Check out our “pigeon love” pillow made using our pigeon stencil and black fabric paint. MUJI has awesome quality plain pillows so that was my “canvas” of choice. For symmetrical designs, just apply your stencil on one side of the pillow, wash and dry the stencil, then flip it over and stencil it opposite your first design. Easy!
If Andy Warhol was to make a wallpaper company, Flavor Paper would be his new factory. Flavor Paper offers the most unique designs in wall paper and I just had to get a closer look at the place. I contacted Jon Sherman, the humble owner and designer and he was super generous with his time. The Cobble Hill business is in a modernized 4 story building that was once a parking garage. We met in the showroom on the second floor where you can view very large samples on a hanging system similar to how large rugs hang in some stores. Jon told me that years ago a wallpaper company was going under and the owner was literally burning all his machinery and stock. Jon stepped in and bought the business, learned the wallpaper silk screening process and continued the legacy. We flipped through all the designs and I flipped out over so many of them! Repeat bananas on metallic foil?! Realistic wall murals of graffiti tagged concrete walls! But by far my favorite are the clever takes on traditional toile. So rather than seeing a repeat of oh I don’t know a couple in powdered wigs and a pile of fruits on a platter, instead in their Wythe Toile you see Brooklyn imagery of water towers, street signs, and a Williamsburg iconic church (Wythe is a street name in Williamsburg). I saw this beautiful paper applied in the rooms at the Wythe Hotel for which Dan Funderburgh created it for. There’s another Brooklyn Toile, commisioned by Mike Diamond of the Beastie Boys, with images of Biggie, the Cyclone at Coney Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge (design by Revolver New York. I want!
So we headed downstairs to the main floor where they hand silk-screen the wallpaper. Three guys were printing and they have the process down to a science. The long table sucks the paper down with air while the screen gets placed over the paper and then two guys hand squeegy the ink, move to the next spot and so on. You can choose any color for your paper as they work from the screens, just endless possibilities.
Well, as a stencil designer I often achieve wallpaper effects with repeat pattern stencils but this place opened my eyes to some amazing designs unachievable by stenciling. Makes me wanna design wallpaper. Hmmm? Stay tuned on that one!
Visit the Flavor Paper site to see all the designs and enjoy my somewhat blurry pics below!
Let me start by saying this was by far the best Stencil1 event ever! Let me tell you why. First, the space. Converse generously offered me their community-based recording studios, RUBBER TRACKS to hold my event. This former warehouse was beyond fitting with it’s street art murals, cool lounge areas, and a stage normally for bands, in this case for the craft area. This was the first art party held in the space, normally it’s music events!
You know what else makes a cool event, a cool media sponsor. COOL HUNTING. There’s history to tell. CH was the first to write up my little old company Stencil1 in 2004! This lead to the NY Times calling, and so on. Very grateful to the crew at Cool Hunting for sponsoring and introducing me to BUSHMILLS. Yes, the drinks were provided by Bushmills Irish Whiskey. I can’t count how many people were thrilled to be able to make something while having a delicious drink made from their whiskey with Polar Seltzer mixers(vanilla pear was my choice of the night!).Oh and what’s a party without music. Great music that is. The Broken Arms Crew hooked it up!
Ah yes, the creative part…With generous donations from Pebeo Fabric paint, Stained by Sharpie fabric markers, DIY Bangles, Art Alternatives wood panels, canvas sticky patches and stencil brushes, ColorBox by ClearSnap ink pads, and more brushes and supplies from Plaid, we all had so many choices! we made several stations – you could stencil a Converse white t-shirt, a wooden bangle bracelet, a wooden circular ornament, wooden panels, canvas patches, and give a try at stenciling Converse hightops.
My staff not only assisted in the crafts, they hooked up the chalkboard at the space with our social media contests. We asked all who attended to use hashtag Stencil1Style on images they took in the space. The lucky winner would receive a milkcrate of creative supplies!
Everyone posed in front of a canvas backdrop I painted with two 6 foot pigeons on it. Many more event photos on our facebook page. They all left with whatever they made plus a hand spray-painted gift bag filled with samples from the sponsors as well as a Stencil1 journal. For all those that were a part of the making of this event, I am extremely grateful for your help and for those of you who attended I hope you had as much fun as me! Be on the lookout for more customizing events, we have plans for many in 2013!
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And check out the new book Stencil Style 101 so you too can customize your life!
Here’s a fun how to video where I show you how to create a cohesive framed art collage. What’s fun is you can customize the how-to using your favorite photos and favorite paint colors!
The ingredients you will need are:
Spray paint. In this case Krylon Indoor/Outdoor spray paint.
• Picture frames. In this case I used some Ikea picture frames. you can use vintage ones as well.
• Artwork. In addition to images I collected or cut out from books, i created a print using my anchor stencil and Stencil1 Spray Inks. I encourage you to make your own prints!
• Paper to work on.
• Hammer, nails, & a ruler to hang the art
Last night I hosted at the 2012 Etsy Craft Party and it was IN-SANE! Over 800 rsvp’s! The party was held in DUMBO on the waterfront in a large outdoor tent and I brought along some New York meets Nautical Themed stencils – The NYC 4-pack, Anchor, Brooklyn Nautical, Travel 4-pack, and some stencils from Stencil Style 101. Attendees from ages 8-88 got into using Pebeo fabric paint with the stencils to customize bandanas and eco-friendly sandwich bags. We had three tables set up, then we added a fourth, then it became 6 tables and still people patiently waited to sit and create. Then people took to the floor! It was so rewarding to see people make patterns and combine stencil designs to all make one-of-a-kind items. I sat under the Manhattan Bridge afterwards and drank a root beer and saw kids walking out with their new crafted bandanas, waving them like flags and I was so proud. Thanks to ETSY and all who came out and yes there will be more DIY Stencil1 events especially since Stencil Style 101 drops in October! STAY TUNED!
Stencil1 and Tami
Last week, Stencil1 was a guest of the W Hotels, Intel and Roman Coppola. Well, sort of. We were invited by our friends at Think Pr who organized the launch of Four Stories: A Short Film Competition with Roman Coppola (loved Moonrise Kingdom!) and The Directors Bureau (love Geoff McFetridge!). The gist of the project is that Intel wanted something more than just a commercial to introduce their new Ultrabook laptop (strangely we didn’t see any Ultrabooks there), and instead of producing ads, they’re teaming with the W, Coppola and The Director’s Bureau, for this short film competition. Contestants enter scripts featuring the Ultrabook and a W hotel. Winning stories will be produced by the Directors Bureau. With locations in the Maldives and Mexico City, Stencil1 is putting our writing caps on.
The party was on a fifth-floor terrace of the W downtown with panoramic views of the new WTC and a steady bar. Drinks were creative and bizarre, served in jam jars and toothpaste tubes. And the Bosco was there snapping photo booth pics and projecting them on the side of the building. Stencil1 has been keeping such a low profile this summer finishing our new book, Stencil Style 101, due out in October), that a night out on the town was just what we needed.