Saturday, July 18, 2015

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.