Create a Dimensional Garden Labyrinth with Modeling Paste

Hi, my friends! I'm Consie Sindet and this is my first post for StencilGirl®. I'm a mixed media artist that loves playing with supplies, experimenting in my art journals, and delighting in sharing what I come up with!

I'm a big fan of being outdoors and walking a local labyrinth in my town. I find the experience to be very meditative. However, sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate! Today, I wanted to share with you how to create a finger labyrinth in your art journal so you can always "walk" the labyrinth anytime you want.

BTW...I made a video of the process which you can find at the bottom of this post.

Let's start with the supplies:

Ceremonial Labyrinth stencil #2 by Cynthia Silveri: M228

Leafy Doodle Verge stencil/mask by Valerie Sjodin: S714

ATC Mixup Evan stencil by Jennifer Evans: L654

ATC Mixup Apter stencil by Seth Apter: L664

Watercolors

Makeup sponges

Modeling paste

Palette knife

Inktense pencils

White paint pen

The first thing I did was to create a background of mossy rocks to anchor my garden using a variety of green watercolors and a makeup sponge. The ATC Mixup Apter stencil by Seth Apter: L664 had a few different size circles that I could use to add a layered look to the page.

I then applied modeling paste with a palette knife to form my garden and labyrinth. I used the Leafy Doodle Verge stencil/mask by Valerie Sjodin: S714 to add the trees and foliage that I have at my actual labyrinth and the ATC Mixup Evan stencil by Jennifer Evans: L654 to add the garden on the bottom of the page to represent the flowers that grow in the surrounding woods. 

After I applied the paste through the Ceremonial Labyrinth stencil #2 by Cynthia Silveri: M228, I went back in to fill in the sections that were not covered by the bridges in the stencil. I wanted to have the walls as a single piece. Because I was adding the paste without a stencil, the finished texture had a wonderful rough stone feel about it!

A quick note: I don't as a rule clean my stencils except when using modeling paste. I did clean each of these stencils right after using them and allowed the modeling paste to dry with each layer on my page so I didn't pull up what I had already put down when I used the next stencil. 

Once all of the paste was dry, the next step was to add watercolor over all of the raised sections. I used a dry-ish brush to apply the paint. It is not really possible to drybrush with watercolor as you need moisture to get the paint to move! However, if you use as little water as possible, you can get the paint to catch on the modeling paste and not as much of the background paper. A light touch and layering works better than trying to get the color to cover all in one go.

After the watercolor had dried, I went in with my Inktense pencils to add more depth to all of the sections. Feel free to use watercolor pencils, water-soluble crayons, or any other supply you want to experiment with! I used the pencils to add shading to get all of the garden elements to really pop off the page. 

Most of the shading was done on the modeling paste itself. However, with the labyrinth, I wanted that to stand out the most. So, I shaded around the outside of the paste to really give it a raise stone wall look.

The final touches included a few highlights with a white paint pen on the flower petals and the labyrinth, and some splatters using the Indigo Inktense pencil. Now the labyrinth is ready to use whenever I need a meditative minute or two in my day!

I would love to see what you create using these stencils! You can tag me on Instagram and find me in the following spaces!

Website: AtopSerenityHill.com

Instagram: @consie_atopserenityhill

YouTube: @ConsieSindet

The Creative Playground membership

Embellish Your T-Shirts with StencilGirl® Stencils and Inktense Pencils!

Hello everyone my name is Debbie Anderson from Phoenix Arizona and sharing with you my technique for using Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks with StencilGirl® Stencils to decorate a t-shirt!

Materials Needed:

• StencilGirl® Stencils for this project I used 2 Stencils: Doodleit Borders and Normanand Running Horse
• Small Stencil Brush – mine was ¼ inch bristles
• Fabric Medium – I used Martha Stewart brand but any brand will do find this in your craft store in the fabric painting area
• Freezer Paper – 1 piece cut large enough to cover stenciled area of t-shirt
• Cardboard or T-shirt board
• T-shirt – Cotton in white
• Small plastic disposable cup for the stencil medium
• Iron and Ironing board or a towel to protect your counter
• Painters Tape or some low-tack tape
• Inktense pencils and blocks – the colors I used are:
• Pencils - #0900 Iris Blue, #0230 Golden Yellow, #0500 Chili Red
• Blocks- #1720 Tan, #1700 Mustard, #1800 Baked Earth, #2000 Bark

Note: I didn’t have any but if you use a spray temporary adhesive on the stencils it will help keep them in place while stenciling.

Turn the t-shirt inside out and take a piece of Freezer Paper (you can buy a roll at any grocery store).  Place the waxy side down on the inside front of the shirt where you will be stenciling and use an iron to fuse the paper to the shirt. This acts to stabilize the fabric a little so it slips around less when stenciling.

Turn the shirt right side out and place it on a cardboard t-shirt board or a piece of scrap cardboard cut from a box. You can purchase t-shirt boards at craft stores. Look in the fabric painting section. I taped the sleeves to the back to keep them out of the way.

For my design I started with the border, which is all done with Doodleit Borders

Measure out a 12-inch square on the front of the t-shirt and mark the corners with blue painter’s tape from the hardware store. This will help in placing the border.

I taped around one of the square motifs from the center border, this will be placed in the 4 corners. I lined the stencil up with the taped corners and used a little more tape to hold the stencil in place. With a Number 12 stencil brush (1/4-inch bristle diameter) I poured out a small amount of fabric medium. Stencil the motif first with just some fabric medium.

You want the area moist as it makes applying the pencil color easier. Apply this just like you would paint don’t over-do it.

Then I used Inktense pencils to apply color. Just scribble in a little color. I used Iris Blue, Golden yellow and Chili Red.

Then go over the colored areas with the stencil brush again with just a little bit of fabric medium to blend out the color. Blot on paper towels to remove excess fabric medium. Clean the brush on paper towels between colors. Hold the stencil down as you work to keep it from shifting. Fabric will not have as crisp an image as paper will.

Move the stencil to the next corner and repeat until all four corners are done.

Next tape off the border motif on the right side of the stencil. I thought this looked like rope. I positioned it on the t-shirt and stenciled in between the corner motifs. Using the same method, first stencil with fabric medium then add the color. I used an Inktense block color is Baked Earth. Don’t worry if it looks scribbly, your final go-over with the stencil brush will smooth out the color. Use a circular scrubbing motion with the stencil brush held vertically. Finally go back over to smooth the color out. Move the stencil as needed to go around the square.

Here is the t-shirt with the finished border.

Make sure the fabric is dry before proceeding with the center portion.

For the focal design I used Normanand Running Horse

Center the stencil in the middle and use some painters tape to hold the stencil in place.

I followed the same steps go over the area to stencil with just fabric medium, add color with Inktense blocks, smooth out with just a touch more fabric medium on the brush. I used Baked Earth for the mane and Bark for the body.

Once you have all the open areas of the stencil colored, remove the stencil. I filled in the open areas on the horse body with more Baked Earth. Blend all over the horse with the stencil brush with a little bit of fabric medium. Don’t work it too much.

Let the horse dry. Once try to touch (it will depend on your humidity but it takes about 15 minutes here in Arizona). You can leave the design as is or you can add some background color and a shadow as I did. I just took a few of the brown Intkense blocks and added some light lines in the background to indicate ground and a little darker below the horse to indicate shadow. I blended the lines with a bit of fabric medium on the brush (mostly dry brush).

I added a dot of white acrylic paint (applied with a ball stylus) to bring out the eye on the horse.

After everything is dry you can remove the t-shirt from the board.  

The fabric medium will have set the paint into the shirt but just to be sure the colors are set I place a light cloth over stenciled area and use my iron to heat set the color in. No steam and use a cotton setting.

After heat-setting, remove the freezer paper. Any residue left on the shirt will come off in the wash.

You can wash your t-shirt in the regular wash and dry in the dryer. The color is set and does not fade even with many washings.

This technique will work on any cotton fabric. Stenciled kitchen towels would be a lovely gift!

Debbie Anderson

Instagram: debbieanderson8473

Facebook: www.facebook.com/debbie.anderson.940098

Doodlicious Distractions with Lizzie Mayne's Half Moon Slant Stencil

http://lindakittmer.blogspot.ca

 Hi, Linda here and I'm excited to be back today to share with you how I used Lizzie Mayne's awesome Half Moon Slant stencil to create a framework for some lettering and doodling fun.










I've been craving some good doodling distraction lately, and when I saw this stencil I just knew it would be perfect to get me started on hours of play!

I began by using the lines in the stencil to trace some rows of those 'half moons', creating the slanted spaces in which I planned to write my quote.  Since the spaces in the stencil are very skinny, I moved the stencil to create larger areas in which to write.  I liked the idea of the slant though, so I created large wedge shapes for my text (sorry there aren't better shots of this stage, but the pencil just didn't show up well).











I traced all of my pencil lines with a permanent black pen and then began filling it some spaces along the border with doodles. I also filled out some of the lettering at this point to add more interest and definition to the words.

Using Inktense pencils and a water brush, I coloured in the page with the bright watercolour pigment.

Does anyone else suddenly crave gumdrops as they look at this? 

I considered stopping at this stage, but as I said at the onset of this post I've been in the mood for some doodling lately, so I just couldn't seem to stop myself...












This stencil was perfect for tackling the blank page and helping me create a wonderful framework for this great quote!

  

Thanks for visiting today!