By Janna Makaeva, CEO and Co-Founder,Visionary, "Stencil Queen"
As decorative painting professionals for over 25 years we knew all too well that "speed of application" was very important. Time equals money! Stencils are an unbeatable tool when it comes to creating decorative wall patterns! Once you get a few simple stenciling techniques down, it’s easy cover large wall spaces with beautiful patterns, even very intricate ones in only a matter of hours. Painting repetitive decorative elements by hand can often feel like it takes forever and it’s also hard to make them look similar. But with stencils, painting repetitive patterns are a breeze! Another advantage of stenciling is that it’s incredibly easy to blend and shade colors. It’s so easy to create a shadowing effect for volume and dimension.
Using a little raw umber and a fairly dry brush, you can rub the edges of your stenciled shapes and they will instantly look full and dimensional. The same goes for multi color blending for things like flowers, autumn foliage and classical elements like grottesca. Softly blending colors is so easy when you use a good quality stencil brush lightly loaded with your stencil paint.
Then, of course there’s the cost savings when decorating with stencils. A well designed stencil can emulate expensive designer wallpapers while saving you hundreds, or even thousands of dollars! Also, in the last few years people have been stenciling their old ceramic tile floors. This is not something we ever thought we’d see but with advances in paint adhesion, stenciling almost any surface is possible offering tremendous savings in both material and labor cost. Not to mention the positive environmental impact! Instead of ripping out your dated old ceramic tiles and dumping them in a landfill you can simply give your tiles a nice coat of Stix primer (or any other good adhesive primer), and then basecoat and stencil your way to a beautiful new look! A topcoat with a water based satin polyurethane will help to protect your artwork for years to come. Stenciled tiles look great and are right on trend, just like real encaustic cement tiles. Another plus when using stencils is the ability to customization your colors. You can really match your “givens” (rugs, bedding, curtains etc) for a very tailored, well designed and balanced look. This really isn’t possible with wallpaper as ”what you see is what you get”. And lastly, it’s so easy to re-decorate with stencils. So so easy :) Just lightly sand and then paint over the stenciled surface. So much easier than stripping wallpaper or breaking out your old tiles. Simply sand, paint and voila, you're ready for that new look! Our company Cutting Edge Stencils, was birthed from our years or experience as decorative painters. Stencils were a very important tool for us and in 2008, we began designing and selling the highest quality decorative stencils, made right here in USA to the art and decorating community. We create beautiful and exclusive designs that are right on trend and we offer "best of the industry customer support” with many free stenciling tutorials! We really do care about the success of your project and we want to teach you how to properly use stencils. We continuously share our professional tips and tricks and inspire you with new amazing looks that you can achieve with stencils! Check us out on all social media networks including FB, IG, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok and get inspired!
