Tapestries by Design

New Techniques

2009-01-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

I've been playing around a bit (and by that, I mean trying to fix my mistakes) and come up with some fun new techniques. I think they look pretty amazing, but they definitely are more work! Check it out:

Here I painted a darker purple over white lettering free-hand. I like the look, it's a slightly less clean, more grungy look, but I think it adds dimension and personality.

Here I added purple over the white attempting to "shade" the stencil. Again, I like the dimension and "pop" it gives to the look.

Here I really wasn't a fan of the apple green with deep purple lettering, so I painted a butterscotch over it, leaving some green exposed to "highlight" the design. It did exactly what I wanted- toned down the green and added it's own level of aging to the tapestry. I like the slightly foggy look of the design as well, again I think the grungy, anti-stencil look adds a little something.

The Tapestries

2007-10-14T21:10:00.001-07:00

*Not for sale, but remakes can be accommodated.
**Price for name tapestries up to 6 letters long. Additional letters are 1.50 each.

My "Tapestries" Defined

2007-10-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

So I paint tapestries. That's what I call them.

tap·es·try (tāp'ĭ-strē)
n. pl. tap·es·tries

A heavy cloth woven with rich, often varicolored designs or scenes, usually hung on walls for decoration and sometimes used to cover furniture.

So the generally accepted tapestry is really a piece of cloth into which a design has been woven.
However, the word tapestry comes from the Old French tapis meaning "heavy fabric". So on those grounds, I stand by my term even though my "heavy fabric" is painted.

At this point, my tapestries are made of a heavy canvas on which I paint a basic background color. I then design my pattern and stencil it onto the painted canvas. After the paint has dried, I distress and antique the fabric, at which point it is ready to hang. They can be hung using upholstery tacks (this is what I'm using right now), a dowel and ribbon, or (my personal favorite) a black cast-iron curtain rod.

They are a gorgeous addition to any room and really add an elegant feel to the decor.

I am more than happy to recreate any tapestries and will do custom designs as well.