Raise your Raised Stencilling With Posh Chalk

Stencilling is in, it’s all over at the moment, from stencil art to furniture upcycling and interior decor. Luckily, there is a range of Posh Chalk stencils available to slake your thirst for stencil art! I had a play about with the Posh Chalk pastes along with the stencils and created a quick, simple but very pretty stencil design.

Like the rest of the Posh Chalk stencils, the WoodUmandala is ultra-durable, heat resistant and – importantly – thicker than most on the market. As the stencils are thick, it makes them perfect for raised stencilling! I like the intricate design of the mandala though, so that’s where we started.

Sometimes when we’re embarking on projects we plan, we map out colours, we know just what we’re doing and we have an end in mind. Sometimes, it’s just fun to play around and see what we come up with, this is exactly what I did with this stencilling extravaganza!

Have you got an old bit of chipboard laying about? Don’t throw them out, they’re perfect for spicing up with stencilling, the messy, almost rustic look of the board goes perfectly with the pretty lines of the stencil and gives you a real hearty finish (I’m sure there’s a better phrase out there, but it’s well past lunchtime and I’m hungry – we’re sticking with hearty).

I’ve seen people use tape to secure their stencil, and this is fine, I often do this myself. I do, however, incorporate it with a spray mount. Some lightly tacky sprayable adhesive like 3M spray mount works wonders, it will stick to your stencil to the surface, but it won’t pull off any paint which it is stuck to. It’s easy to use, spray the back of your stencil, wait a few minutes and press it onto whichever surface you’re stencilling on.

If you’re using the Posh Chalk Pastes when raised stencilling, it’s important to make sure you’re pushing the paste through the stencil. It sounds obvious, but too much of a light touch on the stencil means that when you pull it away, you’ll be left with an incomplete pattern. A big bonus in using these pastes is that they’re an all-in-one product, so no need for sealing afterwards.

I chose the Black Carbon Smooth Metallic Paste and the Pearl White Textured Paste for this particular design. I wanted some classic colours which would also blend well together, it doesn’t get much more classic than black and white. Plus, the Textured Pastes have Swarovski Crystals in them which would give a textured element to my raised stencilling.

I wanted the black around the outside to give way to the white textured paste in the middle and a graduated blend in between – giving it a smokey look before highlighting the textured paste in the middle.

Squeegee time! When raised stencilling, there’s an abundance of tools you can use from palette knives to right through to credit cards (just not the one you use to buy your stencilling supplies with). This time around, I used a silicone ‘brush’. It’s really great for applying the Posh Chalk pastes and gives you great control when working with the smaller stencils.

The pastes are really thick and stand up great to being pushed through your stencil in the pursuit of that perfect raised stencilling design; what is often overlooked is that they can be mixed, blended if you will, in situ. This means that you can really begin to play with a whole array of colours at the same time as stencilling. What a time saver!

You want to push the paste through and lay it on thick enough so you get the defined edges we’re looking for when raised stencilling. This is a bit of a feeling-out process though and too much paste looks messy, it’s a bit of a Goldilocks affair, not too much, not too little. It comes with practice, once you’ve found that sweet spot you’ll know, you should just about to be able to see the pattern of the stencil underneath your paste.

Then…

Whip it off! Everybody loves a good stencil reveal, when you’re doing it yourself and it looks great, you get a great sense of accomplishment.

Now we could stop there, normally with raised stencilling you would. However, we’re working with Posh Chalk here so the party doesn’t have to be over if you don’t want it to be. If you’ve got a heat gun handy, you can get to work.

If you heat the pastes with a heat gun, they will puff up or ‘pop’ creating a textured 3D effect, perfect for adding the extra little bit to your project. Give it a go and raise your raised stencilling!