Fun with Stencils and Creative Paperclay®

Hi, everyone! Darlene Olivia McElroy here! I paint very thin so I like to add texture to my art with Creative Paperclay®. Combining it with stencils creates a raised look in the clay. This self drying clay has wonderful adhesive qualities and takes paint well.  After the clay has dried overnight a variety of finishes can be applied from metal leaf, verdigris to stains and washes. The clay can also be sanded, drilled into and applied on curved surfaces. Note: Works best on rigid surfaces.

Tip for coloring your clay:

I usually paint the paper clay after I have applied it to my surface. If you prefer working with colored clay, this is the cleanest way to color it.

Put the clay and acrylic paint into a sandwich bag, zip it up then squish it together until the paint and clay are mixed thoroughly.

When you are ready to apply it to your art, slightly dampen the surface before applying clay. Lay wax paper over clay and brayer flat.

Remove wax paper. At this point you can lay a stencil over clay and brayer the design into the clay. You now have created a raised stencil. The Deconstructed Zinnia is the stencil used here.

Surface Techniques - Before applying paint onto the dry clay, coat the clay with soft gel or polymer medium to seal the surface. A silver acrylic paint wash was applied to the stenciled clay.

An opaque yellow paint was applied with a sponge brush on the dry clay to pick up the high areas.

Metallic blue rub applied on purple painted clay.

These are just a few ideas to get you excited about the possibilities.

Emboss It

I like to create borders and horizon lines in my art with the clay. I start by taping off the area where I want the clay border to be. I wet this area slightly. I find this helps with adhesion.

After rolling the clay on the surface as shown before, I laid the Spring Garlic stencil on the clay and brayered the design into it.

I removed the tape and smoothed the edges with a wet finger. If you find that you have cracks in your clay when it has dried just put a little clay on your finger and rub it across the crack. The crack will disappear. The dry clay was painted black and then silver wash applied.

Spread It On

Sometimes paper clay will dry out and get hard. I can’t tell you how many bricks of clay I had before I figured out that it can be reactivated with water. I keep a jar where I throw in dried scraps and water. This will make slurry which has a porridge-like consistency. 

I laid the Mandala #1 stencil on top of a sheet of wax paper, spread the slurry over it then laid down another sheet of wax paper.

I lightly brayered it to flatten the slurry. Because there is wax paper both on top and underneath this will take a little longer to dry. The next morning I removed it from the wax paper. The delicate result is very light and airy.

Have fun with your StencilGirl stencils and Creative Paperclay®!

Darlene Olivia McElroy

DarleneOliviaMcElroy.com

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