Reverse Stencilling
12 June 2021 REVERSE STENCILING MARY'S COTTAGE CRAFTS Our cottage has several items that Mary has decorated by a technique she devised that I call "reverse stenciling." She pins, tapes, or weighs down leaves, flowers, etc., and spray paints over them. It's similar to using a frisket in watercolor to preserve the white of the paper. For the cushions grouped above for a family portrait, Mary first sewed the covers from solid color Sunbrella outdoor fabric, dark red, blue, green. After pinning on her flora she spritzed on short bursts of metallic paint, silver, copper, gold. The pillows migrate around our front porch as needed. Mary first used this technique to decorate the plain lid of a simple Ikea storage chest, covering the entire lid with matte black paint over weighted-on leaves. In the bathroom is a panel on which Mary spot sprayed several different paints, affixed her selection of cuttings, then over-sprayed in matte black. In the living room is a framed