Gingko and Bamboo Wall from my Asian series of Stencils

It was the gingko tree in my own backyard that inspired my 6"X6" stencil Gingko, and it's Jenn Mason at Cloth Paper Scissors magazine who teaches the inspired technique below.

I started with a page of old sheet-music that had previously been painted red (as a Gelli Plate print.)

Next, I used a sponge to cover the red paper with Pan Pastels (Yellow Ochre and Orange, blended together.)  Below is the pre-painted paper now coated with the pastels.

Having placed my 6"X6" stencil Gingko onto the paper, I held it in place with one hand, while using a pencil eraser to rub out the areas within the openings on the stencil.  Pan Pastel is easily erased this way.  It probably helped that when I had covered the original sheet-music with red acrylic paint, the paint had sealed the paper's surface.

Above:  The stencil -- stained with green and blue acrylics from a previous project, has been placed onto the paper and the eraser is ready to be used.

Above:  The eraser -- in the upper left corner -- has been used, and all the pastel inside the stencil's openings has been erased.

 After lifting off the stencil, I was rewarded with this:

Above:  This is a close-up of the same results.

To "fix" the pastel, so it wouldn't smear when touched, I used a squeegee to spread a thin layer of soft gel across the paper.  I learned this trick from Carolyn Dube, altho she has a slightly different approach and uses a Gelli Plate for getting the protective gel across the surface of paper treated with fragile media like Pan Pastel.

The gel did a great job of fixing the pastel.  And it slightly darkened the hue of the paper.

Once the protective gel had dried, I decided to highlight the ginkgo leaves with glitter pens --

My 6"X6" Gingko stencil is available here: 

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s076.htm

I decided to try another subtractive/reductive technique taught by Jenn Mason -- and started with a calendar page covered with acrylic paint.

 
Once the pink paint had dried, I added a fresh layer of contrasting color -- Primary Cyan by Golden.

While the fresh paint was still wet, I placed the my 6"X6" stencil Bamboo Wall into it.  Holding the stencil in place with one hand, I used a baby wipe to clean out the openings in the stencil's design.

After lifting the stencil, I quickly flipped it over and pressed it to the pink paper next to the area I had just used for the reductive technique.  This gave a "ghost print" that will eventually be used as a background in a future project.

Above:  The original print is on the left and the ghost print is on the right.

My 6"X6" stencil Bamboo Wall is one in a series of Asian stencils I've created for www.StencilGirlProducts.com.

Dimensional Fun

My 6"x6" Gingko stencil was taped to a pre-stretched canvas; the next step was to scrape across the stencil with modeling paste.  I removed the stencil and cleaned it right away.  After the modeling paste dried (which didn't take long since this was a thin layer) I painted over the three-dimensional image.  Later I may go over it with Pan Pastels or blending chalks or a dry brush technique to bring out the form more than it currently is.  Or I may decide to keep this subtle version.

This stencil is available here: http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s076.htm

Thanks for stopping by!

All that gleams ...

... may not be gold, but it could be pearl ... or pearlescent paper.

 













You may not be able to appreciate the glowing beauty resulting from this simple technique, till you try it yourself -- no photo, scan or video can  capture it as well as seeing it in person.  The gleam of this painted paper shows thru the translucent alcohol inks, and the inks themselves form mottled patterns.  The combination of the two is a treat for the eyes!

Supplies:  watercolor paper or other sturdy, smooth paper; Ranger alcohol inks; Ranger alcohol ink applicator; brush or brayer; pearlescent paint; masking tape; stencils

First step:  Use a substrate of hot-press (smooth to touch) 140-lb. watercolor paper.  Lacking that, you could try using heavyweight cardstock.

Brush or brayer on a layer of white pearlescent acrylic paint. I used Golden's but other brands are available.  Make sure the whole surface is evenly coated; this may require 2 coats, with dry-time between.

Click on the above image to enlarge it.

The gleam is more visible in the photo below...

After this dries, hold, or secure with making tape, stencils onto the substrate.  Then add just a few drops of alcohol inks to the ink applicator and do several test-prints on scratch paper to take out any excess of alcohol ink.  It's far better to have too little alcohol ink on the applicator, than to have too much, since the runny nature of this ink makes it tricky to use with stencils.  Ink wants to run under the edges of the stencil-cuts to create blurry images.  Use a light touch when daubing the inks thru the stencil openings.


Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Heron.

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Osprey Wings.

Above:  my brand new 9"X12" stencil Boxed Vines.

Below:  After the inks have been applied and the stencils have been lifted:

My first attempt at this resulted in "run-under" blurs like this:




 

 
But with a little practice, I learned the right amount of ink to use (very little)  -- and I learned two ways of dealing with run-unders.

(1.) They can be camouflaged:

Above:  I sprayed acrylic inks over the entire print to camouflage the run-under areas. 

Another example:

 

Above:  This print made from the stencil Osprey Wings had under-runs along the edges.

Above:  This is the same image after I sprayed it with acrylic inks.

Above:  the Pat Dews mouth atomizer and acrylic inks that I use with it to create sprays.  Another option would be to use Color Bloom Sprays or Ranger's Color Wash sprays.

 

(2.)  Run-unders can also be painted out:

Above:  my 6"X6" Gingko stencil was used to make this greeting card cover; I had two areas of run-under, which I later touched up with a small paintbrush dipped into the pearlescent paint.

 

More examples showing alcohol inks on pearlescent paper:

 

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Ferns was used to create this greeting card cover.

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Flowers Version 1 was used to create this greeting card cover.

 

 

Above:  My 9"X12" stencil Ivy Frame was used to create this greeting card cover.

All the above stencils, and many more, are available here at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products:

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1832.htm

 

Make a "Sandwich," Then Sand or Scrape

Anyone who missed Mary Beth Shaw's recent stencil-using webinar can still get all it had to offer, at this link --

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/events/stencil-girl-webinar

I had known about the sanding technique but hadn't tried it, till the webinar reminded me, with one of its three embedded how-to videos, the one on dry techniques:

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/events/stencil-girl-webinar

Below is a scan that shows two separate pieces, each with a tree-related theme--

 

In the lower left corner is part of a magazine page originally printed with bare trees.  Using Mary Beth's sanding technique shown in the above video, I created a "sandwich" that had my 6"X6" stencil Gingko as the bottom layer (held in place with masking tape.)  Over that I placed the magazine page, securing it, too, with masking tape.  The top "layer" was the sanding block (available at hardware and home supply stores) ... altho a plain sheet of sanding paper could be used, I prefer the block because it saves the fingers!  One quick sanding session resulted in the over-print of gingko leaves that you see above.

 

The larger, whitish background paper started life as a calendar page, a photo that originally contained a lot of dark green.  Under it, I placed a stencil as the bottom layer -- this time, my 12"X12" Mimosa stencil -- again, securing both the stencil and the paper to the work surface with masking tape.  As a last step, I used a credit card to scrape zinc white (also called "blending white") acrylic paint across the paper, moving with the same firm strokes as needed for the sanding technique.  It's important with the scraping technique to go over each area of the paper one time only.  That second swipe is tempting, at least for me, but it never improves the looks of the piece.

 

The sanded piece will be a greeting card cover but it could just as easily become part of a large collage or part of an art journal page.  The larger, whitish paper will be cut into smaller pieces to become gift tags, greeting card backgrounds, and collage components.

 

These 2 stencils can be found on my web pages at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products.com --

 

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1832.htm

 

Thanks for visiting!