Decorating with Cast Plaster

Tender roses dress up a kitchen

 We ladies, in our heart of hearts, tend to think that men just don't see with the same "eye" toward beauty as we do. But guess what ladies, we have been wrong since the beginning of time!

Mark proves this point as he shows us the elegant addition of our "Heritage Rose Center" stencil roses to his beautiful kitchen walls and skylight.

Inside the cove of the skylight, he completely surrounded the edges with a border of pastel pink roses, giving the area a garden feel and softening the hard lines of the room.

But what I want you to pay the most attention to is Mark's understanding of shading and highlighting.

Though this information is right in the stenciling instructions we provide with each stencil, sometimes people don't read that section therefore, not learning the most important thing about making your stenciling look positively "hand painted".

Click on the lower picture to enlarge it and then take a look at the lights and darks of the roses... see how he's shaded each petal toward the center of the rose? This makes each petal seem to stand out from the others, giving the rose a 3-D appearance and as though it was painted by hand rather than stenciled.

Another artist's tip is shown in the leaves in the photo. Take just a hint of the flower color and add it to some of the leaves. The vine and leaves now take on a whole new look rather than being stenciled just one color. Again, lights and darks make a big difference in the over all outcome of the design.

Designer's tip: When stenciling, be sure to wipe ALL excess paint out of the brush. If you are still seeing paint come off the outside edge of your brush you have too much paint. You see, it's the amount of paint on the "inside" of those bristles that is the perfect amount.

Swirl your brush rather than pounce. This gives you that soft airbrushed look of hand painting. For natural highlighting, as you swirl, leave the center with no paint. For natural shading, simply swirl longer and with a hint more pressure to create darker areas.

Typically, the best places on the stencil to shade are areas that "touch" another element. For instance, where the vine "touches" the petals, where the leaves "touch" the flower and so on.

When you first get your stencil, practice it once on a piece of newspaper to get the feel of the design and to decide if there is anything you wish to change. This is also a great way to try out the technique of shading and highlighting. It's so easy and you will pick it up in no time.

Click here to purchase our Heritage Rose Center Stencil

Exciting News!
Victoria's husband Dana has finally released his fabulous "Smooth Jazz" CD that includes Victoria's single "Gravity".

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