Greetings. I have my own gratitude ritual at the beginning and end of each day, but I had a hard time conceiving of a project to express gratitude. Then I remembered art lessons I had once taught and there seemed no better representation of gratitude than a bowl, or three bowls. Bowls for keeping, giving and receiving. There are Empty Bowl projects around the country to feed those needing food, but most of them are for food safe and ceramic bowls. I no longer have access to a kiln but I do have a toaster oven! The bowls I created are polymer clay.
While this project required a bit of polymer know-how and some reverse engineering, I did want to show how to use pan pastels with stencils on polymer. The layering that you can create can add depth and interest in polymer projects, whether jewelry, wall art or bowls. You can also use eyeshadows or grated chalk pastels if you do not have pan pastels.
I’ve created a video that takes you through the main steps of the process. I hope you enjoy and that you also get to participate in an Empty Bowl event near you someday.
With gratitude for the food in my belly and the time and ability to create,
In the past, I have done a lot of
art journaling. The only trouble with art journaling is that they're often
inside of closed books and not always visible unless opened. So, I looked for
other opportunities to use my stencil designs on the things found at home so
that they are more visible to anyone. I've come up with four examples: throw
pillow, ticket roll bowl, backyard shed, and former fence post.
Stenciled
Throw Pillow
I looked at one golden yellow
pillow in the living room, and decided that it needs some updating. Not bold
but subtle and needs to go with the other pillow with traditional motif. I used
the right half of the Mixed
Pattern Double Diameters stencil and applied Jacquard textile paint in two
colors: yellow and goldenrod.
I had to be sure to use the masking
tape with very low tack as I am stenciling on the velour fabric. Otherwise, I
could be pulling some of the pile off the cloth. Instead of a stencil brush, I
used cosmetic wedge to apply the paint to the fabric.
I like how the design turned out to
be duotone depending on the angle and type of light shining on it. Stencil used
in this project: Mixed
Pattern Double Diameters.
Ticket
Roll Bowl
Several years ago, I created a bowl
from a ticket roll. At the time I was creating it, I didn't have any stencil or
even any idea of what would be great for the brim. It has been sitting in the
living room of my residence for a good long time, and I knew it needed
something. After designing stencils for several years, I finally found one that
I thought would be good for this bowl.
Ticket
Bowl with Plain Brim
You can create your own using the
ticket roll that can be purchased from a party shop or a stationery store. I
used a ceramic bowl and placed it on top of it. I pushed it down carefully and shaped it a little bit at a time - it takes time and
patience. I would then apply matte medium to hold its shape, and then later
apply matte craft paint in dull green color on the exterior. The stripes on the
sides were created by putting it on the lazy Susan, turning it while holding
the brush against the bowl's side.
Bent
Stencil on Brim
I bent the stencil on the brim and
taped it down with masking tape.
I then applied the craft paint
(Plaid FolkArt - Soft Apple), removed the stencil and move it to the next
position.
Finished bowl. The stencil didn't
match exactly at the end, so I left a little gap between the first stenciled
image and the last. Stencil used: Right
Angle Triangles and Rings
I have been working in the backyard
quite bit lately, and looked at the drab grayish blue paint on the shed that my
father built.
Former
color (grayish blue)
I decided that I would paint it in
green to blend it with the flora from the woods.
New
color
Then I thought about the stencils
for the front.
Selected
stencils taped on the wall.
I went through my own collection of
stencils and selected six stencils for this project.
The three stencil designs in the
Crazy Quilt series (Bold
and Beautiful, Calm
and Frenzy, Crosses
and Rounds) are fantastic for this project - I don't have to worry about
"lining" up at the top or bottom. For the Curvies Combo stencil, I
started at the top and work down. For others depending on the pattern, I would
either start in the middle or at the top.
Completed
with six stripes of stencils.
Right
side of the sliding door.
Left
side of the sliding door.
For this project, I used a mixture
of white and black gesso paint (Liquitex) to create a grayish color so that
they don't pop out too much. It is recommended that a clear acrylic finish be
applied to make them last longer.
I was taking down the
falling/rotten privacy fence, and noticed that one post is in pretty good
shape. I have been pinning a lot of garden totem pole photographs, and have
thought about creating one on my own. I had a Eureka! moment - why not use the
fence post as a garden pole?
The video below shows the
step-by-step process that I used to create the garden pole.
Paints used in this project: Sherwin William's HGTV Home Showcase (100% acrylic - used at the top of shed - same paint used on the shed), Plaid Folk Art, Craft Smart Premium Satin, Blick Matte Acrylic, Ranger Dylusions and Liquitex Gesso (black & white). I used POSCA paint markers for lines and marks. For protective finishes, I used Krylon UV-Resistant Clear Acrylic Coating and Minwax Polycrylic (clear gloss).
For your convenience, I have identified each stencil used by name. The only stencil not available from is the one that I designed and made myself at my home studio.
Not much you can buy these days for $0.21. Seriously, can you even get a piece of gum for that?
Well I recently made a trip to our local Walgreens for birthday cards and instead walked out with some clearance items that I was thrilled with thoughts of transforming!
Sometimes I fear I have "hoarding tendencies" but I made a promise to myself that if I bought it, it would NOT sit on a shelf for future project, but I would make something THIS week with it! So I did….
One of the items I picked up was this little Christmas dish….on clearance for $0.21. I figured that was cheap enough for me to play around with if I didn't end up loving my creation.
Originally a whopping $0.99! I immediately painted the bowl white gesso as a base to start from.
...and began using one of my favorite StencilGirl stencils Maria McGuire's Stitch a Greek border and lightly dabbing paint through different areas of the design on the less waxy side of the paper. I love using deli paper in my art because you can stamp on it, paint on it and then adhere it and it is practically translucent.
After I made several sheets of deli paper, I began cutting out the designs and played around with them until I found out how I wanted to adhere them to the bowl.
I used the circle medallion as a focal point for the center. I then cut the borders I had stenciled in half longwise and adhered them with modpodge to the rim of the bowl.
After the modpodge dried, I sprayed with a clear glossy sealer and let it dry overnight.
I love this bowl! Wouldn't it be a cute and fun gift to give someone? I can't decide how I will use it yet… but here are some ideas. Journaling spot holder, project life stuff, business cards, tags.
Remember creativity doesn't have to be costly!
I hope you enjoyed and find inspiration in this tutorial. For more free tutorials be sure to start following me on Bloglovin or visit my website at Kirsten Reed Designs.
