StencilGirl: Mixed Media Techniques for Making and Using Stencils -- and Other Learning Opportunities

I had barely started to read Mary Beth Shaw's brand-new book --

StencilGirl: Mixed Media Techniques for Using Stencils

-- when I learned a wonderful new trick:

 

Here you see the first step in a new project:  I have brushed matte medium gel across an 18"X24" gallery-wrap canvas and applied two sheets of tissue paper which, if I remember correctly, were dollar store purchases. 

 

Now for anyone who has ever tried to handle large sheets of collage paper -- if it happens to be tissue paper to boot -- you are already wincing because you know how difficult this is.  Yes, I know the technique:  Press down in the center of the paper first, then spread outward from there; use a resist-material cover sheet of freezer paper with a wide brayer to remove wrinkles.  Okay, but that is NOT all there is to it -- am I right, fellow collage artists out there? 

 

Mary Beth Shaw's new book arrived just in the nick of time.  (But I wish I had ordered it from her, at the above link, instead of pre-ordering from Amazon.  Ordering from STENCILGIRL(TM) gets you a free stencil -- and it's a really good one that I wish I had!)  Anyway, page 24 informs me that this large-sheet collage process becomes much easier when the paper is first lightly misted, with a water-filled mister bottle, on both sides; this allows the paper to stretch before its touchdown onto the matte gel brushed across the canvas.  Oh what a difference! 

 

I did a happy dance which so impressed my office manager that she yawned and looked the other way...

 

After the collaged tissue papers had thoroughly dried (no longer feeling cool to the touch), I used masking tape to add three STENCILGIRL(TM) stencils.  More about this in my next post. 

 

Meanwhile, in doing this step, I learned another lesson.  I found another reason to be glad that I store my stencils in plastic protector-pockets in 3-ring looseleaf notebooks.  (My 6"X6" stencils are in a regular-size looseleaf notebook and my 9"X12" stencils are kept in a scrapbooker's jumbo-sized notebook.)  When I slid my 9"X12" stencils out of their plastic pages, static electricity clung to the stencils -- then the stencils clung to my collaged canvas.  Altho I went ahead with using the masking tape, as noted above, there was really no need; this was simply a precaution.

 

This is less important for artists who work on flat surfaces.  But I work on a vertical surface, an easel holding up whatever project is at hand.  Therefore I had been automatically using the masking tape to hold my stencils in place, safe from the tug of gravity.  I will still do so when I plan to use a stencil brush for applying paint thru the stencils.  But this time around, since my plan is to use a Pat Dews mouth atomizer  (Cheap Joe's Art Supplies) to apply ink through the stencils, the static electricity is all that is actually needed.  It works as well as temporary stencil adhesive -- but without the follow-up need for adhesive removal.

 

  

Stencil Updates from Here and There

Last week's stencil demo at the Monmouth Festival of the Arts went very well.  My friend Mary Ann co-demonstrated with me, and I was especially delighted with her idea of making a rubber stamp-style printing plate, using the 9"X12" Jugs stencil that I designed for www.StencilGirlProducts.com.  I will be posting photos when they are available.  (Mary Ann had to go straight from our demo to preparing for the Allaire Flea Market, held yesterday.)

Already available for pre-order at www.Amazon.com, Mary Beth Shaw's   book StencilGirl is stuffed with even more ideas.  I've placed my pre-order and look forward to receiving it this fall.

I just ran across a delightful blog --
http://jessicasporn.blogspot.com/2012/12/test-driving-hebrew-calligraphy-stencil.html
-- abrim with even more stencil-using ideas; its author is a fellow designer for StencilGirlProducts.  IMPORTANT NOTE:  The author's name is Jessica Sporn.  Please don't get the idea that her blog title refers to anything other than her name!!!  (Blush.)

Stencil News

Available now for pre-order at Amazon --

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1440330174/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1440330174&linkCode=as2&tag=thealtpag-20

While waiting to receive that all-stencil book by Mary Beth Shaw -- well worth the wait; to my knowledge, there is no other book out there focusing exclusively on the variety of ways to use stencils -- you may want to check out page 133 in another book, Mixed Media Revolution, by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson:  Here, in the write-up Embrace Me, find a technique for stenciling a flexible substrate which then can be shaped to fit a vase or any similar 3D object.  In other projects shown in this book, the authors have explored using crackle medium with stencils ... including a brilliant idea for scanning the dried, paint-stained crackle designs, and printing them out for use as collage pieces.  http://www.amazon.com/Mixed-Media-Revolution-Creative-Reusing/dp/1440318719

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.