Unique Twist on Using Stencils

The first image here is a greeting card cover ...

And the second image is the stencil I used ...

KALEID

 The process was simple:  I held the stencil up next to a window, positioning it so that sunlight cast a pattern thru the stencil and onto a sheet of green paper that I had secured nearby.  This stretched the stencil's design into an angle that interested me.  I snapped a photo, printed it, and used it as a greeting card cover -- embellishing it with a curl of glitter in the upper left corner.

Drop Me a Line ...

...or draw me one.  And make it 3-dimensional!

 The 2 greeting cards below were created in several steps, using my new 9"X12" stencil Prayer Flags.  The cards were created on 6"X6" greeting cards blanks cut from dark bronze cardstock (available at www.jampaper.com.)     

Click on the above image to better see the 3D lines -- yellow on the left card cover and copper on the right card cover.

First, I  used masking tape to secure the stencil Prayer Flags into place over the covers of the 2 greeting cards. Clicking on the photo below to enlarge it, you can see that I'd lined up the greeting card blanks, side-by-side.  This way, I can use 1 stencil to do the groundwork for 2 cards -- at the same time.

Note:  In these photos you see a pale blue stencil being used.  This is an advance prototype sent to designers at StencilGirlProducts.  When you order your own stencils, they will be white.

Next, I used a plastic artist's spatula to spread thick white metallic paint thru each of the stencils.  

ABOVE:  A CLOSE-UP OF THE WHITE METALLIC PAINT STILL HELD ONTO THE CARD COVER WITH GREEN MASKING TAPE (AT TOP OF PHOTO.)

 While the paint was still wet, and while the stencil was still in place, I sprayed one of the cards with a water-based paint.  Keeping the stencil in place during the spraying step is important to prevent the spray paint from landing on areas where I didn't want spray to land.  See below:

Quickly but gently, I lifted off the stencil and -- since I had used thick paint -- I cleaned the stencil.  (When I use thin media, I seldom bother to clean a stencil after use.)

ABOVE:  A CLOSE-UP OF THE GREETING CARD COVER THAT WAS ALLOWED TO REMAIN WHITE; THE STENCIL HAS JUST BEEN LIFTED OFF.

Once the 2 greeting card surfaces had dried, I placed translucent resist paper over them, and got out my dimensional paints in squeeze bottles.  I used deli wrap paper, but plain wax paper would have worked.  

Holding the deli wrap in place with one hand, I used the other to start drawing lines along the lines of the stencil design.  I was careful to keep the dimensional paint flowing, leaving no gaps in the network of lines. 

When the dimensional paint had dried, I carefully lifted it off the resist paper, pulling the networked lines free just a little at a time.

I painted both greeting card covers with a coat of gloss gel medium.  While the medium was still wet, I placed a network of dimensional lines across the surface of each.  I used copper paint for the still-white card and yellow for the blue-sprayed card:

Click on the above image to better see the 3D lines made with dimensional paint from a squeeze bottle.

CROP CIRCLES

Below is a ghost print made with one of my 3 June StencilClub Crop Circle stencils -- for its background, I used an old collage.  I call it a "ghost" because I pressed the still-wet stencil to the old collage as an afterthought, just to clean off the excess paint after having used the stencil in another project.

StencilClub members can still order the Crop Circle set; to become a member, just check out the right sidebar here:  www.stencilgirltalk.com.

I've worked on a number of stenciling projects over the last 5 weeks, but since I'm recovering from shoulder surgery, I can't take any photos yet.  It requires being able to lift both hands, to use either my phone or my camera.  That's beyond me, now.  But around mid-September, maybe sooner, I will be taking photos of these projects and posting them.

About the Tote Bags with my Designs at Pixels.com....

I haven't yet had time to poke around at Pixels.com to see if there is a way I can add a more helpful description of their merchandise bearing my designs.  As far as I know, Pixels.com doesn't provide this information on its own. 

Having ordered Pixels.com tote bags of my own, I can say this:  

The tote bag is made from sturdy polyester.  The fabric exterior is bonded with a layer of flexible plastic on the inside of the tote.  I suspect the inside is waterproof because it looks that way, but I haven't tested this to see. 

I've also ordered a T-shirt from Pixels.com and found the material to be of good quality -- not that cheap flimsy stuff that you sometimes find in some souvenoir shops.    

6'x6" GINGKO Stencil, used in a Recent Project ...

In taking another rewarding online workshop facilitated by Jane Davies, I had an assignment to do something in a monochromatic color scheme -- my least favorite scheme.  I floundered around for quite awhile, before my eye fell on an old Gelli Plate print that had not turned out well.  I had used my 6"X6' stencil Gingko --

-- and as you can see, the resulting blue print was anything but sharp; I have had trouble all along with the paint drying too fast on my Gelli Plates.  But I tried to improve this particular blue print by spraying it with droplets of monochromatic blue.  (You can better see this by clicking on the top image to enlarge it.)  

When this old print caught my eye, I decided in relief to use it as the basis for a new greeting card cover.  (My 6"X6" blank greeting cards come from JAM.)  

With deckle-cut Friskar scissors, I clipped off edges from the original print, before gluing it to the greeting card cover.  Then I added the cut-offs as narrow strips across the upper left of the card.  Below that, I added two more collage elements, blues in two shades, cut from old catalogs and calendar pages.

The final artwork is far from a masterpiece; I was happy enough to finally come up with something that meets the requirements of this segment of Jane's weekly assignment-list.  As many of us know, the words "masterpiece" and "workshop" go together like oil and water.  The goal of a workshop is to equip ourselves with knowledge that will serve us in the future.  

What I personally learned from this segment of an assignment is that I will most likely never choose a monochromatic color scheme for any of my artworks.  Others can pull this off beautifully ... and my hat is off to those artists!  :-)

LABOR DAY WEEKEND 2015

You are cordially invited to attend St. George’s-by-the-River 4th Annual

                       Canterbury Art Show -- 

            A Tapestry of the Arts 2015 Art Show and Sale

*********All proceeds benefit St. George's and and the many local charitable organizations to which it contributes *************

 Friday, Saturday and Sunday     September 4, 5, and 6 

$10 general admission

For further information, visit

www.canterburyartshow.com

St. George’s church is located at 7 Lincoln Avenue, Rumson, NJ 07760