April 28th, 2009

Etchlook Window Film

stenciled-glass-table

Years ago, about 8 to be exact, when I was creating the videos and projects for Royal Design Studio’s Extraordinary Stenciled Effects program I did some glass etching projects to include in the video series. For the round glass table above I applied contact paper to the glass and traced one of our stencil border patterns on it, adjusting it mightily so as to make it curved rather then straight. Then, each piece was hand cut with a swivel knife and I then etched it using the Etchall Creme that we sell creating an actual chemical frosting on the glass surface. Three years after THAT I started Modello Designs, where we actually DO ALL that on the computer and cut from rolls of vinyl. It’s SO much easier to use the precut vinyl, as you can imagine!! Well now, we have yet another option….

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EtchLook vinyl is vinyl that very closely simulates the look of actual frosted glass. Not only do you not have to cut it by hand, you don’t actually even have to go through the etching process at all. You simply apply it and, Viola!, etched pattern on your glass or mirror surface.

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I actually had to replace the glass for the tabletop, because once you etch it chemically, it’s permanent. The EtchLook vinyl is semi-permanent, meaning that it is permanent-until you want to remove it. It’s very durable and holds up to cleaning and such. On the tabletop above I did apply it on the underside (you have that choice) for obvious reasons and it looks great and totally realistic.

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It also is ideal for mirrors. Wouldn’t this be a great way to dress up a boring bathroom mirror? You could do a Modello design as a frame all around, something random as shown, or even a pretty valance effect with a border going across the top.

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My favorite application that I’ve done so far, though, is the lower panes on my studio windows.

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Not only does this add privacy, it filters out the “view” of the parking lot next door….

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AND , my favorite part,  it casts pretty patterned shadows on the wall in the afternoon. I have a couple more windows here that need a similar treatment. Now if I could just make up my mind about the designs…..more info on EtchLook vinyl patterns here!

April 27th, 2009

Yummy Stenciling

The Art of Cake

Gregory Bingham, owner of The Art of Cake has ONE SWEET business creating mouthwatering masterpieces for weddings and other special occasions.

The Art of Cake

He recently sent us some photos of some lovely cake confections that he had created and decorated with one of our Royal Design Studio stencils, the Thistle Border. On this one the black design is applied with a putty knife and royal icing. It is then sprayed with an edible lacquer that raises the grain and makes it look like velvet. Imagine!

The Art of Cake

This one uses an edible luster dust (sounds almost erotic!) that is applied with a brush. I think I would have really hard time actually CUTTING into these cakes, wouldn’t you??

April 24th, 2009

Lovely Lanterns

I have a fun and colorful project to share that we’ve just completed here in Lauren’s office. Lauren is my creative asistant and is responsible for all the lovely graphics on our websites and in our print material. She loves bright colors and she helped to create the lantern images shown below. I’ve been focusing on ways of combining our Modello Designs one-time-use vinyl masking patterns with the reusable mylar stencils from Royal Design Studio. There are different benefits to using both and this type of application combines the best of both worlds!lanterns-colors

I started with a colorful pallette of paints from Benjamin Moore mixed in their Aura paint base. I LOVE this paint! It covers so well and dries very quickly, making it great for a project like this.

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First, I put of the Modello Silhouette Japanese Lantern patterns and filled them in solidly with the different colors of paint.

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Then, with the masking patterns still in place, I added colorful design with a variety of stencils from our Kimono Collection at Royal Design Studio.

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For the lantern strings, I used black ribbon and finished it off with some really cute little felt flowers at top and bottom that I found in the scrapbooking aisle at Michaels.

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The ceiling has been done for some time, but the addition of the lanterns totally brightens up the room and pulls it all together. More detailed instructions can be found here. Our complete new Silhouettes and Stencils range at Modello Designs is here. I hope you enjoy these, they were so much fun to do!

April 23rd, 2009

From the Office of…..

It’s been a couple of weeks since these posts of Maryam’s My Marrakech office showing our Royal Design Studio Moroccan collection stencils appeared on her blog and also on the great Decor8-right at the same time that our Royal Design Studio website got compromised by a virus/hacker/www no-do-gooder and all the links that came in went-to waste! I am NOT loving the whole internet thing right now but am getting better about it day-by-day now that the website is back up after much time and increasing frustration coinciding with a decreasing bank account. Heavy sigh. OK, done wallowing and back to looking at and thinking about pretty photos and designs. The last time I saw Maryam’s office was when we were there with our lovely little group painting this past January. Sorceress of words that she is, she had penned this little story which we set up in Petras Script and cut for her from a Modello Pattern.

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It didn’t look like much then…..

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but look at it now!

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Maryam and Skylar have become quite proficient with the stencils and brushes I left for them, using Skylar’s Lace in the doorway…

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and various borders and patterns from our Moroccan Stencil Collection on spraypainted storage boxes.

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Of course, all the other decorative details and touches are just divine….

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making this a very special place for a very special person. Images taken from Decor8 and My Marrakech.

April 6th, 2009

Paper Art: Book Autopsies

My son recently sent me a link to the work of artist, Brian Dettmer. He takes a scalpel to old books to reveal their inner meaning and calls them “Book Autopsies”. Seriously! How do people think if this amazing stuff? I think these are so intriguing. Click through here to see even more.

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altered-wallpaper-sample-book

altered-wallpaper-sample-book-3altered-vintage-medical-booksaltered-wallpaper-sample-book-2http://www.ktfineart.com/artists/brian_dettmer/?show=project_images&heading_id=&project_id=181&detail_id=2227