Backstory of 2 New 6" x 6" Masks -- DIATOM and CHANDELIER

One of these brand-new abstract masks was inspired by the natural world, whereas inspiration for the other was 3-dimensional, functional artwork.

Because I enjoy pairing dissimilar images to achieve visual surprise, I designed my 6" x 6" mask Chandelier s971 to dramatize a juxtaposition of linework between beads.  I developed this design after a visit to Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY state.  There, captivated by the elegance of a chandelier, I crouched, twisted and squatted to capture handfuls of abstract photo-shots.

 A sample print that I made using Chandelier s971 looks like this:

 

Natural beauty greets us in many forms, including fan-shapes. One natural fan-shape exists in microalgae that form amazingly intricate patterns.  The variety that I chose in developing my 6" x 6" mask Diatom s972  is Licmophora flabellate – a type of plankton sometimes called Seaweed Fringe since, among many watery locations, it can live as minuscule fringe on seaweed. Its fan-like shapes are visible under a microscope.

A sample print made using Diatom s972 looks like this: 

 

Disregarding original inspirations, my art-making opens the eyes of my imagination.  The results?  Fanciful abstract imagery and decoration! 

As soon as I started printing with Diatom s972, I discovered the fun of using it multiple times around edges to create border-frames.  Most of these "framed" prints evolved to become kaleidoscopic images, usually when I added multiple prints of Chandelier s971, most often in the central areas....

Because I was printing with heavy-body acrylic paints when using Chandelier s971, the mask itself became loaded with paint -- and it was in flipping this mask onto its still-wet face that I discovered I especially like using it as if it were a rubber stamp.  In getting a flip-side image from a paint-covered stencil or mask, it sometimes helps to run a hard rubber brayer across the back of the stencil or mask -- this being a way of applying extra pressure to get a stronger print.  Usually I place a paper towel over the back of the mask before pressing down on it, either with a brayer or my hands.

Some of those rubber-stamp-like prints appear below.  Most of the time these prints have a "grunge" look since parts of the original design are missing or otherwise imperfect.

Above: This rubber-stamp-like print was made on textured gold giftwrap.  Much of the gold appears as black here.

Above:  The green "grunge" stamp-like print fills the lower left area; it's printed over multiple "normal" prints made with Chandelier s971.  Likewise, the upper and right-side borders are printed on Chandelier s971 multi-prints; their background is green acrylic paint squiggled with random lines.

Above:  Normally printed designs fill the right half and "grunge" stamp-like prints fill the left.

Thanks for visiting today!  More art made with these 2 new masks will be posted here tomorrow.

To scroll thru the pages of my masks and stencils at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.  My two new 6" x 6" masks are at the top of the first page.