It's Time to Start Stocking-Stuffer Gifts!

Plain coasters are a great substrate for creating stenciled Christmas stocking-stuffer gifts!  They are available in a variety of places; one of them is Michaels.

My first step with my coasters was to put them into a cardboard box so that I could spray them with red acrylic paint.  (The reason for the box was to contain spray that would otherwise be on one of my walls!)

After my two coasters had dried from their second spray of red acrylic paint, I placed them on newspaper and set one of my stencils over them.  The beauty of STENCILGIRL(TM) stencils is that their translucency allows exact placement of the stencil, which becomes really important when working on an object that is coaster-size.  Having achieved the right placement, I used masking tape to secure the stencil to the coaster, and to the newspaper underneath.

Click on the above image to see a close-up.

My next step was to use a sponge-tip applicator to add green paint across the face of the coaster.

 

What I've learned:  For best results, use a heavy-bodied paint and start with less paint on the applicator than you think you may need.  You can always add more paint if need be.  But if you start with too much paint -- as I tend to do -- you risk it leaking under the edges of the stencil's openings, creating areas of blurred paint.  Less is more.  Do as I say, not at I do!  :-)

Above:  After removing the piece of tape opposite the stencil, I then had a hinged stencil that I could simply fold back, away from the still-wet coaster.

Below is another example of creating a hinge, using a different area of the stencil and using the other coaster:

While the stencil was still wet with green paint, I did what Mary Beth Shaw calls reverse-stenciling.  I tend to call it stamping with a stencil -- but I like her term better. 

I lifted the still-wet stencil carefully away from the still-wet coaster, placed the stencil face down on the newspaper, and went over it with a hard rubber brayer.  This transferred the reverse pattern onto the newsprint. 

Later, I cut out part of that print and used it on the cover of a handmade Christmas card:

Click the above image to enlarge it.

During one of my on-site demos a few years ago, I was asked why I use foreign newspapers -- Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish -- for projects like this.  My questioner hazarded the guess that perhaps the newspaper quality is higher when it comes from elsewhere.  Um, no.  Generally it's lower.  But the thing is, I like the look of foreign text when it appears, obscured but still visible, as a background in my finished project.

Meanwhile -- with gold metallic paint and the same type of sponge-tip applicator -- I gave the two coasters one last touch: 



The 9"x 12" stencil used today is Swatton Borders #1 and in its entirety it looks like this --

As its title implies, it's one of three border stencils I've designed.  Each measures 9" x 12" and contains 3 borders per stencil.
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