painting things by hand, badly, on purpose
When I moved in, the previous tenant had left a mushroom border in the kitchen. Seven years later it’s still there because I’ve been “getting to it.” This is the year. I have bought the scraper. I have watched one (1) tutorial.
RantKitchenPeople keep telling me to “just use a stencil” for my market signs. I have now painted the same lemon price sign 400 times and the last 60 were genuinely good. Repetition is the stencil you grow yourself.
EssayFreehandNineteen people, one burn barrel, forty-one stencils retired with full honours. Kayla cried a little at the mandala one. We let her. Also: my potato salad was, per multiple witnesses, “fine,” which is slander.
RecapPartyIt’s a 1970s brass alphabet stencil set from a yard sale, the letters are slightly crooked, and using it feels like borrowing a stranger’s handwriting. This is the only exception and I resent that it exists.
Grudging PraiseVintageI also run a tiny zine distro out of the garage (Wet Paint & Grievances, $4, cash or trade, trades preferred), teach a freehand lettering workshop at the community centre most winters, and answer stencil-related mail about once a decade. There are also stickers now, because the garage wanted to feel like a business at tax time. Details on the contact page.