VINTAGE SCRIPT in the Hands of Melissa Johnson

Melissa Johnson has had a fascinating tutorial on the StencilGirl StencilTalk blog; please check it out --- http://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2018/02/guest-designer-melissa-johnson.html

Melissa has stepped out-of-the-box to showcase how stencils can be used in 3-dimensional artwork, encouraging all of us to let our art-journal pages become springboards out into the bigger world all around us.

Among other StencilGirl stencils, Melissa chose to use one of mine, Vintage Script, measuring 9" x 12".

Below are two photos that show her finished artwork, back and front. (But don't forget to check out her full tutorial, with step-by-step photos, at the link above.) 

Above:  Melissa's artwork from the back.  Please click on this image to enlarge it.  My 9"x 12" stencil Vintage Script has been used in black across the middle of this piece; it has also been used with white paint on the upper right.

   

Above:  Melissa Johnson has used Vintage Script stencil in the upper left and lower right.

Vintage Script stencil itself looks like this:

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To see my full line of StencilGirl stencils, please visit here.

Jill McDowell with 6" x 6" OSPREY WINGS & HERON Stencils

Older artwork by StencilClub member Jill McDowell has just recently come to my attention, and I'm delighted to share it here, albeit belatedly!

In developing the piece below, Jill has used my 6" x 6"  stencils Heron and (in the far upper right) Osprey Wings.

These stencils themselves look like this --

Heron

Osprey Wings

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To scroll thru the pages of all my StencilGirl stencils, please start on this page.

3D Stenciling ... and More!

Collected in my files are a few photos of art made with stencils not highlighted here in a while ...

First in line, below, is a greeting card cover created with my 6" x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves.  I used light molding paste, spreading it thru the stencil openings with a credit card.  After the paste had dried, I used a sponge brayer to add a light coating of white paint across both the raised figure and its background.  

For step-by-step photos of this technique, with directions, check here.  

(Note:  I clean stencils immediately after I've used molding paste or any other thick, three-dimensional medium.) 

Second in line today is a collage -- shown below -- created on stretched canvas.  I used several 6" x 6" stencils (better seen when you click on the image below to enlarge it)--

Upper left (green and blue background):  Ski Lift Works

Upper right (green and blue background):  Ornamental Iron Curls

Lower left (green and blue background):  Pavilion Shadows 

Lower right (green and blue background):  Swatton Grid Stencil

Aqua and orange-red collage papers:   Swatton Grid Stencil and Ornamental Iron Curls.

Last in line, in today's post, is a greeting card cover with three collaged pieces.  The top piece was made with my 6" x 6" stencil Cats as well as another 6" x 6" stencil of mine, Tiger Lily ....

Cats

 Tiger Lily

To scroll thru the pages of all my StencilGirl stencils, please start on this page.

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Lisa Dobry and QUEEN ANNE'S LACE Stencil

Artist Lisa Dobry used my 9" x 12" stencil Queen Anne's Lace in creating part of the background in her art below --

-- and Lisa has my hearty thanks for granting permission to re-post the artwork here in my blog.

During the summer a few years ago, I used the same stencil to make this sun-print ...

It wasn't a perfect print but I liked it anyway!  

The Queen Anne's Lace (9" x 12") stencil itself looks like this ...

Thank you for taking time to stop here today!

To see the multiple pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please visit here.

CLUSTERED LEAVES Stencil (9" x 12") Used in Three Fabulous Artworks

Clustered Leaves, a 9" x 12" stencil that I've designed, has found its way into the talented hands of three artists I feature in today's post.  In these artworks, other StencilGirl stencils were also used; they can be found here.

The artwork above is a two-page journal spread by UK artist Frieda Oxenham.  I'm dazzled by the combination of images suggesting, to me, that Frieda may have developed this idea during one of her walks in the scenic countryside near her home!

Today's second image, below, is an eye-catching encaustic work by Mary Marley.

The third artwork I'm featuring today comes from artist Amy Shawley Paquette --

I strongly encourage you to check out this link to follow Amy through the steps she has taken in creating the artworks above.  Well worth your time!

The Clustered Leaves stencil itself looks like this--

My sincere thanks to the three artists who chose Clustered Leaves Stencil (9" x 12") as tools in creating their masterpieces!

Note:  A more in-depth post featuring this artwork by Amy Shawley Paquette will be appearing in a future post here on my blog.

Thanks also to you, for visiting my blog today!

To see all my StencilGirl stencils, please visit here.

HERON and FERNS Stencils in Art by Jill McDowell

Back in October I posted about Mary Beth Shaw's write-up in the July/August 2017 Somerset Studio magazine.  Its focus was the use of silhouette stencils with patterned stencils.

Following Mary Beth's directions, another artist -- Jill McDowell -- came up with this:

The silhouette stencil in this case is my 6" x 6" stencil Heron.  

Mary Beth's technique, used by Jill McDowell, is quick and easy:  

(1) Secure the substrate to the work area with masking tape; 

(2) use the same tape to layer the silhouette stencil atop the substrate.  (In the magazine article, Mary Beth had also used my Heron stencil for one of her projects.) 

(3) Add a layer of acrylic paint over the stencil that's fastened to the substrate below. 

(4) After that paint dries, add a top layer -- one or more stencils with densely figured patterns; use masking tape to hold them down, for best results.

(5) Using a different color acrylic paint, go over this two-stencil "sandwich."

Lift off all stencils and you're done.

Brick Factory, by Daniella Woolf, is the stencil Jill chose for creating the domino-like pattern inside these two Heron prints.  

On the top and bottom edges of this work, Jill used another 6" x 6" stencil of mine -- Ferns.

My thanks to Jill for allowing me to use her artwork here... and my thanks to you for stopping by today!

I'm happy to say that I've designed 70 stencils for StencilGirl.  The multiple pages of my stencils start here.

Jumbo-Sized Rubber Stamps made with Stencils -- thanks to Mary Ann Russo

My friend Mary Ann Russo made a series of rubbing plates using my 9"X 12" stencils Vases and Twinship.  Rubbing plates are used for a paper-arts and fabric-arts technique that calls for placing a thin substrate over a 3-dimensional solid surface, then rubbing the top of the substrate with a soft medium (think crayon or soft graphite pencil or charcoal.)

However, rubbing plates are also rubber stamps -- jumbo in size!

Mary Ann's method called for cutting matboard (extra-sturdy cardboard) into rectangles slightly larger than the stencils and coating them  with water-thinned gel medium on both sides as well as all edges.  Coating with water-thinned gel medium is an optional step that Mary Ann took because she wanted the rubbing plates to be washable.

After the gel medium had dried, Mary Ann masking-taped the stencils in  place on the coated matboards and used a spreading tool to apply a mix  of molding paste and acrylic paint thru the openings of the stencils.  (Acrylic paint was added to the molding paste to make the resulting 3-D patterns easier to see.  When doing this yourself, there is no need to add paint.)

The photo above shows my 9"X 12" stencil  Twinship as Mary Ann places it onto the rectangle of pre-coated matboard.  Her next step will be to secure the stencil to the matboard with masking tape.

Above, Mary Ann is placing the mix of molding paste and acrylic paint onto the stencil, which rests on the matboard.  By clicking on this photo to enlarge it, you can see that she had secured the stencil to the matboard with blue masking tape.  The tape also holds the matboard in place on her working surface.

Above, Mary Ann uses an old spoon to spread the mixture thru the openings on the stencil.  To get a more evenly spread surface -- needed when creating a rubber stamp -- Mary Ann would instead use a spreading tool like the one shown above in the lower right corner of the photo above.

As soon as this step is finished, she lifts off the stencil --

-- and places the stencil to soak in a water-filled basin.  The stencil will be thoroughly cleaned to remove all the residue yellow mixture.

In the series of photos below, I'm showing another rubbing/printing plate made by Mary Ann.  This time, she used my 9"X 12" stencil Vases.

The difference between this plate and the one made with my Twinship stencil is that Mary Ann added one more step at the very end.  She covered the surface with two coats of a rubberizing spray to make it completely waterproof.  This is an important addition if your goal is to create rubber stamps.

Household fix-it-yourself types are probably familiar with Napa Performix Plasti Dip spray.  Created to provide a non-slip, comfortable grip on tools and to provide protection against electrical shock and heat, it's available at AmazonSmile.com and some hardware stores.

Originally, this spray came in red -- the color used in this project -- and now comes in black, clear and gray-translucent.  The spray is to be used outdoors and its first coat must be allowed to dry before the second coat is added.  

The finished plate can be used to make impressions on a paint-coated Gelli Plate, for pulling prints on paper or fabric. 

The plate can be used in two other ways -- (1) with a Shiva stick and fabric, to make rubbings; (2) with acrylic paints, to make prints. 
When used with acrylics to make prints, it's actually a rubber stamp -- jumbo-sized! 

The following photos focus on the the last use, making prints with acrylic paints:

Above:  The work surface has been covered with freezer paper, shiny side up.  To the right of the plate are a rubber brayer and a dollop of heavy-body acrylic paint. 

Above:  I've rolled paint out across the freezer paper, rolling back and forth until the paint reached a tacky stage.

Above:  I've rolled the paint-loaded brayer across the plate.

Above:  my first print.

After coating the plate with this paint, I pressed papers (one at a time) over the plate, using both hands across the whole surface, to make sure all of the paper made contact with the plate.  Then I pulled the prints shown above and below.  This can be thought of as reverse rubber stamping because the jumbo-sized "rubber stamp" lies flat on the work surface while the paper (or fabric) is pressed down onto the surface.

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Fellow Stencil Designer Karen P. Johnson Honoring My Blog with her Art Today!

Today's featured stencil is my 9" x 12" Vintage Script. . .

I used this stencil when developing the collage below --

And artist Karen P. Johnson has delighted me by including this stencil in her stencil-tool-box when she created the two-page art journal spread below:

Karen and I ended up using the same basic color schemes.  Great minds think alike! 

Also included in Karen's StencilGirl.com collection is the StencilClub's June 2015 Stencil-of-the-Month 3-piece set, which I had the honor to design.  She used that -- along with other StencilGirl stencils -- in making the gorgeous two-page spread below.....

Be sure to visit Karen P. Johnson  to see her line of stencils!

To check out StencilClub, please go here. 

And to see the pages showing my full line of stencils, check here.

Thank you for taking time to come here today!

Easter Greeting Cards and More

My StencilGirl stencils include two that feature feathers -- one is 9" x 12" and the other is 6" x 6".  It's the smaller one that I'm featuring in today's post.  

Some time ago, at an estate sale, I had bought a collection of pre-1929 encyclopedias.  For the first segment in today's project, I decided to take out a page with an illustrated bird in one of the background illustrations.

The traditional sponge-daubing technique would have worked for this project; likewise, a Gelli Plate could have been used.

But I chose the method easiest for me -- loading a sponge brayer with a heavy-body acrylic paint and running the brayer over the stencil (while holding the stencil in place with my other hand.)
  

The print above is part of a series that emerged from the idea of using these old papers with theme-related stencils -- using this as a first step in creating collage papers for art journal pages.  After these prepared papers (used whole, or torn into pieces) are collaged into journal pages, more artwork is layered over them.

Following along in the same path, I decided that some of this year's Easter greeting cards could be made the same way...

After making these prints on floral-themed papers, I cut them out and collaged them onto the covers of 6" x 6" blank greeting cards (JAMPaper.com)

Stencils highlighted today include:

Feathers 6 Stencil (6" x 6")

Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet (6" x 6")

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To check out the multiple pages of my other stencils for StencilGirl, please visit here.  

Easter Greeting Card made with BUDS Stencil

 I used the 9" x 12" stencil Buds to make a full-page print; my substrate was a sheet of "catch-all" painted paper...

... then, I cut out part of the print, using Fiskars decorative-edge scissors, and used it in a collage on the cover of this Easter card --

"Catch-all" paper is what I call sheets of newsprint that I use for removing excess acrylic paint from my brush, before placing the brush into water.  This minimizes the amount of acrylic paint that ends up being washed down the drain...which is bad for the environment.

I save my "catch-all" papers for use as backgrounds, as today's post shows.

Buds stencil, in its entirety, looks like this--

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6" x 6" Stencil BAMBOO WALL (and 6" x 6" TRIVET C)

One of my pet-favorite stencils is 6" x 6" Bamboo Wall.  It's one of the stencils in my Asian series, which includes Tiger Lily, Bamboo Wall Stencil, Bonsai Tree Stencil, Two Fans Stencil and Ginkgo 6 Stencil.

Bamboo Wall was based on an ink drawing that I did, using a Chinese calligraphic brush.  

Below are some prints I made with my sponge brayer, loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint:

Above:  I used the brayer with brown paint to make the lower print.  Then I flipped the still-wet stencil over and pressed it to the old map right above the first print -- using the "inked" stencil as if it were a rubber stamp.

 

Above:  This print was created with Bamboo Wall, over an earlier print that I'd made with another 6" x 6" stencil, Trivet C.

Trivet C stencil, by itself, looks like this:

Above:  This is an example of how I load a sponge brayer with heavy-body acrylic paint.  For me, this method works better than a pouncing tool.  But it did take me some time to learn the right "touch" -- to add just enough paint thru the stencil, and to avoid adding too much.  

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 The multiple pages of my StencilGirl stencils start here.

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