Stenciled Woodblock Flower Possibilities

The brand-new Woodblock Floral by Gwen Lafluer for StencilGirl Products really spoke to me when I saw it, and I just had to get my hands on it. I think its going to be my new favorite. Here's some things I made.

First, for the pink page (on the right in the photo above) I used the stencil with white embossing powder on a blank Dylusions square journal page. the embossing powder acts as a resist, and mimics the look of batik, a technique that I loooove. I covered the page with some pink tones of watercolor.

Next, I added one of Gwen's PaperArtsy stamps from set EGL22 with white embossing powder, drew some freehand lines, and put dots of white Nuvo Drops along the lines.

Then I added watercolor inside the shapes that the dots created and extra color inside the stenciled and stamped florals.

I felt that it needed words, and remembered a quote I loved from Frida Kahlo, which is also attributed to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, so I added it to the page with Posca paint pens. The quote is: "Not fragile like a flower, fragile like a bomb."

Last, I added some highlights to the letters with a grey calligraphy pen, and a few spirals to fill in empty spaces.

Detail of my "Fragile"  journal page, done using the Woodcut Floral stencil with watercolor and embossing powder.

Next, I tried a very different look for the Woodcut Floral stencil. I began by stenciling the design with an indigo blue Archival ink in the middle of my journal. I love the look of blue and white china and traditional indigo blue textiles, which inspired me to try an allover design. 

It was really pretty just as an allover design, but I love color, and couldn't resist adding more. I used a watered-down salvaged patina distress ink.

I used the same light grey brush tipped calligraphy marker to add accents to the page.

Here's the finished page. I darkened the background color and accidentally added some splotches of the salvaged patina ink from a gothic arch I was working on, which leaked onto this floral. However, I like the distressed effect and decided not to even out the color. Sometimes accidents happen for a reason!

Last but certainly not least, I used the stencil on a gothic arch shape. The background was made by using painted canvas paper with an assortment of colors, a method I learned in a workshop with Seth Apter. I used the Woodblock Floral on top with gold embossing powder over VersaMark clear embossing ink. I love the rustic look of the background against the elegance of the gold floral.

I hope you enjoy using this new stencil as much as I do!

Goddess With Gold Earrings

 

Late the other night, as I was testing my new Berber-inspired stamps designed by Gwen Lafluer for PaperArtsy, I was thinking about all the things I could make with them—greeting cards, journal pages, tags, ATCs—and debating what to do first. A couple of the stamps really spoke to me, especially the diamond-shaped one. It called "earring!" rather loudly. I thought for a moment about stamping it on shrinky-dink film, baking it, and creating a pair of earrings, but I was worried that with the shrinking, I would lose the details.

Using black archival ink, I tested Gwen's new stamps in my art journal.

An idea of a goddess with big golden earrings began to formulate in my mind. I did a quick pencil sketch of my idea and went to bed. The next day I was looking for the right paper to start the project and found the beginning of a portrait I made a few weeks ago. I had a lot of paint left over from a gelli printing session, and had used it up on a big sheet of watercolor paper by making a face shape, randomly painting the background, and stenciling with my Lemurian Leaf and Lemurian Vines in white.

Left: the start of a portrait; Right: my pencil sketch of a face with possible stamp placement.

I put the diamond-shaped stamp by the ear and discovered that the half-started portrait was just the right size! Next, I place the other stamps around the painting to see where else the stamps would enhance the design. I decided to use the zigzag shape as lace for the bodice, the smallest stamp as a neck tattoo, and maybe the arrow shape as a hair clip. The other stamps would be used in a subtle way in the background.

After penciling in the positions of the basic facial features, neckline and hair, I got to work on the earrings. First, I stamped the diamond shape with VersaMark clear ink under the earlobes, sprinkling them with Ranger superfine gold embossing powder, and hitting it with a heat gun. The stamp printed beautifully; all the small details were enhanced by the gold embossing powder.

After stamping the diamond shape underneath the earlobes, I sprinkled gold embossing powder liberally.

Left ear: the diamond shape after applying heat. Right ear: the unheated embossing powder.

Next, I used white embossing powder with the zigzag stamp around the neckline, and added the small rectangular stamp off-center along the neckline.

I used painters tape to mask off the background and keep the white embossed zigzag exactly where I wanted it.

After all the white embossed stamping was in place for the neckline, I added a wash of white acrylic below the embossing to create the look of a sheer dress bodice.

With black archival ink, I used the tiniest stamp along the right side of the neck in a vertical trio.

In this closeup you can see the neck tattoo, white embossed lacy neckline, hair, and background stencils. 

Then, I finished painting the face and hair. I pulled out my stash of PaperArtsy paints, watercolor pencils, and brush-tipped markers and got to work. 

Once the hair was in place, I used indigo archival ink and white acrylic to stamp the other three pieces from set EGL43. Here's some steps along the way:

I used PaperArtsy mud splat paint to start the hair.

I added green patina and aquamarine PaperArtsy paints over the mud splat.

While my stencils in the background looked lovely, I wanted to use the new stamps as well. I used Archival indigo ink and white acrylic to unite the foreground and background.

The goddess was almost finished, but needed more detail in the hair, eyes and lips.

Once the background was done, I went back to the face and hair and added darks, lights, and accents with paint, markers, pencil, colored pencil, and chalk until she felt finished. Here are some detail shots.

Here you can see details of the eye and subtle use of stencils in the hair and background.

The yellow and white stenciled design behind the earring shows through behind the gold, adding dimension and interest.

The uneven neckline and sheer white paint adds to the softness of the goddess portrait, and contrasts with the colors on the neck and trio of tattoos.

My First StencilClub Set: Textile Elements!

I am super excited to have designed my first ever StencilClub set, Textile Elements! The two new stencils reflect my love of pattern, design, fabrics, and sewing. Inspired by my years as a textile print stylist in the fabric business in New York City's Garment Center, I created the stencils as a tribute to the many designs I selected, colored, and printed over the years. 

A journal painting was the inspiration that started me thinking about designing the Club Set. On my lunch break, I often painted to unwind and relax. I kept a small 6" khadi watercolor journal in my desk with a few other supplies: Derwent Inktense blocks, watercolor pencils, and a brush. One of my favorite lunchtime paintings was the inspiration for my StencilClub October set.

On the left: my lunchtime art journal page that inspired the Textile Elements set. You can see in the tag on the right how the lines and shapes of both flowers were adapted and translated into stencils.

ABOUT MY NEW STENCILS

The Textile Elements set consists of two stencils: the Floral Elements stencil, which has interlocking floral heads, leaves, and several stems, and the second stencil, Textile Patterns, with assorted favorite small designs.

What makes my stencils unique is that the flowerheads and leaves each have two parts, which gives more depth and design possibilities than if it was just one flat shape. The poppy, tulip, and two posies each interlock and fit together perfectly, as do the leaves, just as they would in a fabric design.

The Textile Patterns combine nicely with the florals, with each other, or can be used on their own. I included shapes I personally love: a stylized tulip border designed from one of my hand-carved stamps, assorted dots, a repeating tile design adapted from another of my hand-carved stamps, a calligraphy-inspired "button trio" derived from a doodle, a traditional "ditsy floral," and an assortment of stitches.

I created allover designs, frames, and an assortment of greeting cards with my Textile Elements StencilClub set.

Here are some process pictures that I took when testing out the floral elements stencil:

Above, I am carefully removing the stencil after aligning the poppy pieces, which were stenciled with light and dark pink ink.

Here you can see the lime green outer leaf shape and the stencil with the inner shape, about to be aligned.

The Textile Patterns stencil has an assortment of designs that can be mixed and matched or used in the background. Here's a sample with three experiments. At the top, I tested the repeat of the tile design. On the bottom, I tested the repeat on the "ditsy floral." In the middle, I experimented with combining several stitches and dots to create a plaid effect.

On the pastel allover pattern below, I used nearly all of the designs from both stencils. Wouldn't it make a great design for fabric or wallpaper? A summer dress? Or maybe festive wrapping paper? The possibilities are endless! 

Below is a frame I made using elements from both of the Textile Elements stencils with earth-tones. I cut the black, white and beige stenciled papers into 2" pieces and arranged them to create a quilt-inspired frame. Isn't it amazing how the earth-tones give an entirely different look to the patterns than pastels or primary colors?

MY TEXTILE STORY

After studying Textile Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, I began my art career working for a small company called Leon B. Rosenblatt Textiles. I met with textile designers from around the world, choose designs, selected colors, and went each Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to a small hand screen printing plant in SoHo. There, we experimented with that week's new designs and endless color combinations. 

Each season we produced hundreds of new patterns, each with 4-5 colorways. I also traveled frequently to large rotary screen print plants in Rhode Island and Alabama where I "struck off" new designs and matched thousands of yards of fabric to the hand screen printed samples. 

It was always exciting to see clothing for women and children made with our fabric in retail stores or on models in fashion magazines and catalogues. Better yet was seeing people in real life around the country wearing clothing made from our fabrics.

MY STENCILCLUB PROJECT

Interested in learning how I used my new Club stencils to make this pretty botanical-inspired floral inside a faux-quilted frame? If you're a StencilClub member, you will receive an email with directions to access to the "how to" video as well as the step-by-step pdf of my project. 

My October 2024 StencilClub project: a botanical-inspired central floral surrounded by a faux-patchwork quilt frame trimmed with embossed gold zigzag stitches. 

If you're not a StencilClub member, now is the perfect time to join! Details about StencilClub are on the StencilGirl website. With membership, you also get access to our private StencilClub Facebook group, where you can connect with like-minded artists and participate in the monthly small art trades that I facilitate.

Interested in seeing all my other stencils? Just click here to view my designs, see samples and videos, read a little about what inspired the stencils, and learn about my personal art journey.

Affirmation Necklace

 

About two years ago I took some leftover stenciled paper that I had created using my own designs in pastel colors and punched circles out of it. On the back I wrote affirmations. I poked holes in them and hung them on my bedpost, reading them aloud each evening. It was a difficult time in my life because my husband had recently died and I was processing a lot of sadness, grief, and anger. Amid the sorrow was the "salt in the wound": I suddenly went from a two income family to a widow with half the income. So one of my first affirmations was: "I have a creative, lucrative part-time job."

This set of affirmation discs was made with stenciled paper, beads, a handmade tassel, and stamped shrinky-dink charms.

I looked at the old affirmation discs about a week ago, and flipped over each one to read what I had written. They had all come true. Yup, the perfect part-time job came to me. My health improved. My panic-disorder receded. 

What manifested was not exactly as I had imagined it, but the five things I wanted and needed had come into being. I realized that manifesting does work, and decided to create some new circles using the one of the latest stamp sets, EGL40, designed by Gwen Lafluer for PaperArtsy.

I stamped all of the new designs on circles of hot press watercolor paper, then added color with ShinHan watercolors, brush tipped markers, and posca pens. 

Next, I selected five of the 10 new affirmation discs and sorted through my stash of beads and decorative doodads looking for just the right pieces to construct the affirmation necklace. (Although I call it a necklace, I will hang it off my bedpost rather than wearing it as a piece of jewelry.)

Here's the "how-to" photos:

Using a punch, I made a hole near the top edge of each circle.

I used grommets with a grommet setting tool to reinforce each hole.

A metal ring was threaded through each grommet.

10 circles with grommets

All 10 circles with the metal loop inserted

"Auditioning" beads and baubles to go between each of the circles. I threaded all the pieces onto thin ball-chain for added strength.

Here's a close-up of three of the affirmation discs that I used for the project:

If you are interested in how to write an affirmation, here's an article that explains the process.