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:
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:
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
My blog is: www.mikaarts.com/wordpress
You can also find me on Facebook, Pinterest and Etsy
Email: Laurie(at)mikaarts(dot)com
wow, wow, wow and wow! Laurie, this is really gorgeous. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marybeth for the opportunity to play with some of your fabulous stencils.
DeleteI have just fallen off of my chair. This is so stunning. Thank you for sharing all the step out photos. xx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Laurie! Love the step by step instructions!
ReplyDeleteLove 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!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!
ReplyDeleteFor the love of Polymer Clay.. this is just gorgeous. I love using the clay to emboss.
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous!
ReplyDelete