SDC93: STENCILS

I am stepping back to bring you the Stampotique Designers Challenge from last week (sometimes life gets in the way of doing things chronologically!).  Jane Wetzel has challenged us to get out a stencil and use it in conjunction with a stamp.  

I have been reminded recently that it is not in an artist's best interest to begin a project with a preconceived idea of what it should look like when you say, "Done!"  One should just sit down and begin.  While that is sage advice, and I try to do that, sometimes an idea just gets stuck in your head and you just need to "go with it."   

This project was like that for me.  A while back, I was watching HGTV and saw a New York apartment with a brick wall only partially covered with plaster and I thought, "Ooo!  I like that!"  That image has stayed with me and, yesterday, I decided to try to reconstruct it in my art journal.  

I began with my Gelli Plate and covered it with acrylic paint in the closest color I could find to brick red.  Over top of that I placed a Crafters Workshop stencil (TCW191, "bricks"), and on top of that, my journal page!  Applying pressure by rubbing on the back of my journal page transferred the paint to the journal!  Easy as that!

Next came the fun part, that of "frosting" my brick wall with--not plaster, not expensive modeling paste, but with spackling compound direct from the hardware store!  The fun part of using this is that it goes on pink and dries white!  I did let it dry in the sun for a few hours.

For my stamp, I used Stampotique's "Sheer," a favorite of mine.  I first stamped the image directly onto the spackling, then stamped another image onto white cardstock.  It is the second image that I cut out and colored.  This trick I learned from France Papillon, a member of the Stampotique Design Team.  Rather than try to cut out all that whispy hair, just cut the hair off.  When you adhere the cardstock image directly over the image you stamped on the page, the hair from the first image shows behind it!  Genius!  Another trick I learned from France is that your image should not be "floating," but, rather, seen standing on something.  My stepdaughter Sarah was in the studio with me, and suggested using a crayon!  She immediately went to the computer, found an image of the Crayola named "brick red," and the rest is history!

And, here's the reveal:

Thanks for stopping by today!  I would love it if you left a comment so that I will know you were here.

Joy to you!