Sunday, April 7, 2013

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!

14 comments:

  1. Kay...this one is SO funky and neat! made me smile!
    I've going to take time today to look through my stack of Gelli Prints from yesterday and find one or two that speak to me and play. Have no idea what I'm going to do...but I know my muse will guide me to what it is supposed to be.

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  2. Love it Kay... and what a cute story with the image of the red crayon. Sheer is one of my all time favs.
    Thanks for joining us at Stampotique Designers Challenge.
    Sarinda

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  3. Kay - this is just so so so fun!! The brick wall turned out fantastic and I love that wall spackle-ing stuff with it -- perfect! But most of all I love that little girl on the crayon -- so whimsical!! Your work never ceases to amaze me!

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  4. This is fabulous Kay, I love how you have grounded Sheer on a Crayola - brilliant idea xx

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  5. Hi Kay ! For me, it's a very good work !! Really creative process, and so clever way of doing... You're so right when you say we should take time to think more deeply to what we really want to do sometimes, to make more sense to our project... Here it's perfect ! Your granddaughter is as clever than you hee hee !! And I love Sheer too. Hugs, Coco xx

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  6. WOW! Love your background Kay, it's brilliant. Thank you for joining the stencil challenge at Stampotique Designers Challenge. Gez

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  7. Love, love, love this Kay!!! Bravo! Thanks for joining in with us at Stampotique :) xxx

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  8. Kay I love that you are so into this and that you are having so much fun. I love the brick/plaster look and love the finished thing. I have been looking for stencils here but they haven't caught on yet. Will have to look overseas...

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  9. This is funny, you've got to love Douglas Adams' humour! Thanks for making it for Stampotique.

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  10. How did I miss this? Love this brick wall. It looks so realistic and I see your favorite stamp is in there as well. xox

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  11. Ooooh, I LOVE maybe even more this fab project... Woooow!!! I Love Sheer too of course, and your red wall on this white textured background is really beautiful. But your crayola under Sheer is the icing on the cake !!! xxx

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  12. What a fun page!!! How is the spackling holding on the paper? Thanks for joining us again at Stampotique. XOXO

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  13. What a fun page. Love the effect of the bricks and the plaster. Might have to keep this in mind.... Thanks for sharing

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  14. Love the quote with the wall and crayon. The expression on the girl is priceless with it!

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