This blossom stencil is one of my favourites. It is an inexpensive border stencil of flower heads with some additional motifs; the codename is SIB4-S Blossom. Here are four projects that I stencilled with this design.
This pattern can also be achieved with stencil SIB4-SR, scroll for more information.
Stencilled door curtain, floor and wall.
Stencilled tile and fabric
Originally, we designed the SIB4 Blossom stencil collection for our second Book 'Stencil It by Helen Morris' which was published by Jacqui Small Publishing in 2011. It was published in seven languages; the British version is out of print but there are second hand copies to be found.
The blossom stencil is such a versatile design; In these four projects I have used it as a deep border with falling petal motifs. This requires a little work and I have added a 'how to' to this post. Scroll down to see how I did it. For those that have a bigger budget but less time we made a bigger, elaborate version where we created a deep border with falling petals for you. All you have to do is line up the border, stencil it, move it along and repeat the process. That version is SR4-SR; the 'R' is for repeat and is the stencil shown on the pink wall. The repeat version is very quick and easy to use and is good for large surfaces. The same design can be created with the SIB4-S....it's cheaper but takes longer.
The border has two tiny diamond shaped holes cut along one side of the design. Mark through the holes before removing the stencil. Line up the border for the next print by matching the hole on the stencil with one of the marks on the tape. Some borders have two sets of these diamond shapes and all-over repeats usually have four
Now, I have decided to be fancy and make some blossoms appear to be falling behind others. So, I will select a flower
and stencil one of the individual blossom shapes from the stencil that matches it. There are three different sizes of these flower heads to choose from. I used a scrap of stencil film to stencil the shape onto but it could have been on paper or card. I then cut around the shape. This blossom is easy to cut around with scissors but some shapes need a craft knife. I place the cut-out over the stencilled shape; this has now made a protective mask over the stencilled flower. Reposition the stencil so that one of the flowers sits partially over the protected one. Stencil it, remove the stencil, then remove the mask.
Now you can see that the blocking effect creates the illusion that one flower is behind the other. I have used the same technique on two more of the flowers in the photo above.
Blocking or using a stencil mask is so useful when using a naturalistic or mural-type stencils rather than a regimented pattern. Give it a go, let me know how you got on with this technique.
Helen
Photo credit: Some of the photos in this post appear in the Stencil It book; all photos by The Stencil Library.