One of the ideas was to approach local restaurants – where a bamboo theme would suit the theme – and offer them my services as a bamboo wall-mural artist. My immediate thought went straight to Japanese and Chinese restaurants, following the cliche and then I came across an Indian Restaurant in the UK with a rather interesting and sculptural approach to applying a bamboo stencil effect to the walls.

What may not be immediately apparent from the pictures is that these are actual stencils (most likely crafted from metal) and then hung slightly away from the wall or cut into the wall itself to allow the light to get in and create a back-lit effect with the light bounce out at you through the actual giant stencil’s open spaces.

The design is very simple but its enough to make a dramatic effect and I guess, yeah. They have bamboo in India?

The Veer Dhara Indian restaurant is located in St Alban’s, producing authentic Indian curries…  and apparently the king prawn tawa with yogurt; the lamb pasanda with cashews; and the fish tikka masala with whole red chillies are to die for.

A nice ‘graphic’ use of bamboo stencils!

Anything Japanese and Chinese I love because it fits in with the other aesthetics that I am into like meditation, Asian food, green tea, bonsai,  old Asian architecture and Japanese design.

I want the wall stencil and subsequent mural to soften the wall and make the room looker bigger and more peaceful. And anything to do with nature seems to meet that criterion. However animals and insects become to iconic for me. Even flowers are too iconic!

I like reeds, grasses, branches and leaves and a splash of water with a tiny hint of life, like a single dragonfly.

My all-time favorite wall stencils are bamboo stencils. These are great for anyone and everyone as they don’ really define or express a specific interest as apposed to putting a picture of a dragon on your wall.

If you use subtle differences between the colors the final result works on a subconscious level and calms the room including its inhabitants.

I am currently getting my bamboo stencils from YouStencil.com they are the best I have found online!

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I had been meaning to redecorate the living room of my city apartment for a few months and I remember seeing an awesome bamboo stencil on the foyer wall inside a spa retreat that I just adored.

So being a complete web jockey I dusted off Google and began a hunt for the best bamboo stencils online. I wanted something with a bit of versatility that would allow me to customize the final look of my bamboo wall. What I didn’t want was a small one piece bamboo stencil that would not allow me to assert some creative  control.

At first I thought I would find something that would allow me to essentially design and create my own bamboo wallpaper. I had an idea of what I wanted my wall to look like but I still needed to see what could be done with stenciling.

The first site I came across that had a few bamboo design stencils in stock was ‘The Stencil Library’. They have a couple of repeat stencils with bamboo motifs and designs but I found them all a bit busy and they would just end up looking like tiled wallpaper. Whereas what I had in mind was something with a bit more composition and space around it. Something big but not too dominating.

Henny Donovan’s website listed one large bamboo stencil but that was a bit to leafy and certainly not versatile enough for me. Jan Dressler’s stencil was nice but too simple and small so I kept digging and digging until atleast I found the perfect bamboo stencil over at YouStencil.com

With a couple of bamboo design stencil kits to choose from I could see how I could take full control over what my wall would look like and even add some unique touches to other wall using the same stencils.

Anyhow the online payment system was nice and secure via Paypal, the stencils arrived promptly and I was ready to start creating my very own bamboo wall design using the 13 individual stencils that came in the kit.

• 8 different bamboo stalk designs
• 5 different bamboo leaf designs

The stalk stencils all fitted together beautifully and can repeat on each other  so you can design your own bamboo forest. Shaping, twisting and bending each bamboo stalk with full creative control I stacked the segments vertically for each stalk and made a completely unique design of my very own with a large concentration of bamboo stalks in the corner and then a few leading out to the top of the middle of the wall and the rest I left blank. I just used a subtle and soft green for the bamboo stencil on top of a off-white almost cream wall.

The result was stunning and I can highly recommend the bamboo stencil kits over at youstencil.com