My son will be celebrating a birthday soon, and I have decided to make invitations for a small party. I chose a woodland motif for the cards. I thought I'd share with you the steps I took to stencil the image on this card, which is a prototype for the others I will make. Now that I have done the "sharp work" of cutting out designs, my daughter can help with the painting.
First, here is a list of supplies you need:
- Paper and pencil
- A fine point permanent marker
- A clear sheet of plastic, such as the kind used to make overhead transparencies
- Scissors (optional)
- An exacto knife and cutting mat
- Watercolor or gouache paints (mine were in a tube)
- Water (use distilled if you want your stencil to be archival) and spray bottle
- A plate that you will no longer use for eating, or another surface for mixing paint
- Stenciling brushes (available at craft stores)
Click on the smaller images to see them larger.
Assemble your tools and materials. Consider what image you want to make. I began knowing I wanted a squirrel and a hedgehog, and that I wanted a large oval as a background. I then added other elements, such as the tree and mushrooms. I drew each of these things on a piece of clear plastic with my permanent marker. I gave myself ample margins so that when stenciling time came, I wouldn't paint on other areas of my design. I cut the design with a sharp knife on top of a cutting mat, working slowly and carefully.
Once I had the stencils cut out, I squeezed out a tiny dab of watercolor paint from a tube. I put distilled water in my spray bottle and sprayed a very light mist on the plate. I dabbed the brush into the paint to get a small, quite dry bit of paint on the bristles. (Please note: the brush pictured here is not a typical stencil brush; usually the handle is longer and the bristles shorter and stiffer.)
You can see that even though I began with a small dab of paint, I still had too much. (I cannot emphasize enough how little paint and water you need.) I then laid my oval stencil over my paper and began working from the outside in, sweeping the brush toward the center to avoid getting paint under the edges of the stencil. While I worked, the paint looked faint--too faint--but I knew that once I removed the stencil I would see clearly the contrast between painted and unpainted paper. Too little paint is much better than heavy, blobby paint; you can always go over an area again if you want it darker.
Hold the stencil steady with one hand while you gently tap and sweep the brush with the other. The smaller the image, the more delicate the motion of your brush, of course. Consider the order of paint application for the different images you have, starting with the palest colors and working through to the darker colors. Your paint should be dry enough that you don't have to wait long before adding one color on top of another.
I'd gotten this far with the card, and then managed to, ahem, bleed on it; my hands are already chapped from the dry autumn air. Above you see the image without a little red bird . . .
. . . and here you see it with a red bird! It's all about turning mistakes into opportunities, isn't it? (However, I think the little bird will not appear on the other cards.) I added a message of invitation at the bottom in green, and now it's ready for a note inside.
I hope this is a useful idea to consider as you think about holidays, birthdays or thank you notes!
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And with this post, I am signing off for a week or so. I have some freelance deadlines that must be met, and soon! I wish you all the best until we talk again.
