A TECHNIQUE DRIVEN Blog dedicated to mastery of surface design techniques. First we dye, overdye, paint, stitch, resist, tie, fold, silk screen, stamp, thermofax, batik, bejewel, stretch, shrink, sprinkle, Smooch, fuse, slice, dice, AND then we set it on fire using a variety of heat tools.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Playing with Stencils




IN the scrapbooking section of the local Joann's store, there are these laser-cut papers that looked like they would make cool stencils.  So I bought a few on sale and tried to figure out how to use them.  They're made of heavy paper, but I wanted to use them to stencil dye on fabric.



Well, Mr S came to the rescue.  In his own personal stash he had some stuff that he uses to coat the handles of tools with rubber so that they have non-slip grips.  Why not try it?


So after a test on some notebook paper, I sprayed it on my laser-cut paper and it worked!  It made my paper stencil usable with wet media.

Alternatively, I suppose I could have just used paint, but this was too cool to pass up.  Mr. S claims it comes in different colors, so I could have had something in other than basic black.


I had these boring hand-dyes, so I stenciled on some thickened dyes.  But the dye wasn't strong enough (it's been in my fridge for a while) and it's better, but still pretty boring.


I was too impatient to do more dyes.  So I got out my Setacolor paints and rolled on some fuchsia and purple.


And voila!  Much more interesting.



I had these boring bits from my deconstructed screen printing experiments.  So I made up a plate with cardboard and hot glue and used these colored pencil sticks to rub the design onto the fabric.


I really liked the circular feel of Nienke's Rosarium (here) And I tried to get the feel of it without copying her work.  --Still pretty boring.


So I took a cue from her and stenciled on flowers and leaves and sprayed them with water.  I'm not crazy about mine.  Maybe it needs some gold?  I think that the paint colors fight with the background color.  And the circular thing just isn't happening at all.


But for this side, I used a mixture of golden yellow and purple paint and just rolled it on over a stencil of leaves and I love this one.  The colors are much better together and I could see using this whole or cutting it up.  

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip on making the paper sturdier. I've thought about buying a couple of those sheets but didn't think they'd hold up to more than one session.

    Great to see what you've been doing. I spent yesterday dyeing and sunprinting. Oh, so much fun! Again thanks for sharing.

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  2. Ooh! This looks promising! I just ordered some stencils and a DVD on stenciling... should have it this week. But now I must go back by Jo-Ann's to see these papers, and I love the spray cement idea! I think you're on to something here...

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  3. We love this technique, but have had no success in finding Rubberized-It. We've searched online, Home Depot, Lowes, even Harbor Freight
    Would you please tell us where your husband found it
    Thanks, Diane and Patti

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  4. Hi
    I am new to your blog,and I was reading about how you used the product Rubberize-It with laser papers to make your stencils usuable with wet media. Great idea, however I would like to know where you bought the spray?
    If you would be so kind as to tell us, I am sure myself and others would be grateful
    Thanks, Shirley

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