Thursday, December 18, 2014

StencilGirl Guest Designer Laurie Mika

Welcome to Guest Designer Laurie Mika!!!


When Mary Beth asked if I wanted to be in her book as a guest artist I jumped at the chance. I loved the idea of using stencils with polymer clay, but of course, I like anything mixed with polymer clay!!!  Stencils on clay is a match made in heaven! I had used stencils before but the opportunity to be in her book provided the catalyst for using them in different ways.

Recently when I was asked to do a “guest designer” blog post using a few of the StencilGirl stencils I immediately had an idea to create an Indian inspired mandala. I knew that it would be painted and embedded with little jewels and glass pieces. I also knew that I wanted a Hamsa or hand shape in the middle. I chose a few wonderful stencils that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on!

The first step was to roll out a slab of polymer clay to accommodate the Five Hamsas stencil:



Using a rolling pin, I rolled over the stencil with enough force to create an embossed look

After making sure that the stencil design was deep enough, I then cut out the hand shape using a clay scalpel:



Now the fun began with painting the clay! I mixed up a little pink acrylic paint and used my finger to apply it to the tops of the embossed clay which highlighted the design:


When the paint was dry, I began laying out the doodads onto the surface and glued them in  place with Weldbond glue: 

   

  Now I was ready to create the circular mandala that my Hamsa was going to sit on. I rolled out a larger slab of clay to accommodate large Rose Window  stencil: 


You can see the embossing in this picture:
  


Here are a few pictures of painting the mandala:


Now I embedded some glass mosaic tiles, beads and millefiori:


 Almost done! 
Here I have glued the hand onto the clay mandala and it is ready to go into the oven for about a half hour:


While the mandala was baking, I painted and then collaged a napkin onto a deep cradle birch panel:


For the edges of the panel board, I used a border stencil to create a design which adds to the overall East Indian look:


And voila, the final project with the mandala glued onto the background panel:







My website is: www.mikaarts.com
You can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest and Etsy
Email: Laurie(at)mikaarts(dot)com














8 comments:

  1. wow, wow, wow and wow! Laurie, this is really gorgeous. Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Marybeth for the opportunity to play with some of your fabulous stencils.

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  2. I have just fallen off of my chair. This is so stunning. Thank you for sharing all the step out photos. xx

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  3. Beautiful, Laurie! Love the step by step instructions!

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  4. Love this! You're inspiring me to get out my clay again... I haven't done anything since I took your class at Create in August and this has me drooling! Thank you for the great ideas!

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  5. For the love of Polymer Clay.. this is just gorgeous. I love using the clay to emboss.

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