Tag Archives: stencil

Mirror Image Women

I made this image as a demonstration for one of my students in the mixed media class I taught in Winter, 2020. I wanted to show an incorporation of stenciling on layers of paint and my explanation in words was not making sense to her.

I cut out a woman figure. Then I painted a piece of watercolor paper (9″ x 12″) in sections of  random color.  Next, I set the stencil on the paper and painted around her; then I flipped her over and painted the other side of the paper in different colors.

The figures protect the original colors so that when the stencil is removed, there it is.

The whole thing took maybe five minutes to do. The student saw the process and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Sometimes good things happen very fast, and the key is, don’t mess with them just because you think it should have been harder. Sometimes…it is easy!

 

Mirror Image Women 1-2020 8.5 x 10.5003

Stencil Tiles #4

This month I will show you an array of tiles I made, at my studio clay class or at home, using the stencil method of applying images. For a full explanation of this method and some tiles I made in the fall of 2019, look here.

I made these tiles in fall 2019 at the studio tile class. They were bisque fired after the class ended and I picked up the project when we got back to class in January 2020 to glaze them. This time I used no resist but glazed the entire surface. (I think I was wanting to be finished with the past projects and get on to the new ones!)

These tiles are all @ 4″ x 4″, except for the last one at 7″ x 7″. You may notice I am using a different clay here, a very dark stoneware selection. It fires at Cone 6.

You may also notice some repeated shapes – the house, for instance. That is a good thing about stencils – they can be reused. Now, for this application I use magazine paper as the stencil material. It’s fine for a few passes but of course it disintegrates pretty quickly. You can cut your own stencils out of film, or of course there are millions of pattern stencils you can buy.

Additionally, you can see in the last tile the two birds – one made from the positive image, one from the negative. In other words, I cut out the bird shape and also kept the residue shape, and used them both.

You can also flip your stencil over and get a reversed image, such as the two heads looking at each other in the last tile.

OK, we are all caught up on stencil tiles! Thank you for following along with me.

Stencil Tiles #3

This month I will show you an array of tiles I made, at my studio clay class or at home, using the stencil method of applying images. For a full explanation of this method and some tiles I made in the fall of 2019, look here.

I made these tiles at home, after the fall studio class had ended. More from the same group I showed you in Stencil Tiles #2.

Velvet underglazes, raku clay, clear glaze, fired at cone 06, all about 7″ x 7″ except for the small one at the end, about 3″ x 3″.

 

Stencil Tiles #2

This month I will show you an array of tiles I made, at my studio clay class or at home, using the stencil method of applying images. For a full explanation of this method and some tiles I made in the fall of 2019, look here.

I made these tiles at home, after the fall studio class had ended. I used the same stencil technique, but my underglazes at home are a different brand from the studio (Velvet) and so the colors are different. Additionally, I used raku clay, so the clay body is a different color. I used the same wax resist technique as earlier, and I fired the tiles at cone 06 – a cooler temperature than at the studio, as necessitated by the different clay and glaze I used at home.

And you know, I don’t know if I have made this clear, but the stenciling takes place on a wet clay base – in other words, I roll out the tile, let it dry a little, then do the color work on it, then bisque fire it. I’m not stenciling on a previously-fired blank tile.

All right, so what? The end result – more stencil tiles!

Stencil Tiles #1

This month I will show you an array of tiles I made, at my studio clay class or at home, using the stencil method of applying images. For a full explanation of this method and some tiles I made in the fall of 2019, look here.

Short update on stenciling process, any medium – all you do is cut out a pattern, set it on your background, and paint, glaze, spray paint, crayon, whatever you want, over or around or inside it. Then lift it from the background, and you have a clear area the stencil covered and a colored area surrounding it.

You can use a stencil in a couple of ways. One – cut out the figure (let’s say it is a circle), set it down on white paper, color around it, lift it, and you have a colored area surrounding a white circle.

Two, you can cut a circle, remove it, and use the open space as your stencil – set it on the white paper, color it, and you have a white background with a colored circle.

Stencil lesson over! Here are some tiles I made in my studio clay class back in fall 2019 – the first group I will be showing you. I colored the figures using underglazes. The tiles were bisque fired and I then covered some areas with wax to form a resist, dipped the tiles in clear glaze. The resist areas stayed matte, the glazed ones shined up.

They were fired to Cone 6 – at the studio we use stoneware clay, which fires higher than I use at home – with Standard clay #112. Approximately 7″ x 7″.

A Whole Crowd

Back in the summer I made this group of artist trading cards. I cut out some body-looking shapes and painted them. Then I stuck them to the already-prepared backgrounds and added details with India ink.

I have one more to add – here is an ATC formed by overlapping figures formed by the using a few of these forms as stencils. Plus a little India ink.

Now you have the whole story.

Variations on a Theme

You’ve seen stencil work from me before. And you will again. And then there is this example right in front of you, today.

I cut out the man figure and painted him black as he lay on a bit of grocery bag paper. I did it again, with a brush not-so-full of paint, and several times, moving him just a little each time.

So then I had a clear black figure to glue on to a background. I had a stencil guy. And I had a moving around kind of stencil guy.

I could have kept on, but I moved to some other idea, I guess. Not before I added some details to each card. Everyone deserves a showcase, I think.

 

Postcards, acrylics and mixed media, stenciling. The postcard are pieces of thin cardboard from food packages or the like, cut to size.

Stencil Guy

These are all mail art postcards made using the same figure. Let me think how I did these…

I cut out the figure from a paint card. I like the stiffness of the cardboard and yet it is not too thick.

Then I took some already-painted postcards and did my work. The first two are stencils with some details added.

The last card is the figure itself – I turned it over to the non-paint color side (you can see the black painting seeping around the edges from when I used it earlier) coloring it yellow and gluing it down.

One figure, reappearing in multiple roles…