A Video by Jessica Sporn, one of my talented fellow designers at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products...

Gingko Leaves Box with Jessica Sporn 

and a link to a post in her blog that corresponds to the video:

http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com/2013/10/blog-hop-cecilia-swattons-stencils.html.

I would like to thank Jessica very much for having chosen one of my stencils for this video-taped art project, and for showing it off so well in creating that beautiful memento hinged-lid box.  The Gingko stencil measures 6"X6" and can be found here:

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

 

New Stencils Coming Soon at StencilGirlProducts.com!

I'm excited at knowing new prototypes are in the mail, making their way here to NJ from StencilGirlProducts headquarters in MO.  Upon their arrival, I will see in the flesh (or more accurately, in the plastic) what some of my newest stencils will look like.  Shortly thereafter, they will appear on the SGP website.  And they will be announced here on my blog.

In the meantime I've played with some Liquitex spray paint and my Gingko stencil ...

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-6x6/view/677

... to make a greeting card cover.  Before spraying with the acrylic paint, I masked off part of the stencil's overall design using scrap paper and masking tape.  Masking tape also anchored the stencil onto the blank greeting card cover (the card is made from 140-lb. watercolor paper.)  After the paint dried, I used a glue stick to add two strips of textured wallpaper that I had previously used as "catcher paper" for leftover paints (colors that I had mixed while doing my abstract paintings.)

 

Stencil Quartet with the Magic of Photoshop

 

In my August 4 post above, I mention my 6"X6" Gingko stencil, available at StencilGirlProducts.com...

 

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-6x6/view/677

 

...and today I want to show another way I've used this stencil. 

 

It started with my doing some stencil-and-stain prints (this technique is described in an older post), followed by the afterward-discovery that an interesting, grainy stain (from acrylic paint) had been left on my stencil.

 

I decided to scan the stencil and its stain.  Then I experimented with Photoshop filters (mostly Hue/Saturation) to come up with the above quartet.  They will be printed and used on greeting card covers, or possibly as elements in a large collage.

 

Happy Announcement -- I'm Designing for StencilGirlProducts.com

The stencil that I used to make this greeting card cover is one of a brand-new collection of stencils that I have designed for StencilGirl --

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/new-stencils
-- and although only two of my stencils are currently on display at the StencilGirl website, more will be appearing soon.

To make this greeting card cover, I used masking tape to secure the stencil to the card; then, with a plastic knife, I spread an even layer of super-heavy white gesso across the stencil.  I removed the stencil (and immediately placed it in a basin of water to keep the gesso from hardening on the stencil.  Be nice to your stencils, and they will be nice to you!)  After the gesso hardened, I went over it with several successive layers of acrylic paint, rubbing off some of each color as I went.  I brushed white liquid gesso around the edges after all the paint had dried.  I then painted the gingko leaves with gold metallic paint.  After cleaning the stencil with a soft old toothbrush and patting it dry between paper towels, I placed it over a piece of foreign newsprint which had previously been painted green.  I traced the left side of the largest gingko leaf, then cut it out and collaged it onto the leftmost leaf.

This will be one of the techniques I will be demonstrating at my demo at the Monmouth Festival of the Arts, April 15.  I'm so thankful to my friend Mary Ann, who has generously offered to help give the demo.

For more techniques using stencils, come September, check Amazon.com for the new book by Mary Beth Shaw.  Its working title is StencilGirl but should this change, search Amazon using her name.
 

StencilGirlProducts.com -- Home of My New Stencils and Much More!

Gingko is the name of the above stencil, available at StencilGirlProducts.com 

Marbles is the title of the above stencil, available at StencilGirlProducts.com

Links is the title of the above stencil, available at StencilGirlProducts.com

Flowers V 1 is the title of the above stencil, available at StencilGirlProducts.com

 

 

StencilGirlProducts.com -- Home of My New Stencils and Much More!

Turning One of my Favorite Designs into a Stencil -- Then Using It

I love the shape of gingko leaves so much that my husband bought a gingko to plant in our back yard.  Ever since, I've used its pressed golden leaves in collages, greeting cards, altered arts and lots more.  Back when I was designing art rubber stamps, I may even have used gingko leaves in designing one of those.  As soon as I decided to try out for a position with StencilGirl as one of their stencil designers, I chose ginkgo as one of my earliest patterns.

I scanned some of my favorite pressed, dried gingko leaves at 300 dpi and used Photoshop to reduce them to silhouettes.  Then began the cosmetic work -- a few years ago, when she introduced me to the designing of digital clipart, good friend Cindy Powell taught me that it's necessary to greatly magnify every image to rid it of all "stray pixels" and less-than-perfect edges. 

After cosmetics, the next step was to teach myself how to design stencils.  In no way was I good at it right off the bat, but I began to "think stencil" and in so doing, added "bridges" throughout every area of the newly created pattern.

The irony of what I was doing was with me every moment.  I, a stencil designer?  Why, I had seldom wanted to use stencils!   I associated them with the generation of women who happily created borders of flowers or kittens or the like, along the tops of their walls and the edges of their furniture.  The few times I had actually forced myself to approach stencil-use, I had frustrating results -- the paint wanted to leak every which way, making a mess.  And finally, as my interest in fine arts deepened, I asked,  "Why would I want to use a commercially available stencil?  I would only end up with art that was not entirely my own original work.  Besides, what's the point of just repeating what a thousand other people are doing, since everyone can get the same stencil?"

Well -- as has happened often before -- a day came when I had to eat my words.  I experimented to learn the right kind of paints and other media to use with stencils, for starters; but much more satisfying than that, I taught myself ways to use them that were original and unique to me.

Then came the moment when I asked,  "Since I love creating non-representational abstract artwork, where can I get stencils that will lend themselves to use in this direction?"  Not at my local A C Moore or Michaels, that was sadly for sure.  Thus was born the idea to start designing my own ...

While designing a collection of abstract patterns, I started to wonder whether any stencil-making company would like them.  Alongside that idea came the thought that I should create a portfolio that included not only the way-out-there abstracts, but also a collection of traditional stencil images --  so out trotted my gingko, ivy and a number of my other pressed and dried once-green treasures.

I hadn't really expected to use the gingko stencil much, myself.

Wrong, again!

Delighted to be included among the StencilGirl designers, and to receive my first batches of stencils made from my own designs, I had to play with everything!  Starting with gingko ...

...and one of my earliest experiments was to spread gloss gel medium through the stencil; then, while the gel was still wet, I sprinkled it with colored sand.  I chose to sprinkle a heavy layer of sand onto part of the pattern and a lighter amount on another part.

I was careful to immediately immerse my stencil into a basin of water until I could give it a gentle cleansing -- telling myself,  "Be nice to your stencils, and they will be nice to you!"

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/search-stencils-by-artist
is where you can find this stencil and lots more! 

How many ways are there to use a stencil?



Using my StencilGirlProducts Gingko Stencil ...

Here is another greeting card cover made with the ginkgo stencil that I designed for StencilGirl -- and this one was put together in way less time.  I masking-taped the stencil to my work surface, then placed foreign newsprint over the stencil.  Next, I peeled the paper wrapper off an oil pastel crayon.  Holding the newsprint in place with one hand, I used the oil pastel -- on its side -- to make a rubbing of part of the gingko pattern.  I then cut it out and glued it to a background paper which had been created long ago as a "paint catch-all" paper during one of my painting sessions.  Quick and fun!

 

How many ways are there to use a stencil?  Find out in September when Mary Beth Shaw (the StencilGirl herself) will show up once again at Amazon.com, this time with a brand-new book that explores lots of answers to this question!  The book's working title is StencilGirl ... but if that should happen to change, you can still locate her new book, come September, by doing a book search at Amazon.com using Mary Beth Shaw's name.