Stenciling has always been around. Its had its up and downs and taken its lumps, but its still hangin’ in. When we began distributing craft supplies we hooked with an American company called Freshn’ Funky at the time and they had a good choice of checkerboard style stencils that were popular in decorative painting. Anyway, we sold a lot of them but the company went under or closed and we had to find an alternative. Somehow we came into contact with a guy out on the west coast who was working on his stencil business part-time and had a laser printer, which we later found out broke down chronically. We had a lot of designs we had accumulated and we changed their shape around and played with the dimensions to give them a distinctive look. Then one morning I looked at what we came up with and decided to call the stencils after Verdi’s operas. Bolero, Aida, Don Juan and so on. Kind of classy, which was out of character, and they sold and still sell since they fit into most of the Linda Lock projects with modeling paste.
Created by Artist Tracy Moreau, Texture Stencils come in twelve 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch stencils and can be used with DecoArt Textures to create a variety of stunning effects. Tracy Moreau's Texture Stencils come in three popular themes: American Classic, European Elegance and Retro Chic. Each theme consists of: one double motif stencil, one all-over or background stencil, one sheet of three small motifs and one sheet of two border motifs.
We still have the Pickwick stencils but have gone into carrying almost all of the Delta stencils line as well as the Tracy Moreau stencils from DecoArt, which is backed up by a big line of different modeling pastes called Textures. If both of these companies had designer labels they could likely sell their good three times as expensive. Being a craft label, they had to position the retail selling as a price proposition. The Tracy Moreau stencils are beautiful designs and incredibly well packaged and they sell for under $6. Made in the U.S.A. Hard to believe. The Delta stencils are made in China, are even cheaper and there is no problem with quality. Its a huge line. It means that if people are willing to roll up their sleeves and use their noggin, they can do some decent decorative work in their home for a real minimal price.
With our Studio Backstage airbrush company, we have also been looking into making stencils for this market. Its ideal. The prices they get are well… Imagine how expensive it should be and multiply by seven.
Find out about our stencil pricing at info@madamepickwick.com and ask about our free-shipping promotion.
Madame Pickwick hot air balloon sale is still flying. We can't promise to deliver you goods by balloon, such as this late eighteenth-century model, but you never know...
