Exploring Cyanotypes with Kecia Deveney

Last week I took a 2-day class on using cyanotype fabric sheets. I dabbled in the medium last summer and really enjoyed experimenting with it. When I really embrace a process, I like to research it more to get a good idea of the possibilities. I had a great time watching videos and reading up on cyanotype. 

 

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process dating back to 1842. Once the medium is applied to fabric or paper (or you can order pretreated sheets), It is then placed in the sun and a chemical process occurs between the UV rays and the synthetic treatment. 

 

So many fun things can be used to create an image, such as botanicals, negatives, flat objects ( or slightly dimensional), and more. One of the things that caught my eye was to try stencils. So of course, I got very excited about experimenting with those. 

 

On a pretreated cyanotype fabric sheet, I placed a face stencil by Pam Carriker, a botanical image by Flora Bowley, and a flower by Traci Bautista. I laid it out in a way to create a scene that I knew I would later develop with embroidery floss. On the second sheet of pre-treated fabric, I laid out the four sacred hearts stencil by Laurie Mika. It was my intention to cut one of those out and add It as a separate layer to the final piece. 

After about 15 minutes, in good sunlight, your piece will be developed and ready for a rinse in bleach water. It’s the bleach water that really heightens the blue colors. From there you rinse well in clean water and dry. 

 

Once my fabric was dry, I ironed it and in my mind began developing ideas. I was working with some limitations with the main color being all blue, so I decided to make a limited palette of blue, white, and rust colors. I also knew it would become a wall hanging. I set about hand stitching on it and layering it with vintage fabrics.

Once I finished the piece, I decided to add a crystal inside the chrysalis for a double meaning. I am calling the piece, “Pure Energy”. 

Stencils Used: 

Traci Bautista’s - Deconstructed Zinnia Mask & Stencil (S290)

Pam Carriker’s  - Create Face (S646)

Laurie Mika’s - Four Sacred Hearts (L782)

Flora Bowley’s - Chrysalis (L390)

Boho, Banner Planner, Emotions & Feelings, & Garden Stencils

Wow! If you love stencils like we love stencils this is a very good marvelous sun-shiny day. Carolyn Dube, Valerie Sjodin, Cecilia Swatton, and Gwen Lafleur all have new stencils!

Words, an alphabet, bullet journal banners, flowers, faces, and medallions await you...

The Feelings and Emotions Stencil collection designed by Carolyn Dube was inspired by the rollercoaster ride this year has been.  

Carolyn says: "These stencils are a way to honor the full range of feelings, not just the happy ones. Use them as a tool for storytelling. Use these words front and center for a card, in your art journal, on a collage.  Embedding the words in the early layers of your play allows you to express and respect your feelings privately.  When you are using stencils, you have incredible flexibility so you can use it in the way that fits your creative process."

Feelings & Emotions 1, L827, 9" x 12"

Inspired by large interactive murals that are designed to start conversations and get you thinking, Carolyn created a stencil to do this for you in your art journal. Journal Starters is a collection of prompts providing a place to start a personal dialogue honoring your feelings, your journey, and your experiences.  Add one of these prompts to your art journal or create an entire mini journal with these! 

Designed to work alone or in conjunction with the other stencils in the Feelings and Emotions collection.

Journal Starters, S845, 6" x6"

Feelings & Emotions 2, L828, 9" x 12"

Inspired by illuminated letters, the Feelings and Emotions Alphabet Stencil includes a large and small alphabet.  Having two coordinating alphabets in one stencil gives you lots of flexibility!  Create a modern take on illuminated letters by starting a word with a large letter then stenciling the rest of the word with the smaller alphabet. Great for creating titles or adding a word for impact in your art!

The small alphabet is the same size as the words in the Feelings and Emotions collection so you can build any word you want, and it will match the others perfectly.  

Alphabet, L830, 9" x 12"

Feelings & Emotions 3, 9"x12", L829

The ribbons in the PlannerBanner Bullet Journal Ribbons Stencil by Valerie Sjodin are perfect for bullet journaling, art, and planner use because she designed them to be cut and fit into the pocket of an A5, or Moleskine journal. Use them for months of the year, headings, cards, and to make any header special. A perfect pairing with Script Sans Serif Planner Alpha & Grid L833 that will add just the right lettering style to your headings. 

Planner Banner Bullet Journal Ribbons, L832, 9" x 12"

Lettering is so easy for your bullet journal and planner with the Script Sans Serif Planner Alpha & Grid Stencil designed by Valerie Sjodin. Two alphabets, one script and one sans serif are included, along with the 12 months of the year. ALSO included is a bullet journal grid to make drawing a calendar quick and easy. It fits perfectly on a dot or grid journal such as Moleskine, Leuchturrm1917, or any A5 dotted or grid journal. This 4-in-1 stencil can be cut so all 4 pieces fit into the pocket in the backs of the journals. Make your headings even more special by combining these letters with either the Planner Banner Ribbons L832 OR the Mid-Century Modern Banners L711.

Sans Serif Alpha Grid, L833, 9" x 12"

The Garden at Nemours Stencil by Cecilia Swatton was inspired by her happy experience at the gardens by the same name in Pennsylvania. These gardens, lush with greenery and giddy with flowers, Cecilia says she was inspired with every step she took. S658 is the alternate Mask.

Garden at Nemours, 6" x 6", S844

 

Boho Faces, L831, 12" x 9"

The two faces on this large stencil are a mash-up of tribal influences from Gwen Lafleur's travels as well as her imagination and the interest in her smaller rubber stamp designs for PaperArtsy. 

You can use one or both of the designs and you can also mask them off to use bits and pieces. They’re perfect for art journaling, mixed media artwork, mixed media portraits, and more. This stencil also coordinates beautifully with her Boho Daisies Small and Mini stencils as well as the other designs in her Boho collection.

Boho Daisy Mini, M318, 4" x 4"

Each of these Boho Daisy stencils were inspired by the daisies that Gwen started drawing around the eyes of her tribal or Boho faces. Use both stencils to create a layered flower or separately in your art journal, as embroidery patterns, for art journaling, and handmade tags.

Boho Daisy Small, S846, 6" x 6"

Suzani Circle Medallion, S847, 6" x 6"

The small Suzani Circle Medallion and Flower Medallion, and the mini Circle Flowers were inspired by the traditional hand-embroidered Suzanis (textiles – usually bed covers or wall hangings) found through Central Asia, and especially in Uzbekistan. Gwen designed these stencils to coordinate with some of her PaperArtsy rubber stamp collections as well as the July 2020 StencilClub “Suzani” collection, which is exclusive to StencilClub members.

This detailed floral design is ideal for handmade cards and tags, art journaling, mixed media artwork, scrapbooking, and more. Repeat it or turn it in different directions for even more versatility in creating backgrounds and larger designs.

Suzani Flower Medallion, S848, 6" x 6"

Suzani Circle Flowers, M320, 4" x 4"

Palmistry Hand, M319, 4" x 4"

The Palmisty Hand Stencil was inspired by Gwen's experiences in having her palm read while traveling through Bali and India. This stencil features a right-handed palm with the Life Line, Wisdom Line, Love Line, Fate Line, and Marriage Line. This design also includes the symbols for Venus (love, sympathy, and grace,) Moon (courage, mysticism, and imagination,) and outside of the palm are Jupiter (confidence, wisdom, and leadership,) Sun (ambition, success, and creativity,) and Saturn (discipline, balance, and independence.)

This stencil is perfect for use on handmade cards and tags, for mini art journal pages or small focal points, scrapbooking, and much more. 

You don't need your palm read to know 

you want to check out all the latest stencils :)

Inner Goddess by Linda Edkins Wyatt

I've always been fascinated by faces, but they're a bit tricky to draw from scratch. I admire the courtroom sketch artists who can capture a moment, and an emotion, with a few strokes of the pen. Fortunately, for those like me who can't always get the features exactly right on the first try, there's a lot of StencilGirl® face designs to help create a foundation for a portrait.

There's an ongoing conflict inside my head between my inner critic and my inner goddess. The inner critic tries to tell me that I'm boring and ordinary, a nervous wreck, and an artistic fraud. The inner goddess wants me to breathe deeply, channel the emotions from my brain into my fingertips, and just paint. And while on the outside I'm kind of an average-looking, all-American woman next door, on the inside I'm an exotic and daring soul, a world-traveler and feisty spirit.

I decided to paint my inner goddess, so I started with a big sheet of 12" x 18" watercolor paper, coated it with white gesso and let it dry. I chose a fairly large size paper because I wanted to have plenty of room for crazy hair and some interesting clothing.

After the gessoed page was dry, I used sepia archival ink with a fingertip dauber through the Mystique stencil by Andrea Matus deMeng to get the eyes, nose and mouth in the right position on the page. Then I sketched a circular face shape and added lines for the neck, shoulders, and hair.

A lot of people are afraid of ears. They are a little tricky to draw, and many people just paint long flowing hair so that they don't have to worry about the ears. My goddess wanted big ears for good luck, like Buddha has, so I used Pam Carricker's Hear Journal Sense stencil, positioned it on the right, and stenciled it with sepia archival ink. I flipped it and added the left ear.

Once I had the facial features in place and the hair, neck, and shoulders sketched in, it was time to paint! I mixed up some flesh color and got to work.

For the hair, I wanted something wild and flowing, but more interesting and textural than plain brush strokes. 

I decided to paint in a dark color for the hair shape, then use Gwen Lafluer's new Turkish Bronze Boho Blend through Jessica Sporn's Lacy Lotus repeat stencil. I taped off one perfect lotus shape and repeated it around the page. The embossing powder has flecks of bronze and added a beautiful shimmer to the hair texture.

It needed a background, and a contrast with the hair, so I chose a stencil that resembled tile, Maltese Mix by Michelle Ward. 

To add even more contrast and texture, I used white crackle paste through the stencil. I strategically placed tracing paper and painters tape over the areas that would not be stenciled.

With the golden brown skin color and flowing hair, she began to have a feeling of a Gauguin woman, yet the addition of the crackled white tiles gave a feeling of North Africa too.

My goddess was shaping up nicely. Here's a detail shot that shows the many textures.

I debated about what to do for the very bottom of the painting: should I add a dress? A necklace? A neck tattoo? Leave it as it is? Finally, I settled on creating yet more texture. 

I wanted to suggest delicate lace, so I combined several stencils and applied them with fine white Wow brand embossing powder. 

I used a paisley shape from Laurie Milka's Pilgrimage to India stencil along with Gwen Lafluer's Art Deco Corner Medallion and an older favorite faux smocking design from the April 2013 StencilClub. I added a few white painted dots to fill in the empty spaces and also suggest sheer dotted Swiss fabric. I strategically taped off the space as I stenciled to maintain the crisscross effect in the bodice.

Last, but surely not least, I added a crown. I experimented with quite a few crown ideas and finally settled on a triangular stripe from Laurie Milka's Pilgrimage to India, applied with hampagne-colored embossing powder. It was the perfect finishing touch for my Inner Goddess.

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