MIKKI'S FLOWERS STENCIL and MASK (both 6"x 6")

Today's first art sample was developed in two steps:   

First, I placed Mikki's Flowers Mask (6" x 6") onto a near-black substrate (a greeting card blank) and ran a sponge brayer (loaded with heavy-body acrylic pink paint) over the mask.  

Because the original surface had been nearly black, and because the mask kept the areas behind its shapes from receiving paint, the result was a "shadow" image.  

After the surface dried, I placed Mikki's Flowers Stencil (also 6" x 6") over the shadow -- but a little to the right of it.  

Then I rolled another brayer (loaded with heavy-body blue acrylic paint) over the stencil.

The result was that the blue silhouette appears to have a shadow, which gives the image a 3-dimensional look.  

You can better see details in the image below by clicking on it to enlarge it.

Today's second image, below, is likewise a double-print.  In this case, I used Mikki's Flowers Stencil for both paint applications.

My background was an old encyclopedia page -- one that features the drawing of a flowering plant.

After making the pale blue print and allowing it to dry, I made a purple print, not immediately over the original; instead, it's off to one side.  This too creates the illusion of a 3-dimensional image.

Below is a detail close-up from another double print on a different page from an old encyclopedia.  This time, I tinted the old paper a pale green before applying  Mikki's Flowers Stencil twice, leaving drying time between the two applications.  Again, I made the prints over an old illustration of a flowering plant.

The art sample below started with a green paper that I first printed with my 9" x 12" stencil Facets.  After that layer of acrylic paint had dried, I used Mikki's Flowers Stencil in a high-contrast shade of red.

Although I could easily make my prints on a Gelli Plate, I find that, most of the time, I prefer loading a sponge brayer with acrylic paint, or even gesso, as shown below (this gesso is black) --

I place a dollop of paint onto a disposable plate and roll the sponge brayer over it till the brayer is loaded.  Then I roll the brayer over the stencil or mask.

Today's featured stencils include:

Facets Stencil (9" x 12")

Mikki's Flowers Stencil (6" x 6")

Mikki's Flowers Mask (6" x 6")

I really appreciate your stopping by my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.  To follow my blog via email, please use that option in the upper right sidebar. 

PAIR O' PARROTS -- in Imitation Gold Leaf

I've long had on hand some sheets of multi-color imitation gold leaf and, to go with it, several kinds of foiling glue.  Back when my 6"x 6" stencil Pair O' Parrots was released, I decided it was time to bring out those aging art supplies ... inspired by the brightly iridescent feathers of these beautiful birds.  My take on that bright iridescence is decidedly an abstraction from what's seen in real life ...   

There are two basic kinds of foil on the market.  The kind I used is the ultra-thin type, called "imitation gold leaf" -- click here to see the type I used. 

There are several adhesives that work with imitation gold leaf.  Click here to see one of the most easy-to-find brands.

Above are four greeting cards all created the same way:  I applied the adhesive thru the stencil openings, then quickly placed the stencils into a basin of Windex-water mix, to keep leftover glue from drying on the stencils. 

After waiting for the foiling adhesive to reach its tacky stage -- about 10 minutes, depending on how heavily the glue has been applied -- I carefully lowered a multi-color sheet of imitation gold leaf over the entire surface.  

I applied pressure with my fingertips to secure the leaf to the tacky areas; then I continued to rub the other areas to lift off the larger unwanted pieces. 

My next step was to remove small leftover bits of imitation gold leaf with a soft brush.

Some artists use GAC 100 to seal the foil as a final step.  I skipped doing that since these are greeting cards, not artworks on canvas.  To see another type of sealant, click here. 

Thank you for stopping here today!  To scroll thru my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Leftover Acrylic Paints?

Two acrylic paintings of mine ...

Above:  a three-dimensional work on canvas, developed with my 6" x 6" stencil Mimosa 6.

Above:  a painting developed with the help of my 9" x 12" stencil Blooming Where Planted.  You can click on the above image to enlarge it.  The stenciled areas are subtle.

Sometimes I finish a project -- like those two above -- to find leftover acrylic paint on my hands.  Well, not literally on my hands!  I use a white disposable plate as a palette and that's where the leftovers lay.  

The first day the paint has come out of the tube or bottle or jar, I spray the leftover paint lightly with water, then seal it, plate and all, in a zip-top bag.  (I use the zip-top bags that come in packages marked "freezer" because these are more nearly air-tight.  Later, after all leftover paint is gone, I re-use these bags in cleaning up after my cat ... you know what I mean!)

If a couple of days pass without any further need for that leftover paint, I consider it near the end of its lifespan -- so I put it to work making extra stencil prints that will end up in collages or art journal pages.
  

Above and below:  both made with 9" x 12" Blooming Where Planted stencil.  The print below has a three-dimensional look, which happened entirely by accident!

Below:  printed with 6" x 6" stencil-and-mask set, Dance of the Courting Cranes.

Note:  This silhouette stencil works well with old calendar pages -- see the "rising sun" in the central-left of this image?

 Above and below:  two prints made with Feathers 6 stencil, which measures 6" x 6" (but has a "big sister" measuring 9" x 12" -- Feathers 9 stencil.)

Below: Layers being developed with 6" x 6" Pavilion Shadows stencil and 6" x 6" Mikki's Flowers Mask (which also comes as Mikki's Flowers Stencil and prints an image that's the exact opposite of the mask.) 

  

A batch of leftover blended yellows went into making the print below...

... and the stencils that worked together to make this overall geometric pattern were 6" x 6" Pavilion Shadows and 6" x 6" Ski Lift Works.  


Thank you for taking time to stop here at my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.  To subscribe to my blog by email, please use that option in the upper right sidebar.

Greeting Cards and Envelopes

Recently I stencil-printed a new batch of greeting cards and envelopes.  Usually when I do this, I match the envelopes with the cards.  But this time, my needs were different.  So here is the mis-matching collection ... starting with envelopes I've printed with Fern Fronds Silhouette Stencil Mini --

And here is a third envelope, this one covered with multiple prints from the same stencil ....

My two greeting cards most recently made are collages I've created with cut-out pieces of acrylic paint-stained masks by Trish McKenney's fantastic series of tree branch masks.

Thanks for visiting here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Layering Stencils and Masks

I love putting orange and green together! -- they bring out the best in each other.   Today's first art sample is an intense orange-red acrylic print on sturdy tissue paper.  The stencil used for this background print is 6" x 6" Sprigs (a.k.a. "the stencil with the hidden angel!")

The dark green border was likewise printed with acrylic paint; and for this, the stencil put to work was 6" x 6" Ivy Frame 6.  (A similar border is available in a 9" x 12" size -- Ivy Frame 9.)

Another double-stencil-print is below.  Pavilion Shadows measures 6" x 6" and so does the mask Small Tangled Pods.  (Small Tangled Pods is just one in a series of pod-themed stencils and masks:  6" x 6" Small Dangled Pods stencil, 9" x 12" Dangled Pods stencil and 9" x 12" Tangled Pods.)

Above is a third double-stencil-print; the pale blue and green  background print was made with a homemade temporary cardboard stencil -- no longer in use since it lacked the durability and precision of a StencilGirl laser-cut stencil.  The top layer was made with my 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid. 

Below, in layers of acrylic paint, the two 6" x 6" stencils used were Sprigs and Tiger Lily-- 

Above:  Tiger Lily (6" x 6") and 9" x 12" Prayer Flags.

Many thanks for coming to visit here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

CLUSTERED LEAVES ... and Friends

I love it when someone else's stencil strikes me as a perfect match with one of my own!  This happened when I saw Jamie Fingal's 9" x 12" Leaf Zen Landscape Stencil!  

The scissors came out:  I trimmed Jamie's stencil and cut pieces from my 9" x 12" Clustered Leaves stencil.

Then I brought out the Golden's High Flow acrylics and got to work ... I mean, play!

The technique I used is the same as a technique in the Absentee Artist chapter of Creative Paper Art, a book by Nancy Welch.   And it's demonstrated in Pat Dews' DVD Designing Great Starts with Texture and Form. 

Clustered Leaves was also used by an artist whose last name I have, sadly, lost! -- Christy Anne.  Her artwork appears directly below.  If anyone knows Christy's last name, please leave it in the Comments section, so I can give credit where credit is due!

Another artist -- Dee Spillane -- has used Clustered Leaves in creating the artwork below --

Both of the above artists have shown us how stencils like Clustered Leaves can be art-tools for developing unique backgrounds!

Below are close-ups of a couple of artworks of mine, done on stretched canvas, using cut-apart pieces of Clustered Leaves and Loopy Ladders.  Once again, I've paired Clustered Leaves with another stencil that uses line-work in its overall design .... 

In a few of these pieces on canvas, I've added pieces of the stencils themselves, cut apart and stained with acrylic paints.

Thanks for stopping by here today!

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Stencil-printing on Mica Tiles

Back in mid-2016, I decided to try a "new" substrate.

From an online vendor, I ordered sheets of mica, a translucent mineral that comes in thin layers (and can be split into even thinner layers.)  Mica lends itself to many delightful artsy uses.  It arrives looking like this:

Mica can be cut with scissors to form any shape you want.  It has a slick surface that accepts acrylic paint as well as some markers -- the marker I've used is the IDenti Pen permanent marker by Sakura.  

These tiles can be layered over paper or any other surface, using a clear-drying adhesive such as gloss gel -- it takes only a small dot or two of the gel, and in fact it's better to use a couple of dots rather than to spread the gel across the entire piece of mica.

Because it's flat, mica can be used for layered art that will fit smoothly onto the pages of an art journal.  But, because it's also rigid, it can be used on a journal cover as 3D art, supported underneath by 3D pop-up glue dots. 

My only caution is that, despite it being a mineral, its splitting quality sometimes makes it a little fragile around the edges of each piece.  The more the sheets are split apart, the more fragile they become.  When they first arrive, they are thickly layered, with barely any fragility.  But I end up splitting my tiles, to make them more translucent.  And to get more bang for my buck!

Stencil-printed mica really makes a statement when used as "dangle-art."  You can punch a hole in the top of stencil-printed mica to make dangle earrings, Christmas tree ornaments and wire-linked charms for hanging in windows.    

Today I'm posting artwork made on mica with some of my stencils....



Above: Made with 9"x 12" stencil Clustered Leaves

Above: Made with 9"x 12" Clustered Leaves and 9"x 12" Loopy Ladders.

Above: Made with  Clustered Leaves

Above center:  Loopy Ladders stencil used on a piece of reflective mica

Above:  one leaf printed with the stencil Clustered Leaves (notice the translucency of the mica which lets you see part of the foil background)

Above:  one leaf from Clustered Leaves (notice the translucency of the mica which lets you see part of the background, which was created with a combination of Clustered Leaves and Loopy Ladders.)

I'm not a scrapbooker -- so, instead of showing images in a scrapbook below, I've substituted three digital art prints that I made several years ago.  On each of these three images I've used the same sheet of transparent mica, trimmed around the edges with metallic acrylic paint thru parts of my Loopy Ladders stencil.  This is to show how a piece of mica -- with its edges stencil-printed -- can be used as a frame-accent for any area of your art that you want to highlight:

Above:  Altho this is a digital art print, I used the same silhouette in designing my 6" x 6" stencil Heron.  You can click on the above image to enlarge it and better see details.

Today's featured stencils look like this:

Loopy Ladders (9"x 12")

Clustered Leaves (9"x 12")

Thanks for visiting!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.