a snug fit and keeps the draught out.

We chose a sausage style shape with drawstrings either side for a decorative style. We also made a removable cover, but that's just because we're posh. We used wadding as a filler, but you can just stuff it with old rags pushed into stockings or tights.

For our outer cover we used a black velvet to create a luxurious look.

Factory Fabrics of Prudhoe is an excellent source for lengths of velvet.

How to stencil the fabric:

Launder and iron your fabric. After ensuring the material is crease free apply a light coat of Spraymount onto a smooth work surface and smooth the fabric onto it. The slight tack on the surface ensures that the material stays in place while stenciling. Apply another light mist of Spraymount to the back of the stencil and position it onto the fabric.  Lining the stencil against the selvedge is handy if a straight line is needed. 

Work off any access paint onto paper towel, then stencil in light circular motions, building up the colour as you go. Repeat the stencil by using the registration marks. We used SB Elizabethan stencil. A slightly smaller version of the same stencil is included in 'Stencil It' by Helen Morris.  A matt off-white acrylic paint was chosen to contrast against the black velvet. 

Now you have stenciled the fabric , here is how to make the draught excluder...

We started by making our inner 'sausage' for the excluder.

Take a material such as cotton (an old pillow case or sheet could be ideal) cut out a rectangular shape, depending on how fat you want the draught excluder to be. Mark 1.5cm  inwards from both sides of the rectangle. This is the seam allowance. With right sides together pin and stitch the seams to make one long strip. Leave a gap for turning through. Cut out two circles, these will be the ends of the draught excluder. pin and stitch the circles to both ends. Turn though. Stuff it and stitch up the gap. You now have a smart,  lump free, sausage shape.

Make the cover: Take your stenciled material and wrap around the sausage shape. Not too tight, leave a lose fit. Mark where the ends meet, draw a line. Now fold over the top and bottom of the material. Pin and sew. This is where the drawstrings will thread through. Fold the fabric so stencilled sides are together. Pin and sew along the marked line leaving a 7cm gap half way. Iron seams and turn through. Stuff the basic sausage shape into the stenciled cover. Sew the gap using a blind stitch and matching thread. Cut out two neat circles from velvet, slightly bigger than the ends of the sausage shape. Choose a cord or a strong ribbon for your drawstrings. Turn through so the stencilled side is now showing. Thread drawstrings and tuck the circles into place over both ends. Pull tightly and finish with a decorative bow.

You can even get fancy and add a loop or a hanging tab for storage purposes.

The ends are ruched together to give a decorative effect.

Top Tips:

1. When ironing velvet place fuzzy sides together so as not to crush the pile of the velvet. Alternatively press the fabric with the fuzzy side onto a soft towel. 

2. If spraying the work surface with the repostioning adhesive ( Sopraymount) is not practical try this.. cover the work surface completely with lining paper. Spray the paper with a light misting of adhesive and smooth the fabric onto that. 

Ashley.

How to stencil.

I am now on YouTube chatting about the Stencil It book and showing how to use a stencil.

They are easy techniques to follow, one segment demonstrates free form stenciling and the other shows stencilling onto fabric.

I think I look like I need a good scrub... and a good nights sleep. However, the stencil demonstrations come across well,  there is lots of variety and parts of the stencilled house are shown.  The film was commissioned by Jacqui Small, the publishers of Stencil It.  

Please visit and if you found the clip helpful or interesting maybe leave them a comment.

Even better, please pass the link to anyone who may be interested.

Thanks, Helen.

Stenciling with varnish

A subtle yet very effective surface decoration can be acheived by stencilling with acrylic gloss varnish onto a matt painted wall.

How to stencil with varnish.

Take a litle of the varnish onto the bristles of a good quality stencil brush.

Work the brush firmly round and round onto paper towel to distribute the varnish and dry the tips of the bristles. The varnish must be only moist, not wet when you stipple or circle the varnish through the holes in the stencil.

It is difficult to see where you have applied the varnish so do not be tempted to overload the brush.  The stencilling should be dry imediately so stencil it lightly again to make sure that all the shapes were filled in.

top picture DE11 Arts and Crafts stencil. Photo by Chris Tubbs from Wall Effects by Katie Ebben

middle picture. JA45 Mokko stencil, acrylic varnish & stencil brush from The Stencil Library

bottom picture. damask stencil from Stencil It by Helen Morris.

Helen.

how to stencil champagne cocktail

 

Firstly, one needs the stencil VN76 Champagne Cocktail and three colours of water based paint. Other ingredients include two stencil brushes, one foam paint roller and stencil tape.  

Tape stencil no 1 into position, make sure it is straight. Lightly apply paint through stencil with a foam paint roller.  Work off excess paint onto scrap so that the paint is damp and not wet when applied. The roller is used for speed of paint application but a stencil brush can be used instead.

Remove stencil one and position stencil two (they are numbered) No2 is the stencil with the circle designs cut into it.

Match up the patterns by marking through two of the diamond shape registration holes. There is one in each corner of the stencil.

Move the stencil along, up, or down by matching the marks with the diamond shaped holes.

Stencil the larger circles in one colour

and the smaller ones in another colour.

Sit back,sip and enjoy.

Helen.

Stencil, brushes and tape from The Stencil Library. Colours from Crown Paint.

Helen

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to stencil a silk skirt

The silk skirt has languised in my wardrobe for years and I am about to attend two occasions which may require evening wear. The skirt was always much too big and I never got around to altering it. This is a relief because I have been getting a little hefty of late and now it fits....and nothing else does. 

I had damaged a lettering stencil whilst cutting it for a client and as it was a custom job I felt I could not put it in the sale bin. The text is in French and describes moonlight, and birds in the trees so I felt it was an apt choice to combine with a Chinoiserie stencil of branches, birds and flowers.

I stenciled the skirt with many colours so that I should always have a top and shoes to match it. I also wanted to use many of the colours from our new Lumiere range of metallic and pearlescent paints.

This is how I stenciled the skirt.

Firstly I sprayed a light mist of Spraymount repositioning adhesive over my work table then smoothed the largest area of skirt onto it.  The Spraymount stops the fabric from moving when stencilled.  The back of the stencil was also sprayed lightly and evenly then it was pressed onto the silk.

The text was stencilled onto the silk using a bright gold paint. The paint was taken from the lid of the pot so that very little gets taken into the bristles of the stencil brush.

 
Work the lightly loaded brush onto paper towel (see photo above) until the tips of the bristles carry moist paint not wet. Do this using a circular motion.  Stencil brushes are flat, round and should have flexible bristles.  Do not risk spoiling the project by not using the right tools.

You need a separate clean,dry brush for each colour used on the project.

The text from the custom stencil was applied over and under the Chinoiserie designs.

As each area was stencilled I repositioned and re-smoothed the fabric onto the slightly tacky surface of the table.  In the picture above I am masking areas of the design with tape.  This is to prevent me stencilling into these areas.

 

Sometimes just a small detail was needed.

When finished I dressed Matilda the mannequin in it and took pictures...just incase I don't get any of me wearing it. 

Helen.

Helen