Another way to use a StencilGirl Products Stencil...

StencilGirl Products' stencils are easy to clean, even after using them with acrylic paints (if they are placed right after use into a soak basin of water) -- but since I was blessed to be accepted as one of the designers at StencilGirl Products, I receive not only each stencil itself for my own use, but also what called a proof -- a prototype, laser-cut from the same pattern I designed, using a lighter-weight and thinner sheet of acetate.  A proof can be used as a stencil -- but, being different in character from the finished product that is sent to a customer at StencilGirl Products, it will more readily retain a coating of acrylic paints, once it's been used with them.  The above proof was used in seveal applications and the proof itself has become so pretty that I've scanned it and will use the print-outs on greeting card covers.  The above image is darker and dimmer than the proof itself but serves well enough to show what I mean.

 

The latest stencil of mine to be posted at www.StencilGirlProducts.com,   this design is titled Kaleid (listed on the SCP website under "New Stencils.")  The original design appears below:

How did I arrive at this design?  My friend Mary Ann had the idea for us to create collography printing plates, so together we trooped down to Collingswood Flea Market to buy thin sheets of black foam, waste scraps from unknown industrial uses.  We cut up the foam into random shapes and (with heavy matte gel medium) adhered them to sturdy illustration board.  We used the same gel to coat the foam shapes and their backboard (on both sides) so as to make them waterproof and washable.  After they were dried, we used them to make prints; one of my prints was done in black and white, which I scanned.  I then used a program called Kaleidoscope Kreater to alter the original image.  My last step (in Photoshop) was the stencil-making process:  Removing stray pixels, creating stencil bridges, and cleaning up edges of lines.

 

Was it worth all that work?  Yes!  This has become my favorite stencil.  One of the abstract artworks that I've just finished made heavy use of this stencil and I like the results so much that this piece will be included among my 10 "portfolio pieces" to be placed in the mid-April Monmouth Festival of the Arts ...

 

www.MonmouthFestivaloftheArts.com