About This Catalogue

Newly absorbed by MB Historic Decor, Epoch Designs stencils are mostly Victorian.

The Rasmüssen Collection, a great find, was pulled out from under a bed after 65 years of disuse. The original artisan, Alfred Rasmüssen, stenciled in the Boston area from 1900 - 1940. The stencils are Revival, Arts & Crafts, and Art Deco.

The Rasmüssen stencils were cut from brown paper, strengthened with a coat of shellac, and were a single layer upon which multiple brushes were used with different colors to create a multi-colored stencil result. Paint still adheres to them in any color you could name, including a liberal use of gold and silver metallic paint. We have floorcloths from Gracewood Design throughout the Arts & Crafts pages to demonstrate the imaginative use of color that can be achieved.

Throughout the 100 years this catalogue covers, color fashion swung — from pastels to primary colors of equal intensity to a primary color dominant and up to 7 other paler hues in the same room; to primary and secondary colors either opposite or adjacent on the color wheel; to the muddied tertiary colors of olive greens, browns, black, white, violet and purple and burnt orange, and back to pastels again. Some of different palettes were popular at the same time. Knowing this will perhaps liberate the homeowner to choose the color combinations that he or she finds most pleasing and complements his or her own decor.

Stenciling will be much more effective on your walls than it appears in our illustrations. See our Gallery for photographs of selected examples sent in by our clients (like you!).

Jo Sonja paints and quality stencil brushes can be purchased through MB Historic Décor, as well as our 5 other catalogues of stencils from the Colonial era. Lucky for us, since a century has passed, the vogue of redecorating our Victorians, New Englander, Craftsmen Bungalows, Sears and Roebuck, Revival, Shingle and Prairie Homes as they might have been, has come full circle, and the means to do so is at hand!

Introduction

Greek Revival Period — 1830 - 1850 and 1890 - Present

Rococo Period — 1830 - 1850

Frets

1863 Parker House — Quechee, Vermont

Witsell Victorian Stencils — 1870 - 1890

Moorish Stencils — 1870 - 1880

Nursery Themes — 1880 - To the Present

Arts & Crafts Period Stencils — 1890 - 1920

Art Nouveau — 1910

Art Deco "Modern Era" — 1920s - 1930s