Guest Designer Magdalena Muldoon

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Guest Designer

Magdalena Muldoon!

This time I want to show you how easy it is to emboss pewter using stencils. Pewter is by far the best metal for its malleability, softness and its real silver-like shine. 

1) Rub the metal against the stencil (Stepping Stone #2 designed by Terri Stegmiller) with a paper stump until you can clearly see the design. 

2) Outline every part of the design with the pointy part of the Teflon D-01 tool and flatten any bump on the metal with a paper stump. 

3) Place the suede under the metal and use the appropriate size of the Cup and Ball to emboss or push the metal. Work doing soft long strokes with the round tool to push the metal to the desired size. The suede is the soft surface that allows us to push the metal to the dimension we want. I used the Cup and Ball #4 for the leaves and small swirls and the Double Ball to emboss the big parts of the design such as the trunk of the palm tree and the big swirls. 

4) At the front (and without suede) outline the embossed metal with the Teflon D-01. Going around the embossed shapes with this tool gives them definition and a fine and finished look. Missing this important step will make the embossed areas look “unfinished”. 

5) Add a border with any Decorative Wheel. This is done also at the back of the metal and on the suede. I used the Big Wheel for the border. 

6 and 7) At the front of the metal (and now without the suede), add details such as lines with the Teflon D-01 or create a background with the Star Wheel. This cool effect is done by moving the wheel back and forth on the metal while you slowly turn the metal with your other hand. It may not work the 1st time you do it but with a bit of practice you will get great results. It is a fun texture that I use a lot to fill all sorts of background spaces. 

Fill the back of the embossed areas with MercArt’s Filling paste (not shown here) and let it dry. This liquid paste is really easy to apply, it levels itself and it dries really hard so the embossed areas will not be pushed down. 

8) Apply the Pewter Patina with a brush all over the front of the metal. The pewter will turn black. Let it stay there for about 2 minutes and then remove the excess with a paper towel. 

9) Apply some silver polishing paste to the metal. 

10) Polish the metal with a cotton cloth or towel until you get the desired shine. 

Products used: 

Stencil Girl Products Stepping Stone #2 stencil designed by Terri Stegmiller

MercArt’s Tin Coated Pewter

MercArt’s Basic Kit with 4 tools (Includes Teflon D-01, Cup and Ball #4 and Star Wheel) 

MercArt’s Double Ball  

MercArt’s Paper Stump #3 

MercArt’s Big Decorative Wheel  

MercArt’s suede

MercArt’s Filling Paste  

MercArt’s Pewter Patina 

Glass or acrylic (surface to work on) 

Magdalena's Website 

Magdalena's Blog

Facebook

StencilGirl Guest Designer Magdalena Muldoon

Hi, I'm Magdalena Muldoon. I am the owner of MercArt. MercArt was founded in 1970 in Mexico City by Magdalena Barrena (my mom).Since then, MercArt has been offering only the best quality products. In 2002 I moved to Texas with my husband and three daughters and I created MercArt USA, becoming the first company in the US to offer the best quality and most complete variety of tools and metals for Metal Embossing. We are commited to excellence, not only in our products, but also in our Craft.

I'm here today to show you how to 

emboss metal with stencils!

 First decide what to emboss: Place the aluminum (color up) over the stencil and over the acrylic IF you want the white part of the design to be embossed. IF you want the blank or empty parts of the design to be embossed, then place the stencil on the color side, and flip the metal to the back over the acrylic.

I am using two StencilGirl stencils today. Large Tribal hand and Small Segments.

Small Segments is the Deal of the Day at StencilGirl Products!

1. Rub the metal against the stencil with a paper stump until you can clearly see the design.

2. Outline every part of the design with the pointy part of the Teflon D-01 tool.

3. Flatten any bump on the metal with a paper stump.

4. For the background, place the metal over the stencil and rub with the paper stump to see the design.

5. Outline each line with the Teflon D-01 tool.

6. Remove the color off the embossed areas with a sanding block.

7. Use the thin Fiber Glass tool to remove the color from small or specific areas.It 

removes the color better than the sanding block. (Remember to clean any fiber glass  residue with a damp paper towel).

8. Add a border with any Decorative Wheel.  This is done at the back of the metal and on the suede.

9. Rub the metal with your choice of any Gilders Paste color to add several patinas and tones to the metal.

10.  At the back of the metal and over the suede, emboss assorted areas of the design with the Cup and Ball and the paper stump to create a bigger dimension and make the metal “puff”

11. Fill the embossed areas at the back with MercArt’s  “Filling Paste” and let it dry. This will prevent any embossed areas from being pushed down.

Here is another version with a slightly different color:

Where You Can Find Me

Website

Blog

Facebook

Products used:

StencilGirl Products Large Tribal Hand and Small Segments

MercArt’s green aluminum       

MercArt’s Teflon Tool D-01 

MercArt’s Cup and Ball #4 

MercArt’s Paper Stump #3   

MercArt’s Big Decorative Wheel   

MercArt’s suede   

MercArt’s Filling Paste    

MercArt’s Thin Fiber Glass Tool. 

Glass or acrylic (surface to work on)

Gilders Paste in assorted colors: Foundry Bronze, German Silver, African Bronze, and Copper.*

Sanding Block

Available Gilders Paste colors @ MercArt: Rich Gold, African Bronze, Copper, Iris Blue, Verdigris, Slate, Foundry Bronze, Sandalwood, Rust, Patina and German Silver

Stencils Meet Metal with Magdalena

Carolyn Dube here today! One of my favorite things about going to an event is being inspired by other artists.  While at Artiscape, I saw Magdalena Muldoon using StencilGirl stencils with metal.  

I was blown away by what she did with the Tribal Hand stencil!  She made it so simple to get exquisite results.        

 Circle Tile stencil created the pattern for this piece and I love that I could feel the design. It has such texture and dimension. Wish the computer screen would let you run your fingers over this!

Magdalena used Mid Century Modern and then added her own style to it by adding patterns.  This photo does not do it justice!  

What do you need to get started?  Magdalena has a great starter kit over on her website, MercArt.

Want to know more about working with metal? I know I do! Stay tuned because Magdalena will be here with a tutorial for you in the near future!