Ghost Resist with Stencils by Tammy Tutterow of StencilGirl's Creative Team

When you are creating, do you find yourself wondering "what if?"  For example, I love creating mixed media projects on fabric and I also love using clear embossing powder to create resists.  A few days ago I was thinking about both and found myself wondering "what if?".  What if I did clear embossing on fabric, would I get a resist?  Why not try it and find out?  You might get what you hoped for or you might find something totally different!

For my project, I am working on one of my fabric art banners but you could work on any fabric surface.  You could also work on paper but the finished effect will be different.  Place the stencil on your surface as desired.  (Stencil shown- L301 Circles Circles by Traci Bautista.)

Ink a script background stamp (I am using my Dear Ruby stamp from Spellbinders).  I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.  It is water reactive and run when I add water in an upcoming step.  If you would like the script to remain crisp, use a waterproof in and dry before moving on.  Stamp your surface with the stencil in place so that it acts as a mask.

Flip the stencil over so that the side that you stamped is face down on your work surface.  Ink the back side of the stencil generously with a clear embossing ink.  (I used Ranger's Emboss It Dabber which is embossing ink and a bottle with a dabber top.  I felt it allowed my to apply more embossing ink that I could with a pad.)

Flip the stencil over and place it embossing ink side down onto your surface, matching up the stencil with the stamping.

Press over the stencil with a dry cloth to transfer the embossing ink onto your surface.

Sprinkle clear embossing powder over the fabric.  You will have extra powder that will stick to the surface.  Flick the back with your finger to knock off the excess.  After a few flicks, you should see the powder in your stencil patter.

Use a heat tool to melt the powder well.  It will get shiny as it melts like it would on paper and then will almost disappear.  Keep your heat tool moving so that you do not scorch the paper.  I found it helpful to heat it, let it cool, and heat it again.  Keep going until you melt any areas that look or feel gritty.

Mist the fabric surface with water.  Adding water first will help spray inks blend better.  When missing with water, you don't need to soak the fabric, just add enough water randomly to the surface to make it lightly moist.

If you used a water reactive ink like Distress for your stamping, you will see that it will run.  I like the look of that because if feels very vintage to me.  

Spray the surface lightly with assorted colors of spray ink.  I used Distress Spray Stain in Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean, and Broken China.

Allow the ink to set for a moment and then blot with a clean dry cloth.

The longer the spray ink sets on the surface the more it will soak in.  The amount of time it soaks in affects its intensity.  Since this is only the first layer of color, I wanted to keep it pretty light so I blotted it pretty quickly.

Dry the surface with a heat tool.  The embossing powder may melt and soak in more.  I noticed that as it melted again in created some interesting white dots.

Use an ink blending tool to apply Distress Ink (shown-Broken China and Peacock Feathers) around the outer areas of your surface.  The resist will start appearing with the application of the ink.

Place the stencil back on your surface.  You will be matching the stencil with the resist lines.  When matched up, you should not see the resist.  Use an ink blending tool to apply more color.  This color will be in the non-resist areas.  I added color mostly along the outer edges and left the center alone.

I also used some Gathered Twigs (brown) Distress Ink  with the stencil in place to really help deepen some of the outer edges.

Add more random stamping with a script stamp using the same ink as the first stamping.  You will now have some stamping that looks like it is behind the circles and some (the crisp new stamping) on the front.  It is a great way to add depth!

To anchor the embellishments and play off of the circle them, die cut a circle (StencilGirl Artist Seth Apter's Spellbinders S3-238 Triplex) from medium weight plain cardstock.  Brush the surface with your ink blending tools, using the ink already in the foams.  (I used blue and brown.)

Ink the die cut with clear embossing ink.  Sprinkle Clear embossing powder over the die cut.

Use a heat tool to melt the embossing powder.

Adhere the die cut the surface.  Layer fabric flowers and leaves (my Pinwheel Posies and Pom Pom Posies Die), a ribbon bow, vintage buttons, and a Frayed Tabs with a sentiment.

Are you interested in learning how to make fabric flowers like these?  Check out the tutorials on my blog: Tammy Tutterow Fabric Flowers.

The fun thing about asking "what if" is that you just never know what you might get- it could be what you imagined, a craft fail, or a new discovery.  You won't know until you try!  On this project I wanted to try embossing powder on fabric.  I found that the powder really sunk into the fabric and didn't create the sharp resist I imagined.  But I did get a resist and I think it might be even better than I what I was hoping for.  It is so subtle and batik-like.  I thought it was kind of ghosty, clear and cloudy, soft and fading in and out.  And that, I am going to consider a new discovery!

Tammy

www.tammytutterow.com

Supplies:

• Stencil: L301 Circles Circles by Traci Bautista
• Stamp: Tammy Tutterow Spellbinders Dear Ruby
• Dies: Seth Apter Spellbinders- Spellbinders S3-238 Triplex; Tammy Tutterow Spellbinders- Pinwheel Posies, Pom Pom Posies, Frayed Tabs
• Surface: fabric art banner
• Embossing: Ranger Ink Clear Emboss-It Dabber; clear embossing powder
• Distress Ink: Gathered Twigs, Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, Peacock Feathers
• Distress Spray Stain: Salty Ocean, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers
• Embellishments: Fabric Flowers; Tim Holtz Small Talk; vintage buttons; stick pin
• Adhesive: Therm O Web Mixed Media Adhesive
• Tools: Ranger Ink Non-stick Craft Sheet, Ink Blending tool, Distress Sprayer; Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; embossing heat tool 

Scrapbooking with DIY Background Paper!

Hello! Gigi is here to show you a new project using another fantastic StencilGirl stencil.

Today I would like to share with you a fun Irish summertime scrapbook page.

I hope you’ll create a page with me. The process is very easy and exciting. So let’s start!

Stencil I used: Traci Bautista’s Love Collage Stencil

1.                 I planned I would do a custom made background paper again with mixed-media technique. So, first I permanently fixed the paper with washi tape onto my desk. You can use Scotch tape or masking tape as well. But it is very important to secure your paper all along of its four edges when you are decorating your paper with mixed media technique. If you do this way, despite of the moisture of the medium you put on during the creative process, when the layers dried completely, your paper will be plain again.

2.                  At the first step, with a quick whipping motion I was splattering 6 shades of drawing ink onto the paper. I imagined that I would achieve some kind of rainbow, so I made the ink splatters forming a diagonal shape.

3.                  For the second layer I covered almost the whole surface with a light layer of white heavy gesso, using a plastic card. You know, I have found my “rainbow” was too bold, so I wish the colors would get a lighter shade.

4.                  Every mixed media project needs some texture, right? So I took the white crackle texture paste and Love Collage Stencil. I covered the pattern of the stencil with texture paste, then removed it. And place it to another area of the paper, covered it again with texture paste, and repeat it several times and let it dry.

5.                 After the previous layer dried and I got an exciting crackled surface I took the drawing inks again. After misting it with water, I painted the textured areas with the inks. Sometimes I let the inks flow down, sometimes I let them dry.

6.                 Then I wanted to color and characterize the flowers – which are my favorite parts in this stencil (after the dots!). Important: you may need a totally dry surface to make this step. I traced the contours of the dots and the flowers with multicolored pencils.

7.                Next I colored the edges of the paper with a light brown shade of Distress ink.

8.                 But, if you know my style, I love contrast, so I have changed my mind and using my fingertips I colored the edges of the paper with brown and black oil pastels.

9.                 Here you can see the finished background paper. Which, finally I have decorated with some white splatters. So my next DIY paper was ready to become the background paper of my next scrapbook page. Yay!

10.              You know, I love using custom made embellishments on my layouts, so I get the Love Collage Stencil again and made the flowers with dye ink pads. Cut them and recolored its surface with the same shade of Distress ink I used for the background paper.

Here you can see the finished project and some close-ups:

I have created this layout for my little sister as a present.

She lives in Ireland – pretty far from Hungary, where I live. These pictures are our favorites.

Hopefully this layout will remind her of a great time we had spent together in the summertime in Dublin in 2011. The journaling is in Hungarian and it says: So many times you are the rainbow for me after the rain. ♥

Hope you liked my project and will try these techniques in the future!

I am so glad I could share my tips with you, here on StencilGirl Talk.

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding this project.

You can contact me through my blog or on Facebook.

Hello, from Hungary,

Brigitta Budahazi aka Gigi :)

History and My Creative Process, a Guest Post by Andrew Borloz

Hi, I'm Andrew Borloz and have been a member of StencilGirl Products design team since April 2012. I've already written about my early experiences with stenciling in my blog. As mentioned in my blog on creativity, I promised that I would give some sort of history on the design work that I did for StencilGirl Products.
     Even though I have cut stencils before, the set of stencils that I hand-cut at Penland School of Crafts back in 2012 was a turning point in the creation of pattern-based stencils for Stencil Girl Products. At that time, I was thinking of stencil more as a tool for the creation of various patterns rather than reproducing the image once on any surface. 
     For example, the stencil below is more of a static pattern which does not allow me to create different patterns except that I will have to overlay the same image over the previous ones to create a different effect. 

I used the above stencil to create "decorative" paper for the inside of an accordion book: 

As shown in the photos above, I have rotated the hand-cut stencil to create a "different" look effect. 
The next hand cut stencil shows the turning point in my stencil design creation - using the stencil as a pattern making tool. 
     I used the grid on the cutting mat as a guide for determining the shapes. 

At first, it looks similar to an old eye exam where multiple images of capital E were printed in various sizes on the rows but actually they're rectangular bars joined together. I used gouache to stencil them and overlaid or rotated the same stencil, creating square-like images as I used several colors. Hence, the name, "Pseudo-Squares". 

The above process has resulted in the creation of Pseudo Squares stencil:

The 9" x 12" Pseudo Squares stencil pictured above is also available in a 6" x 6" S028!

The next technique that I sometimes used in the creation of my stencil is the repeating pattern technique often used for fabric pattern designs. Because I want to create decorative paper for use as endpaper for bookbinding (similar to the one printing/stenciling techniques used by the French printers: papier dominoté). 
     For the connection stencils, I carved a pattern on the linoleum plate so that I could block print them on the hand-made paper, and at the same time, I thought about creating stencils from them to make it quicker and easier to produce decorative paper.  The photo below shows how I used one of the stencils in creating this kind of pattern. 

I designed one of the stencils by printing the original on a paper, photocopied it, and then clean up the artwork by cutting it up and making sure the ends match. I then photographed it and upload the image to the photoediting software where I further cleaned it up and again made sure the ends match when repeated. 

The work that I did has resulted in four stencils - two large and two small. Shown below is one of them which is actually a negative of the above image.

The 9" x 12" Connection Open stencil has a large companion stencil, L017 Connection Full, 

After the stencils in two sizes were released to the public for purchase, I used it as a printing plate for the creation of another accordion book at a book arts center in upstate New York. 

The photo in above lower corner shows what's inside of the "envelope" - it was not stenciled, but letterpress printed. This is one of the projects that I used stencils for printing purposes - you can reproduce the similar effect using the gelatin printing technique. 
     Sometimes, I was inspired to create patterns using everyday objects. For example, I carved the lines on top of the pencil eraser and created these patterns by "stamping", uploading to the computer and digitally created the similar shapes. The top left corner of the photo below is the original one, the top right corner is where I duplicated the same images, and the bottom photo is where I come up with a cleaner and more abstract designs. 

The digitally created patterns above has inspired me to create two stencil designs as shown below:

Pictured left: 9" x 12" Crossed Rounds stencil 

     Pictured right: 9"x12" Crossed Rounds and Squares stencil

The above mylar StencilGirl stencils then enabled me to create a whole different set of patterns:

Last May of 2016, I decided to create corrugated cardboard frames using two stencils mentioned in this post - Pseudo-Squares and Crossed Rounds:

 

From reading and seeing how I was inspired to create various stencil designs, I hope you can appreciate the various processes that I used to create different designs that would allow you to create a whole set of new patterns for your projects. 


Blog: www.andrewborloz.blogspot.com 
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/urbanpaperarts