Hi, everyone! Cecilia Swatton here! I opened my eyes one
morning asking myself, “What could happen if I pair special-effect-squiggle
tools with stencils?”
(Part of that is
fabrication of course, but seriously, I do dream about stencils!)
Dream images drifted with
me into my workroom that day, tickling my brain with a goal of exploring one
basic idea … a pregnant idea, ready to birth at least one variation. (A dream-buzzed brain likes to mix metaphors!)
Supplies I always have on
hand:
Disposable foam plates
Heavy-body acrylic paints
Sponge brayers
Masking tape
Oil pastel crayon
A basin of water for
immediately dunking stencils or masks that I’ve used with 3-dimensional media, like
this project’s heavy-body acrylic paint; soaking in water keeps 3D media from
hardening on stencils, so they can be easily cleaned later; otherwise, dried 3D
media may clog stencil openings.
Knowing this project
would call for stencils or masks with wide openings, I auditioned …
… Stencils and Masks …
S547
Hot Air Balloons set
S395
Pair o’ Parrots
L450
Fantasia
S394
Dance of the Courting Cranes …
… and I auditioned
background papers pre-printed with …
L
433 Clustered Leaves
S178
Feathers 6
S167
Trivet B
L449
Blooming Where Planted
Next, I auditioned
squiggle-making tools,new ready-made ones, as well as old credit cards I’d
customized with scissors.
Of course it was the new
ready-made set that made the cut, because new toys demand immediate use!
My favorite way to apply
paint through stencils and masks is to use a sponge brayer loaded with
heavy-body acrylic paint. For me, the sponge brayer is not only faster than the
traditional pouncing method, but also, easier on arthritic hands and wrists!
After spreading a paint
layer over Fantasia, I lifted the
stencil to see …
Once that paint-layer had
dried, I brought the stencil back and placed it “off-register” on the same
background paper.
Securing the stencil with
blue masking tape, I loaded another sponge brayer with a contrasting color of
heavy-body acrylic paint. While this top
layer of paint was still wet, I wiggled a texture tool through the stencil
openings to make squiggle marks. Keeping
the stencil in place while I made those marks enabled me to keep the squiggles
inside the stencil’s shapes.
That first experience
surprised me with how easy it’d been for me, a first-time user, to create
squiggles with these ready-made tools.
They had fit beautifully into the stencil openings. My old homemade tools wouldn’t have worked as
well.
Thus encouraged, I wanted
to do the same again – with a different stencil and a different special-effects
tool.
First, I secured my S547 Hot
Air Balloons set to a background paper with masking tape. Second, I masked off the half of the stencil
that I wouldn’t be using, this time around.
My third step was to
again load a sponge brayer with heavy-body acrylic paint of a contrasting
color, then used a special effects tool to create squiggles inside the cut-out
shape of the stencil.
Below, three photos show
what I got when I lifted the stencil – a full-sized shot, a close-up and a shot
of the gift bag that I decorated with the final print.
To try a variation of the
main idea, I taped my Heron stencil to
a different pre-printed background paper.
Next I pressed a special-effects tool into a fresh blob of heavy-body
acrylic paint.
I applied paint with a
pouncing motion of this tool, re-loading the tool several times to cover all
the openings in the stencil.
After lifting the stencil
and letting the paint dry, I scraped an oil pastel crayon over the richly
textured surface created with the special-effects tool.
Personally, I like the
squiggle results more than the pouncing results, but, for me, the final product
isn’t what it’s all about. At least 90
per cent of my pleasure comes from exploring with paints and special tools. If I’ve had fun while caught up in the
art-making process, I consider it success.
I hope you do too!
Fun experiments, Cecilia - thanks!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for the tutorial, Cecilia! Jan
ReplyDelete