Stencils

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.