FIRST OF ALL _ WE HAVE A WINNER! Remember when we began this newsletter we promised that one lucky subscriber would receive a prize – Victoria's plaster ivy stencil – just for subscribing? Well – to find out who the lucky winner is, just take a quick peek at http://www.victorialarsen.com/productshome.html and see if you've been lucky enough to be the winner.

And if you're not – don't be disappointed. Next month one lucky subscriber will receive a complete wall mural set of stencils - Victoria's choice – and she has some great ones!

WHAT'S NEW??

There are new features on Victoria's site, from fresh new projects to new project help and information.

ASK FAY! First of all, many of you have met Vertafay – Victoria's ultra-talented Mom, and seen how many really creative ideas she has to offer. In fact, when I am at Victoria's Wall Stenciling Club and am in doubt about a project, I always ask Fay. And now, you can too.,

Go to "Fay's Tips" at http://www.victorialarsen.com/Faystips.html and you can e-mail her your questions directly and see the answers to previous questions. Right now there is a wealth of great information about using stencils – even the plaster ones – on outdoor projects.

GET A MAN'S VIEW of creative ways to use the new plaster stencils at http://www.victorialarsen.com/Geoffpage.html Geoff Goff is a finish carpenter specializing in Victorian gingerbread work and has found many creative ways to use these stencils, which he tells us all about. I can't wait to see the pictures!

ONE STENCIL – TWO DIFFERENT EFFECTS . And have you tried the plaster tree yet? You've seen Victoria's version – now see two different interpretations using the same stencil – just to see how versatile a single stencil can be. http://www.victorialarsen.com/moreplastertrees.html (Just as an aside, my husband wants me to do another one on the front stairway with widely spaced branches from which he wants to hang a collection of old family photos he's been collecting. A real family tree in 3-D!

GUEST BATH TRANSFORMATION - STEP BY STEP. Finally – we now have it, step by step – the transformation of a plain Jane guest bathroom into something elegant using plaster stencils – as you can tell Victoria is really excited about these – and rightly so. Men seem to love them even if they have been lukewarm about regular painted stencils – and they are so easy and fast – yet the results are absolutely amazing. Follow along and see how easy it is to go from boring to beautiful at http://www.victorialarsen.com/springsbath.html

PLUS – TWO NEW STENCIL CATEGORIES – Animals and Birds at http://www.victorialarsen.com/productanimals.html and Music Stencils at http://www.victorialarsen.com/MusicStencils.html

READ ABOUT VICTORIA ON THE WEB. Be sure to take a peek at the articles "Elegance in a Bucket" http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/10824/91924 and "Plaster Stencilling Techniques" http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/10824/92122 by Australian writer and muralist Jo Murphy that appeared on Suite101.com this month.

TIPS AND TRICKS

AGING PAPER

Another way to age sheet music (or any other papers that you wish to have an antique look on) is to dip them in a tray of strong tea briefly. Let dry a bit them iron them to get the look of aged parchment.

STICKY MATTERS and OTHER CLEAN-UP TRICKS

Do you use stencil adhesives? They're handy because you have less chance of getting paint underneath the openings – but they can stick together after you've finished – or pick up cat hair flying through the air (as happens at my house – the cats LOVE to hang out and watch me stencil!) You can get a product called Goo-Gone, or another called Citra-Solve that will remove the adhesive and leave the stencil as good as new.

When using tape, if you're a little afraid of damaging the surface you're taping to, first stick the tape onto your apron or clothing, then onto the surface. This will remove enough of the tack to keep the tape from peeling up the surface, but will leave enough to hold the stencil up.

Keep a damp cloth handy for small mistakes.

Baby wipes (the kind without lanolin) are great for a quick stencil clean-up.

DEALING WITH LARGE SURFACES

Did you know you can "cheat" with large, large surfaces and one-color stencils by using specially made stencil rollers. Just make sure to roll away most of the paint before applying to the wall. Using this technique I've even managed to use the latex paint I had used for trim color to make sure my stenciling was a perfect match.

Speaking of large surfaces – I know Victoria made stencils especially designed for faux finishing, but you can use the technique on other stencils as well. I used a faux marble finish when I did her Roman columns and it went much faster and was more fun that dabbing away at those giant pieces!

BRUSHES AND OTHER APPLICATORS

I keep a good supply of permanent magic markers in fine, medium and wide tips to fill in small details freehand. You can even find markers in gold, silver and copper. And if I need to add tiny white highlights I found something called a "paint pen" that is opaque and permanent and perfect for tiny additions.

Always store your brushes with the bristles pointing up. This helps them to dry better, prevents them from becoming misshapen, and also lets you select the size you want at a glance.

QUICK TIPS ON CREATING PERSPECTIVE: Smaller objects appear further away. Overlapped objects appear behind. Objects in the distance have softer edges.

Objects in the distance appear grayer. Lower objects seem further away. Higher objects appear closer

CLOUDS - QUICK! If you have poster board you can cut out several large cloud shapes and then use spray paint to create fast clouds. Use white, and some gray and spray in sharp, short bursts to keep the paint fairly transparent. For fuzzy edges, keep the stencil about two inches or so above the surface you are spraying. For a sharp edge hold it flush to the wall or half an inch or so above it. (You'll need a helper, or three arms. ;-) Change the position of your cloud stencils for variety's sake and use several different shapes.

BACKGROUNDS: Never underestimate the power of a painted background to lend realism to your murals. Remember that colors tend to be deepest at top and bottom, and fade to near white at the horizon. For tips on creating a background – Here's Victoria!

VICTORIA ON CREATING BACKGROUNDS:

I've gotten many emails over the years asking: "Now that I've finished all of the elements in my mural, how do I now go back and add the background????"

It is extremely difficult to add a natural looking background to a mural once it's nearly finished. That's similar to adding the foundation to a house after the roof has been put on.

Just like building a home, a foundation must be built first and that foundation in a mural is the "background". You must start at the back and work your way to the front as with a house you start at the ground and work your way upward or it won't come together correctly.

There are several different ways of creating a workable background that take little effort. The easiest is to literally use a sponge with very thin (nearly translucent) acrylics thinning with water to the consistency of fat free milk ... you know, the one you can see through!) and "wiping" in pale colors of blue for the sky and green for the lower grass,

allowing to dry then beginning to put in elements. Though quite simplistic, at least there won't be a bare wall behind your mural.

More elaborate backgrounds are also easy to achieve simply by either using a background mural stencil set such as our "Italian, Egyptian or Farm" background stencil sets or using even just our "birds and clouds" design to create a realistic sky then adding some very

simple mountains or softly rolling hills.

Keep one thing in mind as you envision this background and apply it to the wall. When you look out over a scene in real life, standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out over the mountains and trees and valleys, the farther off something is, the paler it is in color. The closer something is, the deeper and richer the color. This is called "perspective". If everything in the both the background and foreground were the same depth of color, there would be no "dimension" to your mural. Everything would seem to be at exactly the same level and wouldn't look right. So remember: the farther back the element is, the paler in color it should appear.

It's also important to choose your main focal point and do it first. This is the element that your entire mural will be built around. Will it be a fence, a tree? You decide. But it will be your largest design in most cases. Once you have your background and focal point established, your mural will always seem to strangers as it it were already "finished" and you can add as you like.

Do keep in mind that a mural is not meant to "slap you hard in the face" when you walk in the door but rather to softly "coax" you inside to see what other surprises lie ahead. As humans, it's our nature to tire of very vivid colors more quickly than soft ones. And soft designs and colors evoke a more relaxed feeling within us than vivid or harsh ones.

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All Stencil Product designs Copyright © 1990-2007 by Victoria Larsen. All Rights Reserved. Website designed, created, and maintained by Larsen Productions. All images, graphics, and intellectual content are © Copyright Victoria Larsen 1990 - 2007. All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced for any commercial intent or purposes without expressed written consent. This website is dedicated to the loving memory of Joyce Bakken, Brandon Layton and Dorothy Kirkwood.
Last modified: 05/10/08