HERON Earth Did I Forget Your Birthday?

That's the blurb I used on the cover of a greeting card, above a print that I made using my 6"X6" stencil Heron.
Below is a heron print made with an Ink Sweeper and Payne's Gray acrylic paint, upon a monoprint background.


Above:  a ghost print made immediately after the original print was made.

 

STENCILS ... plus ...

... red cardstock; paintbrush and silver acrylic paint; Ink Sweeper and heavy-body Payne's Gray acrylic paint ...

equals --

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Bonsai Tree was used.

Above:  the stencil used was my 6"X6" Heron.

Above:  I used my 6"X6" stencil Osprey Wings.

 

Bonsai Tree, the first of the three stencils used above, bears a 3-word Chinese message, so it is best used with the bonsai leaning to the right, as shown here.  But it's not limited to Asian-themed art -- it can also be used as a Christmas tree on a 6"X6" greeting card, with dots of bright glitter glue along its branches.

Heron, the 6"X6" stencil used in the middle image above, captures the grace of these majestic, bigger-than-life waterfowl.  It's been used to make greeting cards with the blurb "HERON earth did I forget your birthday?"

Osprey Wings, third of the three above-used stencils, evokes the splendor of these majestic seahawks that soar above sunlight-glittered waters. This stencil pairs beautifully with the Feathers stencils as well as other bird stencils here at www.stencilgirlproducts.com.

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

 

Is It Just Me?

Okay, I've already admitted I'm a heavy-handed artist.  But does anyone else agree that the little foam "mittens" that come with the Pan Pastel applicator will wear out before you're finished with even the very first usage?  I switched almost immediately to using a blending stick, a.k.a., blending stump (carried by Jerry's Artarama, Dick Blick Art Supplies, and many others) as well as the type of cotton swab that has one or both ends pointed (such as the Fran Wilson Makeup Eye-Tees.)  It's true, too, that foam-topped plastic makeup applicators can be found in some dollar stores -- but those proved as flimsy, for this purpose, as the one that came with the Pan Pastels. 

The top image above shows two greeting card covers cut from marbeled printmaking papers (first shown in their entirety in my posts of October 20, when I listed the steps to take in marbling paper previously stenciled with white modeling paste.)

Second in place is a close-up of a heron-cover greeting card.  This shows the effect achieved using the tools I've listed above, with Pan Pastels.

Back when the heron first emerged from the marbling bath, it resembled the heron in the similar print below:

Both herons were created via spreading white modeling paste across my 6"X6" Heron stencil, letting it dry, and dipping the printmaking paper into marbling solution.  And in both cases, the marbled background held so little contrast with the white heron that the resulting image was too subtle for my liking.  This is the reason that I have now outlined the uppermost heron in pink, using a wide-tipped Sharpie, before going in with Pan Pastels -- I wanted to create contrast to make the heron "pop."  

In the top photo you can see the white oil pastel crayon that I used to highlight areas of the heron.  If you click the heron to enlarge the image, you can see where the ridges of the dried modeling paste have formed texture that "caught" the white of the oil pastel crayon.

The right-side greeting card, in the top photo above, was created with the same modeling paste, applied thru my 9"X12" Steampunk stencil onto printmaking paper; after the paste dried, the paper was marbled.  (For full details describing that process, scroll down to click on OLDER POSTS, then scroll to the multiple posts dated October 20.)

The 6"X6" Heron stencil is available here:

 http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s175.htm

The 9"X12" Steampunk stencil is available here:

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l201.htm