Stencil1

This project is the utmost in up-cycling. Using a discarded item to make a beautiful gift, I’m all about that! So, I went to the dog park the other morning with my best friend Larry, shown here obsessing on a tennis ball. There I found a discarded empty bottle of cheap brandy in the bushes and that is the bottle I will use to show you how to etch a design on to it. Don’t worry, I took it home in a bag and boiled it!

Wrapping a stencil around a bottle is not so easy and etching creme is thinner than paint so it seeps a lit under a stencil unless of course you are using these new adhesive silk-screen stencils by Martha Stewart. Yes, Martha and the people at Plaid have created yet again a fool-proof tool so you can be creative and not worry about messing up! These silkscreens are really easy to use and lots of tasteful designs to choose from. Here’s what I did.

First, I peeled the silkscreen off of it’s backing and placed it where I wanted the design to appear on the bottle. The back is sticky, re-positionable, and reusable.

Here’s a better shot so you see it really is a screen. This helps control your paint or in this case etching cream.

Then with protective gloves on, I brushed a generous amount of the cream onto the open areas of the stencil. Go in a few directions so you don’t see brush strokes.

After 15 minutes, I rinsed the bottle with the screen still attached in the sink. I peeled the screen off at this time and washed the bottle, the brush, and the screen/stencil.

I dried off the bottle and that’s when you can really see your etched design!

To finish it off, I carved an old champagne cork for the top and tied some twine around the neck to give it a vintage look.

It was so gratifying, I went hunting for more glass bottles! Hope this inspires you and please show me what you make!

For several years I have seen these happy faced hearts wheat-pasted all over my neighborhood in Brooklyn. Popping out of graffiti covered doors or on decayed walls, they add fun to the urban landscape and often a smile to my face.

Well, I never knew who created them until last week I walked by a graphic novel bookstore on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg called Desert Island. Talk about DIY, they always have the best window displays. This is what I saw in the window:

I went in and the gal behind the counter gave me the artists info. CHRIS UPHUES. I emailed Chris to see if these hearts I have admired for years were for sale. He said yes and the display was scheduled to come down this week. I made my way over that weekend and had the nerve-racking choice to make of which hearts to choose within my budget (I collect affordable street art). I found myself feeling sorry for the hearts I couldn’t adopt, I mean, purchase that evening.. oh the power of art and those cute-sy damn heart faces! If you too want to make these hard choices, Chris creates art and products based on his artwork, all for view and sale on his website http://chrisuphues.com/

Well, I carried home my art that night:

I was looking to replace this piece on my wall. It’s sweet but it’s a print of an Eels cover that someone had made. That someone being an x-lover so what better thing to do that replace it with some hearts!

So I wired the back of my hearts:

and hung them in my bedroom. As you climb my stairs, you get the surprise of them!

If something is stencil-related, my friends and family tend to point these things out to me. Well, my brother Joe emailed me a link to Vecco, asking me if I had heard of it. Vecco, an SC Johnson company, are the makers of a stencil and spray colorant used to customize rugs. Yes rugs, it’s pretty genius. Briefly, you spray the stencil designs on, if you like what you made you spray a sealant, if you don’t you vacuum up the design and try it again. And the stencils are an absorbant material, reducing dripping. Watch the video for details. Well, I liked the product so much I emailed them and they knew and loved Stencil1 as well. A relationship was born! We created a few fun videos together, posted below, and we created some limited edition custom Stencil1 kits with some of my favorite designs! In the videos you will see my houndstooth and antlered deer stencils being used, aka the Huntley Stagsworth Welcome Kit. We made some other kits as well, Drop the Beat for the music lover which has my cassette and headphones stencils in it and the Dia de los Marvelous Welcome Kit, which you can win! This kit has my sugar skull design and some skull silhouette shapes. The kit comes with the two stencils, two color sprays, the color sealant, and a welcome sized rug (18″x30″).

So, what do you have to do to win? Start by commenting below on the blog post why you want the Dia de los Marvelous Welcome kit. Next, here’s a link to my pin, just REPIN IT TO WIN IT. Make sure to comment below first! This contest ends March 21,2013.

Vecco video about me, I think my dog Larry steals my spotlight, right?

Video of how to create a repeat pattern on your rug:

Images below of kit contents, good luck!

Canvas is a great surface to stencil on but look at these awesome wood art panels by Art Alternatives! We first used these panels at the Stencil Style 101 book launch at Converse Rubber Tracks, people loved them! See pics here from that event. I love seeing the neutral grain of the wood with some fun colors on top of it, in this case I used acrylic paints with my set of 4 CHAIRS stencils inspired by Charles and Ray Eames classic designs. You can create your own art easily and in-budget. So how did I do it, you ask? Here are the steps:

Pick some stencils you like..

Place your wood panel flat on a table

Choose a color palette that matches the theme and the decor

I mixed my colors, I chose some retro colors for these chair images

Place a stencil on top of the wood surface and hold in place

Paint using small stencil brushes and a dry brush technique. I like how going light still slightly shows the wood grain through the color!

That one’s done! For a set I did the other designs, making 4. Great house-warming gifts or for a baby shower these are cool gender-neutral for a babies room! Hope to see what you make!

Oui, it’s true. I love Paris. Design, Architecture, Art, Food, Style – Paris owns it. I took so many inspiring photos, some you’ll see below. I added in some street art images as well. Upon my return, I had to make a quintessential Paris stencil collection. The Paris pack is tres chic, featuring the Eiffel Tower, the L’arc de Triumphe, A Metro sign, and the lovely and mysterious Mona Lisa. Tell me what you’d make with them!