Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Milagros, Hearts, and Alchemy

Not quite the Cinco de Mayo you may have planned? Yup. We feel that too. However, StencilGirl is super excited about these new hand-drawn stencil designs by Laurie Mika.


Laurie Mika has a thing for hearts and she has a bathroom filled with her collection of hearts from around the world. 



It is these tin hearts that became the source of inspiration for this collection of heart stencils. Laurie's favorite hearts are Mexican folk art sacred hearts and a lot of her polymer clay shrines incorporate this type of imagery so she wanted to design stencils that could be used with polymer clay as well as with paper arts and collage.




Cut the Four Sacred Hearts Stencil into 4 parts, and the ATC stencil into 9 hearts for ease of use. Perfectly sized for ATCs but you can use them anywhere in your art.






Over the past few years, the influence of Medieval art has also informed much of Laurie's polymer clay work but more recently she has been drawn to the imagery of alchemy, the medieval forerunner of chemistry. From anatomical hearts to the Hand of Mysteries, she adores the mystery and magic associated with Alchemy and this was the source of inspiration for these stencils that are a wonderful addition to making Medieval looking shrines.



The Alchemy Stencil depicts hearts, eye(s), a skull with a crown, a sun, and the Hand of Mysteries.







Mexico is the source of inspiration for Laurie's collection of Milagros (miracles), the tiny tin charms that are used for healing purposes and votive offerings. Milagros are often in the shape of body parts because they were used to give thanks for the healing of a particular ailment.



Cut the Milagro Stencil into 6 designs for ease of use: an ear, an eye, a pair of eyes, a hand, an arm, and breasts with the word brave underneath.





Laurie actually took some of her favorite milagros, made a mold from them, and used them with polymer clay that she then embedded. She used these polymer clay milagros to create the actual designs for my stencils.

If you want to create with these stencil designs you can get them HERE.





3 comments:

  1. I LOVE these stencils - thanks, Laurie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are awesome Laurie.....ordering right now!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ordered ! I knew they would be wonderful, and they are.

    ReplyDelete

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