Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Dining Room Runners Finished

Finally, I got myself in gear to finish my stencilled dining room runners. I finished sewing the linen runners back in March, and I cut the stencil over two weeks ago. I don't know why it's taken me so long to finish this project because when I finally turned my attention to the task, it really only took me a couple hours. I guess I am just really deadline-driven.
Before starting, I sprayed the backside of the stencils with Krylon Easy Tack Repositionable Adhesive Spray (first lay down newspaper to protect the surface below). You really only have to let the stuff dry for a few minutes—I let it dry for 2 weeks!
Before starting in on the fabric, I test the stencil and the color selections on paper because it is much easier to fix a mistake on paper than on the fabric. I used the same color palette as I used for the dining room curtains so these would complement each other.

When I started in on the linen runners, I would align the stencil then put a bit of masking tape where the register marks went and fill that mark so I could correctly line up the second stencil.
Then I would apply the oil paint with my stencil brushes. I use Shiva Oil Paintstiks using the techniques described by Amy Miller in Stenciling the Arts & Crafts Home; they have worked really well for me. I can't recommend her book enough if you would like to learn how to do stenciling.
Then I repeated the process five more times. Finally, another task checked off the list. As usual these need to be ironed, but I need to wait until they dry first.

The light was especially good in the dining room yesterday, so I posted a few updated photos on the Before and After page.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, when someone said you guys are working on your house it was an understatement. I'm blown away!!!!

    Katrine

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