Hi! Monday morning with Marlene. I recently
obtained four new stencils to play with, three are 12 x 12 and the
other is 6 x 6. In the past, I have used paint and/or spray mist and
thought it was time to start experimenting with different materials to leave my
mark.
The first example uses three different
materials. Using the 6 x 6 animal print template, I used black paint
on white paper for the zebra stripes. The tiger stripes were done by
blending three shades of orange colored pencils using the open space of the
template. Then I removed the template and colored in the negative space
with black. For the next step, I blended the orange shades with odorless
mineral spirits on a Q-tip and allowed it to dry. Blending the black was
done with a separate Q-tip making sure to leave some of the original white
showing. It is easy to mix the colors in undesired places so it is best to
take your time with this step.
The background was done with a chain link fence 12
x 12 template. I placed the template on grey cardstock and
with a direct ink pad to paper technique, I applied three different shades
of green. I used Staz On ink so the templates are permanently stained, but
for my uses that won't matter.
Quite frankly, I was stunned by the results on my
next example. I bought the template as a buy two get one free sale
and wondered if I would ever use it. Beginning with kraft paper and
using a heavy hand, dark brown chalk filled in the
template. To keep the chalk from smearing a light coat of clear acrylic
paint was applied and allowed to dry.
I really liked the result and thought it would be a
good match for a vintage page.
Stencils can be quite versatile depending on the
materials you use. I find that taping the outside of the stencil to secure
it over the paper helps keep all of the elements in place and I get better
results. Give it a try.
