Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Salon Bergen 2022

I'll be participating in the SALON of decorative painters in Bergen, Norway next week so I will not be able to post stencils or supplies  The website will be accepting orders, Chips will be cutting them for you but they will not get mailed until I return on the 24th May.

I apologise for any inconvenience.

If you would like to know more about Salon Bergen follow the posts from The Stencil Library's Instagram and Facebook pages. @thestencillibrary or visit the Salon Forever website

The SALON is a gathering of dedicated decorative painters from around the world coming together to exhibit their work and discuss old and new techniques, products, and information in the field. The Salon, which began in 1992 in Belgium with a small gathering of professionals, reconvened in 1996 and has been coming together in growing numbers every year since.

The Salon is now recognized as the most important and significant gathering of decorative painters in the world. 

Participants of The Salon include teachers from schools as well as those who are independent commercial craftspeople. The Salon is a way for some of the most unique traditions within the field of decorative arts to be shared amongst one another and ultimately, passed onto participants’ students. 

The opportunity enhances and extends the level of communication between serious and committed craftsmen.

The Salon is also a way for visitors and the outside public to experience the high quality of work present and meet the real masters of this craft. Ongoing demonstrations and an exhibit hall allow visitors and participants to view works specifically created for The Salon.  

Helen

 

 

New!! Nagara Cormorant Stencil

I have new stencils to show you. The first one is JA159 Nagara Cormorants.

One of our regular customers asked me whether we had a stencil of fishing boats in the moonlight.....and we didn't. However, years ago Chips and I had sketched a raft-type boat strung with oriental lanterns with the intention to design a stencil from it. As it turned out our lantern boat design was too fussy but three other stencils were created and I will feature each in a separate post. 

Let me introduce you to our JA159 Nagara Cormorant stencil.

The name of the stencil comes from the Nagara River in Japan where for a short season each year fisherfolk sail the river at night catching Sweet Fish with their trained cormorants. I did some research and found that fishing with cormorants has been practised in many countries including Britain. The cormorant fishing in Gifu Province is known as Ukai and has been an annual tradition along Nagaragawa River near Gifu Castle for over 1300 years.

The master fisher is known as an Usho, they depend on the birds for their livelihood and take good care of them. It takes 2 or 3 years to train the birds for fishing. Traditionally, the fishing boats have a crew of three people but our chap is alone with his birds, the mountains, Gifu Castle and the moonlight.

The stencil has two layers. It can be used as a border or an allover repeat. There are registration marks on both layers and they enable the stenciller to match up the layers and pattern repeats with ease.

One of the great benefits of using a stencil is the huge array of colours that you can choose from.  Another benefit is the variety of surfaces that be decorated with stencils Usually if a surface can accept paint it can be stencilled.

Nagara Cormorant is available in two sizes but we can make other sizes on request. This post features the standard size. The others are JA159A Nagara Cormorant large and CH56 Cormorant Fisher. Where might you use our new stencil?

Helen

 

 

A carpet of crocus at Wallington Hall, Northumberland

It has been a long while since I took you all on a day out with me. A date for your diary this month might be to visit the lawns of the walled garden at Wallington Hall in Northumberland and see them carpeted with violet coloured croci.  

I chanced upon an image of it on The National Trust website and could not believe that I had not seen them because I visit Wallington Gardens fairly regularly. So, armed with my camera, my National Trust membership card and some warm clothes I set off to find the flowers.

When I got to Wallington I thought that I would take a quick trip around the house...but there is no such thing as a quick trip. I tend to forget how beautiful it is.  One of the volunteer cooks had just baked scones and encouraged me to stay a while.  The time flew by and I may have missed the best of the daylight when I reached the gardens. I spent hours there enjoying the flowers and taking endless photos; sometimes on my belly in the mud. The crocus lawns were fairly crowded when I arrived then emptied towards closing time. I think I was the last to leave. Wallington Hall is a National Trust property near Cambo in Northumberland. It is very close to Kirkharle the birthplace of the 18th century landscape architect Capability Brown, combine the two for a full day out, both have cafes! 

My visit was around the 12th of March 2018 but the flowering time will depend on the climate each year, it may be an idea to check at the National Trust's Northumberland page before planning your visit. 

Update...it is looking fabulous right now.

Helen.

The Daily Stencil Inspiration: Busy As A Bee

The bee has fascinated humans for centuries.  Their image carries much symbolism, it can stand for community, industry, power, immortality, sweetness and resurrection.  Perhaps that is why Emporer Napoleon of France adopted it as one of his symbols and so did the English city of Manchester. 

The bee appears in decoration as early as the Egyptian empire and continues to provide a strong decorative motif.  It has featured on fabrics and wallpapers for the past couple of hundred years and remains a popular and well loved image. We have designed several bee stencils over the years and they are in many of our collections. Stencils can enable you to decorate many different surfaces.  If you were unsure whether you could tackle walls or curtains why not start with something small such as gift boxes, cards and wrap....maybe a desk or other small item of furniture? The image above shows a cabinet that I bought from a second hand shop and stencilled with Helen's Bees.  The picture below shows a cushion cover with one of the larger motifs in our bee selection. the wall is a fabric wallpaper stencilled with Napoleonic Bees from our French style collection

There are various sizes of bee stencils in our ranges.

I have not included all our stencils of bees in this post so do visit our website and type 'bee' into the search, it should catch any that I have missed. 

Helen

 

 

 

Changing Rooms: Baha-Boho-in-Bahaaarnstable!

Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen designed the stencils, we made them and the recipients loved them!

Described jokingly as Baha-Boho-in-Baha-arnstable  Episode 4 of Changing Rooms featured stencilled panels of tropical plants and birds in a bedroom makeover for the popular television show. The contestants were neighbours in Barnstable, North Devon. I thought the programme was joyous and I liked everybody in it.  I never tire of hearing people exclaiming 'Woww!' combined with 'I love stencilling!!' ...I heard both during the programme...so, I was happy.  

I apologise for spoiling part of the ending if you have yet to watch the 'Barnstable' episode. They had another room to reveal so I won't spoil that.

As well as cutting our own designs we have a bespoke stencil service and that is what Lawrence employed to have seven different panels created from his drawings.  There are lots of our own panel stencils to choose from ranging from Art Nouveau to Chinoiserie. If you like the idea of stencilled tropical decor then look in our Garden Room selection and the Vintage collection.

Missed it? I watched it on Channel 4's catch up service 4 On Demand.

Photos; courtesy of Changing Rooms.

Helen