Collaged and Stenciled Houses with Lauren Bergold

Hello, it's Lauren again, and I'm thrilled to be a guest on the StencilGirl® Talk Blog. Today's project is the upcycling of three nested papier mache houses which my mom found while cleaning out her attic. Somehow I didn't take a "before" photo, but in their original state they had dark colonial colors and must have hailed from the late 1980's. 

I knew I wanted to cover the houses with collage paper, and adorn them with beautiful StencilGirl® Stencil designs. 

I chose Santiago by Nathalie Kalbach for the roofs; Crazy Quilts Bold and Beautiful by Andrew Borloz and Ornamental Petals Screen by Gwen Lafleur to scatter across the walls; as well as garden aspects in the form of Ferns 6 by Cecilia Swatton and Lemon Button Fern with Masks by Rae Missigman. I also added a couple of old favorites: Lizzie Mayne's Herring Bone Brick and Michelle Ward's Marrakech Mix add pattern to the eaves and dormers. 

Since the houses have many window and door spaces, and sharply angled dormers, it was much easier to do the collaging and stenciling on pre-cut paper panels, and apply them to the houses when finished; rather than working directly on the papier mache surface. I asked my trusty assistant (aka husband) to apply a fast coat of white spray paint, to neutralize the uncovered areas.

As it turns out, each of the houses had twenty (20!) planes/panels on which to work: four walls, one back roof, three front roof pieces, two sides, two dormers, four dormer roof pieces and four chimney sides, to be exact. I chose bright white text papers for the houses and papers with darker patinas for the roofs.

On the houses, I used Distress Inks and Oxide Inks, in neutral shades of brown and tan, applied with sponge daubers, and outlined or accented with a very fine tipped black Pitt Artist Pen. 

The plants are layered in few vivid shades of green. I let the leaves overlap each other, and some of the groupings go "around the corner" to another side of the house. 

On the roofs, that fabulous geometric Santiago stencil is rendered in a nice thick coat of white Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste. The beautiful Ornamental Petal Screen has a lot of background and fine detail to it, and was a bit challenging to make a smooth transition with... until... I added in the square border as part of the design!

After all the panels were affixed (that phrase can be typed in seconds; but the activity took rather longer!) I added a few clusters of dimensional flowers and velvet leaves, just to bump up the texture factor, and I'm pleased with the results.           

I think I'm going to give these back to my mom... and see if she recognizes them?!

Lauren Bergold

loves to combine her StencilGirl® stencils

with collage elements!

Favorite Art Book & Giveaway - Victorian Paper Dollhouse a la Laurie Mika by Silvia Souza

I love working in polymer clay.  I have used the clay to create jewelry, miniatures and wall pieces. I enjoy learning different techniques and experimenting with surface treatments, including using stencils.  It is a very flexible (no pun intended) medium, both in how it can be used and how artists use it to interpret their ideas. One book that I find compelling is Laurie Mika’s Mixed Media Mosaics because she has an unorthodox approach to the clay. She developed her own style, making the clay accommodate to her needs.  Besides that, her work is beautiful and inspiring! The book is delicious eye candy. While it does have projects one can follow, with great instructions, for me this book is more of a go to when I need a jolt of creativity juice. I return to it often and always find something to propel me back into the studio.

All that being said about polymer, the piece I was inspired to make has no polymer clay!  I used paper clay instead, which I discovered a year ago and also love using since you can make very light but big pieces to wear.  I have always been enchanted by dollhouses and I especially love the graphics of Victorian paper dollhouses. I happened upon a set of three papier mache houses at Michael’s and thought I would try to bring a little Laurie Mika to a paper dollhouse.  I hope you enjoy the video I made of the process.

And to top it all off, on my birthday this month I finally got to meet Laurie at one of her workshops which  my best friend and I participated in at the lovely Queen’s Ink in Savage, MD. I learned so much that I am hoping to incorporate into my own work.  Steph and I are already planning a time to have an art day to make more pieces. Here are photos of our creations. We are already both plotting to go to Laurie’s workshop in Mexico as soon as we can! What more could a girl ask for for her birthday!

Steph's triptych

My triptych

Stencils used:
Laurie Mika's Pilgrimage to India Stencil *You have the chance to win this & more!
Gwen LaFleur's Ornamental Compass, Petals, and Circles Stencils
Andrew Borloz' Grindstones, 4 Tribal Patterns, and Wheel Spokes Stencils
Carolyn Dube's Connected Eyes Layer Me Stencil
Mary Beth Shaw's ATC Mixup 1 & 2 as well as the large stencil from October 2016 StencilClub

One lucky winner will receive Laurie Mika's stencils plus a set of her Female Collage Image Sheets!

Enter by commenting below by June 17th, 2018. One winner will be chosen at random on June 18th. Winner notified by email.