Design Inspiration. Planet Stencil Library.

Life's not all lavender and roses, sometimes there is elderflower

You must forgive me.  I wrote this post in July but for one reason or another it was delayed in posting.

July 08: What a hectic couple of weeks we have had!  Our stencilled home has been very busy.  Rachel has escorted sixty school children on various trips around our house.  We have hosted 'friends' of a major local art gallery, a weekend stencil course for a charming London decorator and a private house tour for a lovely New Zealand family.  House tours are now over until September 3rd, so we can kick off our shoes and leave them to rot where they land.  To celebrate we held a tea party.  I raided the garden and for the next seven nights made food from flowers.

The formal garden was harvested for lavender.  The florets must be in full bud, not open.

   Choose English Lavender as not all nationalities are edible.  A dark variety such as Hidcote is full of flavour and colour.  I made lavender scones,

  lavender ice cream, lavender meringues

and lavender ironing water, but we didn't eat that!  Then it was the turn of the roses.  I whipped double cream with rose water and shredded petals.  This was spread on top of the lavender scones and was accompanied by rose petal jelly.I did not have time to make rose petal jelly, so I had to buy some, but I will make my own before the roses fade.  The biggest task was the elderflower sorbet.  I have been wanting to make this for fourteen years, but I have always exhibited at a large London Home show during the optimum elder picking week.  The flowers have bloomed and faded whilst I've been away.  The home show is now deceased so I seized my chance.  

The petals must be open, but not too open.  It took hours to find perfectly ripe blooms and I had to take time out to watch the river

and to admire how the tub matched my stencilled jeans that matched my Crocs. 

With half a tub full of flowers and darkness looming I wandered happily home.    At 3:30 that morning whilst I sat in my kitchen still plucking flowers from stalks, I was beginning to review the sanity of the sorbet project.  The recipe said something like "this will be a long and tedious task, best shared amongst friends whilst you converse and watch hawks in the sky".  Hmmm.... I think the author was Californian.

As there was an absence of friends and hawks, I sat in my fluffy pyjamas listening to the ever wonderful Bob Harris radio show and watched my thumb turn black from something in the flowers.  The recipe also said "the green stalks contain a cyanide like substance so be careful to remove it".  I was very careful, eventually it was five and a half hours worth of careful.  Because this is a design blog rather than a cooking one, I will post my step by step photo recipes on Planet Helen blog and I'll let you know when. I tried three recipes for lavender scones and one was a disaster (surely a misprint occurred).   The others looked as good as they tasted.  The meringues were just fabulous: melty and chewy.  They were to form part of a lavender Eton Mess. 

Blueberries were mixed with fruit from the garden then folded into whipped cream with lavender sugar and broken lavender meringue.

Some of my guests brought baked offerings.  I am not a good cook so these are always enthusiastically and gratefully recieved.  Jeanne made the best chocolate brownies any of us had ever tasted, so she can come again.  Joy baked a lovely cherry clafoutis, still warm when it arrived.  Di had a hangover so nipped into the local farmers emporium for chocolate and cream based goodies.... And they were sooo good.

 There was lots of fruit so we could pretend the feast was healthy.

I have been on a diet for the past year and had finally reached my target weight last Tuesday.  Somehow I think I'll be back on the beansprouts and lettuce for another month.   I shall leave you with a picture of calorie free stencilled lavender from our Garden Room Collection. 

If you have any recipes or comments on flower feasts, do share them with us. Helen.  

Featured Decorative Artist: Kevin Davis of Kevin Davis Wall Artisans

Kevin is based in Houston, Texas.  A look at his web-site will show you the wide range of effects and finishes he creates.  Recently, he sent us a few photographs featuring work done in two rooms using our stencils.  I think you will agree that the results are stunning.  Kevin uses plasters in his work and I particularly love the iridescent work he often incorporates into his schemes.  We can all do with a little extra sparkle in our world!

The photo above shows an wonderful and quite unique interpretation of our CH45 Rococo Flowers stencil.  Rather than use it as a regular repeat, Kevin has grown and trailed it up the wall in this powder room.  The colours used are fantastic. 

  

These photos show another powder room using our GMT53 Repeat pattern stencil.  Again, it is not only the pattern, but also the finishes that really make the overall effect.  This is so lush and rich looking it reminds me of velvet flock and looks like it would feel that way too if you touched it!

I can't wait to see more of Kevin's work in the future.  If you would like to see more or contact him, go to his web-site.  Rachel

The Design Museum London

Come with me on a day out to London.  We will visit design exhibits, shelter from the rain, eat fabulous cakes and stay over night in an inexpensive, clean hotel.  Yes, there is such a thing in central London.  The purpose of our trip is the Design Museum.  We need to be quick because the Richard Rogers exhibition ends on the 25th and Tim Walker Photographs ends in September.  

The museum is close to Tower Bridge, an area of London unfamiliar to me.  Ssometimes it did not look like London at all.   

Look at the gantrys above the streets.  These were used for wheeling goods between warehouses, but now sprout gardens above the shops and cafes.

To me, The Design Museum resembled a once loved building in a depressed coastal resort... out of season.  To be fair, it was raining the day that I went.  Inside the building was another story, full of colour, light and treasures.  We'll start with Richard Rogers exhibit.

It was celebrating the man and his architectural genius. The room was full of fabulous scale models of georgous contemporary buildings.  As a child in Singapore, I would build homes from Lego for the giant ants that I would capture from the garden. 

 Wouldn't those ants just love one of these? 

If I thought the interior of London's Milenium Dome really looked like this, I would have been first through the doors. 

 I then climbed the  staircase to the Tim Walker exhibition.

I blogged about Tim  a couple of months back.  To re cap, he is the most wonderful story teller.  He tells those stories through his camera often in the European issues of Vogue Magazine.  His recent book is a joy and whenever I have the strength to haul it onto my lap, I lose myself in it's pages.  Many of the photographs were taken near my home in Northumberland.

 

 

I could prattle on about these photos for hours, instead go here if you want more.  You will get to see the pictures without reflections of me taking pictures!!  On leaving the museum, I caught the first bus.  I had no idea where it was going nor did I care because the rain was bucketing down.  I alighted after spotting a poster for 'Skin & Bones' at Somerset House.  It was an exhibition exploring similarities between fashion and architecture. 

Sensing an emerging theme to the day, I handed over my admittance fee.  I did not see the notice requesting no photography until after I had taken this shot of Viktor & Rolfs fashion show. 

The clothes were made from blue screen material and movies were projected onto them.  The video of Alexander McQueen fashion shows were beyond scrummy.  Mr McQueen, would you consider taking me on as a makeover charity project?  Pretty please?   There were more architectural models to marvel at.  One showed The Bridge of Aspiration over Floral Street which connects the Royal Ballet School with The Royal Opera House.  I was thrilled to see the bridge in the flesh later that day.  

More pictures of the bridges can be seen on the Wilkinson Eyre site.  I thought the interior of the bridge looked like our MD13 stencil.

Imagine yourself walking into that pattern.

I talked to an elderly man whilst sheltering outside Somerset House.  He suggested that as I was so drenched, I should dance through the fountains.  It would create amusement for both of us.  I regret not doing so as it could have been such fun.

The next mystery bus took me to Covent Garden, where I wandered around the stores and listened to the entertainers.

 I stood under the glass roof and watched the rain. 

I had been meaning to visit Cafe Bertaux on Greek Street for some years so this seemed a perfect time. 

Fortified by the most enormous almond croissant and a frothy decaff, I waddled to the Shaftsbury Avenue Theatreto see "Hairspray".

It was great fun.  One of the pleasures of going alone to the theatre is that you can dance in your seat without embarrasing those that know you.  Now to the inexpensive hotel that I told you about.  There are three Easy Hotels in London.  I like the Earls Court one best .  I use them when I am travelling alone and want a clean, safe place to sleep in.  There is nothing in them except a bathroom, clothes hooks and a sleeping pod.  Brilliant value if you intend to spend little time in your hotel.  Why the dark glasses?? It was a long day and I looked wrecked.  Just outside the hotel is one of the busiest roads in London.  It was such a joy to see it planted with scented roses and lavender.

All in all a brilliant, if exhausting day out.

I did not have time to shop, but if you would like to see some wonderful, stylish merchandise, check out Designers Block blog.  Author Di Overton has spent the past week reporting on London Shops. Just for us. 

Helen

Martha does stencilling!

(cover photo Hugh Stewart)

We were so excited when we received the post this morning and in it was the September 2008 issue of the fabulous Martha Stewart Living magazine.  This month, they have produced a very large feature on stencilling.  According to the editor, Ms Stewart was so excited about the stencilling story that she wanted to appear on the cover along with the first stencilled logo.  She has always known a good thing when she sees it.  We are lucky enough to have a couple of our stencils featured.

This is our lace repeat pattern used effectively on a screen.  The lace repeat works in reverse.  You paint the surface the colour you want the lace to be and stencil the background colour back in.  Here is a closeup shot of it.

MSL also used our Designer Floral Display set of stencils.  There are three sheets of stencils which can be used seperately or together to create a floral arrangement in any configuration.  These stencils have been used to create an informal floral garland on a round table top.

(other photos Mikkel Vang)

The feature is full of great ways to use stencils and covers the multitude of surfaces that stencils can go onto.  I particularly like the dot pattern stencilled on top of wallpaper (being a massive fan of layering pattern on pattern myself), shown in the photo below the floral stencilled tabletop. For more information on the stencil feature, click here.

I always find MSL full of fantastic ideas.  The magazine is a joy to read.  They also have an excellent web-site and are fellow Typepad bloggers.  I recommend that you sign up for the newsletter on the web-site.  Martha Stewart Living magazine is sold worldwide (I am delighted that I can even pick up a copy in Stocksfield village's local newsagent!).  Look out for it hitting your shelves, buy a copy and indulge.  Rachel.

Stencilling....not just for walls

Here is a gentle reminder that stencilling does not have to appear on the walls to be effective.

   

This photo was sent to me by Margot Austin, Senior Design Editor at Style at Home magazine in Canada.  Although I personally tend to like over the top pattern and colour and a lot of it, every now and again I see something simple that is just so perfectly effective.  This scheme shown here was just such an example.  Margot has used our JA114 Bird & Blossom stencil in a single colour on the lampshade and chest of drawers and that's it.  I don't think the space needs any more.  Rachel 

Attention all US customers

Well, this has temporarily stalled my shopping online in the US, but it is to your advantage.  The exchange rate has dropped dramatically to 1.87 US dollars to 1.00 GBP which is the lowest it has been in a very long time.  If you are thinking of shopping on The Stencil Library website, now seems to be the time to do it to take advantage as I don't know (despite my economics degree) where this is going.  Rachel

A little colour with my coffee

I did a rare thing this morning.  I read a newspaper on my coffee break.  The New York Times online pings into my mail box each morning and in vain I hope I will get time to read it.  Today was different.  I took the time to enjoy the slide shows in the homes and  lifestyle section.  What a pleasure!

Firstly, I watched Secrets of an off hand decorator.  It takes a brave soul to let her daughter's class of school children with felt tipped pens loose on the slip covers, but that's what Ms Bell did and I think the result is lovely.                                             

I could do a similar thing with our splatter stencils. I don't really know any children, but paint splats and dribbles are something that I am well aquainted with.  The chandelier in Ms Bell's room was made from bittersweet and wired with fairy lights.  I don't know what bittersweet is, but I am sure I could work on something similar.  Pictures for the NYT were by Phil Mansfield.

Another NYT slide show featured a garden that is only a few miles up the road from me at Alnwick in Northumberland.

 

I have walked this passage and photographed it many times but have never captured the green so well as Derry Moore has in this picture for the New York Times.  This is my picture of the end of the tunnel.

 

This photograph, also from the slide show of Ms Bell's home has given me the idea to use white paint through our chandelier stencil.  Just on the blockish lower layer of the stencil and not the sophisticated overlays that come with it.  Monotone white birds will fly amongst them. I shall use the swallow stencil for this.  A change of colour will make them less eerie.

This wallpaper is similar to our Mandarin Repeat stencil, but look how many delicious colours are in the wallpaper.  I tend to have stencilled the Mandarin pattern using just one or two colours but I think I may just put in a little extra effort and create something as zingy as this. 

Coffee and an inspiring slide show is a perfect morning divertment.  If I only had more time to indulge. 

Helen

Ornamental Grass Stencil

I have another project to show you in the Larger Than Life series of stencils.  I started the wall with Ornamental Grass in the large size.  I used paint and an extra large stencil brush.  I stencilled the ferny shapes first then some of the fluffy cone shaped ones.  I added leaves wherever I thought they might look nice. The whole process was very speedy.                                                                            

A second row of foliage was applied using the Grass in the small size.

I applied it to the front of this painted utility cabinet then finished up by stencilling a toning floor with DM6 .  DM6 is is a set of stencils and masks from The Big & Bold range.  It includes these chequer board type squares.  I am experimenting with cutting a thicker stencil film at the moment because I think some of the Larger Than Life  range will suit a heavy application of plaster or gel through them.  The heavy stencils would be in addition to and not instead of our usual film.  Is this something you would use?  Let me know. Helen.

More memories from Charleston, SC

I was told that Charleston is known as the city of churches.  That may be so and I visited quite a few.  To me, though, Charleston will be the city of gardens.

The streets are gardens.

I was introduced to the Crepe (or Crape) Myrtle tree,

They have wonderful bark.

Can you see the jasmine enrobing the lamp post? This is Church Street.  There is lots of crepe myrtle here.

On this covered sidewalk, a geranium red door is flanked by potted palms.

I'd like to replicate this arrangement at my city flat in Newcastle.  If the others leaseholders object, I shall redirect the idea into an outfit of beige and black linen, geranium lippy and nail polish, topped off with palm green accessories.  See, inspiration comes from the oddest places!

Foliage overflowed onto the pavements from many window boxes.

These cityscapes do not grow on trees (ha ha).  It takes work and community commitment to look this good.  I would like the citizens of the Charleston Historic District to know how much the visitor enjoys their efforts.  Heck, even the cars and houses match!

The trees grow moss jackets. Moss cascades like mermaid hair through branches on streets, in gardens and public parks.

Peeking through Charelston's many iron work gates I imagined what lay behind.

  In some cases I was invited to visit, to sit a while

and enjoy 

Some of the museum houses stand in exquisite gardens.  My favourite was a bun topiary garden at the Calhoun House.  The Tiffany stencilling inside the mansion was a joy to behold. The tiled doorway was magnificent, but the bun garden excited me most.

I have been propogating English Box for years in the hope of making a garden like this or at least a cloud hedge.  I am growing Hebe for the same purpose. There is something about bun shapes and hummocks of foliage that appeals to me.  Mine have been growing five years now and they are not yet ten inches tall. I shall need an arresting sculpture as a focal point when my garden is complete.

               

I could admire those buns all day!

On a wholly different level of sculpture I thought this was fab. Seen at The Mountains To The Sea Gallery. Isn't there such a joy about it?

Meanwhile...back at the Calhoun House. Water was glittering in Italianate fountains and falling into turquoise pools. 

This one brought Hockney's L.A. Paintings to mind.

Sometimes the colour of Charleston does not come from nature but from paintwork. This terraced row reminded of Britain. Colour vibrates from the wall of this preserved urban plantation.  Look at the stonework painted here. I wish British houses incorporated piazzas into their architecture...along with roof gardens. �

Rainbow Row is famous for it's pastel hued homes.

Even the gum studded wooden poles staning sentry at the market place had a certain picturesque quality, gross, but photogenic.

Tired yet?  It is around 100 degrees hot.  We'll stop for coffe at Kudu.  Lovely coffee and cakes and another garden to enjoy them in. I frequented the East Bay Meeting House too which has good salads.

At the start of this post I mentioned churches.  I will leave you with a photo of the stencilling at St Michaels. The stencil and glass work were the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany.  George Washington and Prince Charles had sat in the pew next to mine (no, not together!).  My friend Judi discussed London with the clergy and I listened to the singers rehearsing for the service.  All in all, a good day in Charleston. I hope that you enjoyed it too. Close the gate behind you.

Helen.

Calhoun Mansion ariel photo and stencil shot from www.calhounmansion.net   

Memories from Charleston, SC

  Of the many things that I brought back from the stencilling convention in Charleston, SC last week, some of my favourites were:

This "paint" can of lip gloss and lip brush given to me by my student Lois. It will become an essential part of my collection of decorating tools. 

Another lovely gift from a student was a home made CD of music that she thought I would like and possibly had never heard.  She was right and I have played it a lot.

Memories of dancing (a rarity for me) with friends Susan, Judi and Patty.  "You're a cute dancer", I was told.  Rachel informs me that the phrase translates as polite code for 'your dancing is wierd, I don't understand it and you're frightening me!'

I also took home off cuts of Roc-Lon non-fraying canvas.  Here is one of the projects that I taught.  We are making a floor mat from Roc-Lon using a decorating mask from the Big & Bold collection.

Here is student Teri making an 'off curriculum' version of it.

 

I returned with warm memories of friends and students.  This is from the New Stencil Techniques class.  Thank you team. I am the tired, but happy looking one in the front, middle.  The students and their work on the Print Room class were fab too, but I have no pictures. 

I bought a book called Charleston Style by Susan Sully.  It shows beautiful interiors. The cover shows the music room from the Nathaniel Russel House.  There is a chapter on Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell, the artist that Rachel wrote about recently on this blog.  Marty allowed me to view her garden and those of her neighbours.  It was a lovely day until I was savaged by mosquitoes!!

I can now add a joggling board to my list of experiences.  I would love one of these...  .... and a piazza or veranda to place it on (dream on, girl).  Never heard of joggling boards?  Read more here. I was not allowed to joggle on this one.  The peeling paint looked wonderful.   There will have been a class at the convention showing you how to get this effect on a new surface.  I used to teach one.  There might have been a class on painting stone blocking like this too.

 

In a recent post, Aaron, our work experience student, wrote of a lettering stencil that he had designed to look like paint splats. Here it is stencilled onto an apron for Marty, the artist.

and here is a detail of the paint palette  stencil from our Arts & Crafts stencils range and Splatter from Modern Design.

Another good looking  book that made it's way into my suitcase was Modello by Design by Melanie Royals.  I have blogged about Modello before and no doubt will again.  They are one time use stencils cut from sticky backed vinyl.  They allow the most intricate stencil work to be executed successfully, often using gilding leaf, plaster and concrete.  The photographs have been supplied by Melanie's artistic customers and show projects that employ Modello.   Some of my friends were very proud to be published in it and rightly so! 

I returned from the expo with knowledge of products and techniques which I may never use, but it was fun learning. I met great people whilst helping on our booth.

...And lastly I bought a Butter Signature Wrap Dress from Nancy's in Charleston.  I wore this frock so much, it's blurb says there are more than twelve ways to wear it.  There are many more and I wore three of them on one day. Visit the Butter by Nadia web site.  It's great and do take a look, but click quickly on the whirling model before she makes you dizzy.  I particularly enjoyed the video of dress wrapping and the press pages.  I bought a black jersey version, I had no idea there was a whole rainbow of colours and finishes available.  There is just one size. It won't go out of style so maybe next year I'll try chartreuse satin or electric blue!  

I visited many house and gardens with my friend Judi. I'll edit the pics and share a few with you soon.

Helen.

Decorating To Suit Your Complexion

"It is important to make your surroundings as beautiful as you are able for your own good".

Helen gave me a wonderful book for Christmas called "The Magic Key to Charm - Instructions for a Delightful Life" by Eileen Ascroft.  It is a reprint of a book published in 1938.  I love reading old books on etiquette and manners, but this is the first book I have read on charm.  I haven't read it properly yet, but when I noticed there was a lesson (not chapter, but lesson) on the home, I had to read that first.  There is a quite wonderful section on choosing your charming colour scheme to suit your colouring.  The author has been quite scientific about it.  She has worked out different schemes for rooms which face south or west and north or east as she says, "the light and amount of sun make a great difference to the effect on colours".  

To read about the best colours for your complexion, you will have to buy the book (which is not a bad idea as we can all do with going about our daily routine oozing charm), but as a little taster, I thought I would tell you what she suggests would suit and enhance my complexion (and there I was about to spend a fortune on some face cream).  I am a brunette with brown eyes (the same applies if you have hazel eyes):

"For a room that which faces north or east, walls and ceiling in apricot, and furniture enamelled in turquoise-green.  Golden-brown carpet and covers, curtains in turquoise-green.  Accessories should be a stronger shade of apricot."

"If your room faces south or west, choose ivory for the walls and ceiling, and enamel the furniture in apple-green.  Curtains and covers in ivory and apple-green with an Indian red carpet and accessories."

Obviously, enamelling the furniture was a big thing in 1938.  Further tips are given for the style and placement of pictures, how to arrange flowers and organising the management of the home so that you are free to spend a bit of time with the children and with your husband in an evening. 

There is a wonderful passage that says, "A home is, first and foremost, a place of joy.  Somewhere where conventions are dropped, where one can relax and be at peace, or foolishly mad, as the spirit takes one".  Well said!

"Your home should not be just a place where you eat and sleep and change your dress.  It should be a setting for you.  A charming setting for a charming person."  Well, I am off home to deal with my uncharming "floordrobe", generally tidy and work out which direction my rooms face.  Rachel.

excerpts from "The Magic Key to Charm" by Eileen Ascroft