Stencils

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!

Have you noticed it’s the year of breaking traditions? I see a trend in holiday crafts that break away from the norm – chevron pumpkins, succulent filled wreathes, and now eggs are up for some reinvention. As a stencil artist, I have thought of this for some time but wrapping a stencil around an egg, not so easy. UNTIL NOW! (say that in a radio announcer voice). The folks at PLAID have these fantastic sticky rubbery stencils that can wrap around surfaces. I was introduced to these stencils at the CHA when I ran some demos at the Plaid booth and my brain starting thinking of all the surfaces I dismissed for being to hard to stencil! Cut to today, I was on Pinterest and saw some Easter Egg images and the stencils came to mind! So I broke out the stencils, adhered them to the eggs and used inkpads and a stencil brush to apply the designs. Who doesn’t love an Easter egg hunt and It would be fun to have the stenciled egg be the grand prize winner!

Oh and out of sheer boredom I sprayed my spray inks on one egg for a “graffiti egg” design! Let me see your reinvented egg designs!

Are you ready? A guest post from my dear friend Elaine Elwick Barr!
Sometimes in the winter, I like to make comfort food. Something warm, familiar, delicious…but not all appetites can be fulfilled with food alone. Some need hands on, rock and roll crafting. And I had that hunger bad. I took a look at the variety and selection of Stencil1 stencils I own, including images from the first book, Stencil 101, the second book, Stencil 201, the home decor book, Stencil 101 Decor, and a whole host of the original mylar stencils. What could I make that could include alllll of these great images and maybe even keep me warm during this winter cold snap. QUILT!

Okay, I’ll admit I’ve stayed far away from quilt making in the past. Too much precision and too many rules, that’s what I thought. But I don’t care much for rules and perfection these days. I like what I make to look like I made it. So I went full steam ahead.

Since there are so many images to choose from, I took on a theme. This one is Stencil 1 Creatures..featuring some of my favorite birds, horses and the monkey in the middle. To make the quilt, you’ll need some fabric squares to stencil on, an old bed sheet, twice the size of your finished blanket, an old blanket or quilt batting, some Stencil 1 sprays, an iron and a sewing machine. I cut all of the squares, from coordinating fabric, and one by one, stenciled each, using Stencil 1 sprays. Each square gets heat set quickly with a warm iron.

Craft you later,

Elaine E. Barr

Blog; http://rocknrollcrafts.blogspot.com/

Etsy Shop: http://tinyurl.com/ebarresty

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ElaineBarrDesigns

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Charles and Ray Eames. Bjork and Matthew Barney. Synergistic unions resulting in creative genius. And now Stencil1 stencils meet Stained by Sharpie Fabric Markers! I am so happy that Sharpie has released these fabric markers, they are ideal for t-shirt making as well as customizing all sorts of other apparel. I brought these new markers to the book launch party for my new book Stencil 201 so that attendees could make something. I cut up some canvas into patches and let the crowd loose! Check out the video, I think you’ll see people had such a fun time with the stencils and the new markers! Thanks Sharpie for making this event such an ease!

Music by VideoHelper.

To SCOPE ART and to all who attended, I say a big, fat THANK YOU! SCOPE is such an important show to me as it balances street artists with come major,celebrated contemporary artists. A completely inspiring environment to create art in, wouldn’t you agree? We had so much fun making wooden postcards and canvas patches using Stained by Sharpie Markers! Check out the pics from the day!