Simple is as simple does. *UPDATE*
I looked and I looked, but I couldn’t find the thing I had in my head: a pale blue throw pillow with a very simple and subtle design. Then I saw my co-workers going nuts with stencils they were creating from images they printed in ‘negative’ and then cut away with sharp little exacto blades. They cut out Frida Kahlo, Alfred Hitchcock, even a ‘Save Marissa’ from the O.C.! And then they spray painted the stencil pattern on to t-shirts, which looked very ‘street’ and really awesome. So I got the idea to stencil a design onto an existing pillow cover. I found a great, brand new, velvety blue one from Pottery Barn on eBay for $9. Once it arrived I securely taped down my stencil on the pillow and did the spray paint magic on it and voila! I had my simple, sweet pillow that was no where to be found out in the retail world. It’s uniquely mine* and I love it!
*Unless of course, you’d like one, and then perhaps something can be arranged.
DIY UPDATE!
A few of you have requested a few more instructions on how to create the stencil, so here you go:
1. Find an image you like with high contrast. Scan it, or drag a digital image into Photoshop.
2. Size it to the size you’d like your image to be.
3. Convert it to black and white and adjust the contrast levels in Photoshop so that you are just seeing black and white solid image (your shadow areas will be solid black). Print it out.
4. Now, you need to very carefully trim out either:
- If printing on a light surface – cut out the black areas on image
- If printing on a dark or black surface – cut out the light areas
This part is hard to explain and gets tricky because you have to be careful not to cut where the template ‘links together’. I’ve attached the picture of my bird stencil, to hopefully help you out.
5. Once cut – spray a little spraymount adhesive on back of stencil so it adheres well to your surface, and tape down the outside edges. Mask off the area outside of stencil so you don’t get overspray on your fabric etc.
6. Spray with any color spray paint. Carefully peel away stencil and let dry.
7. And you’re done! Or, you email me and I’ll make one for you!
wow, Victoria, it’s pale, blue , dreamy, lovely and it tweets too! I love it!
what? cut the negative image, print who? could you give a diy recipe to use with images or words? love it, love it….
Love the elegant simplicity of this pillow. The bird stencil is marvelous.
Sweet idea; I am definitely going to have to try this. I’m thinking of the many fall birthdays I need to gift plus Christmas; this kind of thing would be be a big hit, and cheap. The possibilities are endless!
Thanks for the tip!
That’s a great pale blue. Goes well with crisp white. Nice!
Thanks everyone!
I hope these DIY instructions help – it’s kind of difficult to explain when not in person!
Aren’t the instructions for what to cut out backwards? It looks to me like you cut out the dark areas and printed on a light background.
If it’s light fabric you cut out the dark areas; if you’re using a dark fabric, cut out the white areas. SORRY! I corrected Step #4.
Thank you Anonymous – I had no idea so many people would ask about how to do this, and it’s hard to put into words! I kinda just do it.
4. Now, you need to very carefully trim out either:
- If printing on a light surface – cut out the dark areas on image
- If printing on a dark or black surface – cut out the light areas
This part is hard to explain and gets tricky because you have to be careful not to cut where the template ‘links together’. I’ve attached the picture of my bird stencil, to hopefully help you out.