When Hand Painting Meets Stencils

The world of furniture painting is small. Close knit. In constant communication! It seems weird, but one of my favorite things about carrying both Annie Sloan Paint and Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint is this tight community that is fostered through the product. Not just the community of customers, but that of retailers as well. We’re like a big family of furniture painters. I bring that up because months and months ago, our Milk Paint family participated in a survey and informal discussion about some desired new products. There were so, so many great ideas. One that kept popping up, though was the desire for a new line of stencils. Really, it made perfect sense. Miss Mustard Seed is an avid free-hand painter. Creating stencils that are inspired by her free-hand painting is the perfect pairing to MMS Milk Paint!

I am NOT a free-hand painter. Let’s just say, I know where my talents lay and that is not one of them. I happily volunteered to be among the first to try out the new stencils and photograph our projects!

My first piece is an antique dresser that I base coated in white and then added a custom mix of Kitchen Scale and Linen MMS Milk Paint.

I used Linen for the stencil and mixed a much thicker than usual batch to minimize the paint bleeding beneath the stencil.

This particular stencil design is very simple, so to add a bit more complexity and give the more free-hand painted look, I had pattern shoot off in a variety of directions all over the drawers. As a result, it looks much more free-hand painted than stenciled (enough so that all of my employees were fooled).

And, of course I love the minimal chipping on the drawers and front.

What sets the new Miss Mustard Seed stencils apart from other stencil lines is the simplicity of the designs and the ability to layer multiple stencils and create a unique pattern that doesn’t fit into a more rigid design formula.

As soon as I find out more about the availability of the stencils, we will post it on our instagram feed and facebook page! In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for those perfect stencil projects!