Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

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

Yaeko's Golden Squares stencil.

This stencil helps to mimic the squares of metallic leaf that you may find in the background of Asian style murals and wallpapers. One of the experts in this style of decoration is Japanese artist Yaeko Kurimata of Tokyo based Faux Arts Design  Yaeko designed this stencil as a tool to help speed up the process of measuring and masking squares. We are pleased to be featuring it in the 'New Stencils' section of Stencil-Library.Co.Uk  

Faux Arts Design often create large scale artworks therefore her stencil helps them (and us) decorate full walls as well as smaller projects like wardrobes or canvases.

There is a skill in achieving the appearance of gilding that Yaeko creates but with practice and experiment you will find your own way of using it. My first attempt gave an appearance of Northumberland stone which was perfect for the Chinoiserie panels project that I was working on.

Yaeko often uses a metallic painted background ( I use metallic wallpaper) the squares are stencilled in a vaguely haphazard manner to give the impression of antiquing or corrosion.

Yaeko uses a lint free rag to further distress the surface paint but this is only one of a myriad ways to use the stencil.

I often stencil the squares using an acrylic scumble glaze tinted with paint. I no longer sell the glazes but they are available at DIY stores. The glaze makes the paint dry slowly without making it runny and then I can make imprints into it using sponges or fabric.

I found that 'Yaekos Golden Squares' stencil also helps to create the effect of a tiled background. The background becomes the grout colour and the squares are stencilled with the colour of the 'tiles'.  To add further interest keep the squares stencil in position and place a patterned stencil on top of it.  Stencil though both of the stencil layers,  The pattern will appear only in the squares and if all was lined up correctly gives the impression of decorated tiles.  I'll try and do a demo and publish it here or at our Instagram page.  However a similar project showing stencilling a pattern within a shape can be found here

This is the pair of us muralling in Tokyo some years ago. It is very rare that we sell stencils from another designer but the stencil is fabulous...and so is she so we made an exception.

Helen.

Canal Art stencils

Folk art stencils for canal art are a perfect way to create an authentic look of barge painting without possessing the skills to replicate them free hand. Traditionally hand painted ornament of narrow boats are painted in bright colours onto a dark background but if you use pastel shades onto a light coloured surface you will get a softer look; one that is useful for achieving a look of Northern European style folk art. Our designs are based on the traditional folk art style of castles and roses.

The stencils of roses and daisies have two layers; one to give the shape and the other to apply the brush strokes. Together they provide a handy tool to fake the look of barge art.  My photo shows just some of the selection from our British folk art collection. Search for 'canal art' on our site and it will show you a selection to chose from. Otherwise look for them in our British Style section.

 

I will be decorating large plant pots with them before summer!

Update; The first of the plant pots is stencilled!

Tile stencil T2 got a makeover

Tile stencil 'T2 Medieval no3' is one of my favourites. We now offer it in two depths of stencil film; our usual 125 micron and the heavier version 190 micron. A new instruction leaflet shows how to quarter turn the stencil in a clockwise direction to complete each section. The two sizes of the Medieval no3 stencil offered on our site are 6 inch square and 12 inches. Other sizes can be made...just ask.

A stencilled panel above a bath has been framed with a stencilled border of 'BB26 Arabesque' it is one of the Basic Border collection from our range of Budget Stencils. 

The six inch tile stencil is shown on the picture of the stencilled floor. If you use the 12" size or larger to stencil a floor you will need fewer pattern repeats... which may be helpful to your knees.

My final photo shows two of the stencils placed together to show how the pattern builds. When the four quarters are completed the word Top should be back to the starting position ready for you to reposition and start the next section.

Helen