Artist Susan Ifergan demonstrates easy, inexpensive ways to give your dining table a new and exciting dimension. Using a favorite pattern for inspiration, she shows how a variety of kitchen objects--from wooden trays to napkins and glasses--can be embellished with a combination of stenciling and freehand painting.
Inspiration for a design can come from patterned dishes or pottery, fabric or wall covering. Susan uses a fruit-motif plate for inspiration (figure A). Custom stencils are easy to make with Mylar, a permanent marker and a craft knife with a sharp blade. Lay a piece of Mylar over your chosen pattern, and trace the outline with a permanent marker (figure B), then cut along the lines with the craft knife.
Designs may be stenciled on a variety of different objects with a stencil brush and a paint suited to the object. Use acrylic craft paints for wood, metal or papier-mache items, fabric paint for cloth napkins or tablecloths (use only 100 percent cotton) and ceramic paint for glassware and ceramics. Place the stencil on the object to be painted. Dip the stencil brush in paint, and dab off the excess on a paper towel. Pounce the brush on the edges of the stencil to outline the pattern, then fill in the center with a lighter application of paint to give the design dimension (figure C).
Pull other motifs from your inspiration pattern to stencil or hand-paint on fabric or glassware. Metallic-gold fabric paint adds an elegant touch to a pattern of leaves painted on a white napkin (figure D). Gold ceramic paint is used to add the same simple design to blue stemware (figure E). A pointed artist's brush works best for delicate freehand painting (figure F).
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Susan Ifergan
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