Thursday, April 5, 2012

Stencil Blog Hop! Check out this Cool Pomegranate Stencil!

All of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's stencils can be purchased at 

When Julie Fei-Fan Balzer invited me to check out a set of her shiny new stencils, I was thrilled to receive the Pomegranate set (large and small):

Maybe you have noticed, but I am obsessed with circles so the pomegranate shape is right up my alley.
I decided to work with the stencils on a variety of materials.  First up:  a used paper towel.
Sometimes the best thing that comes out of a studio workday not what I planned:   Interesting things happen on brush wipes and drop cloths!  The paper towel below was a leftover from a recent workshop.  I admit it:  I dumpster-dove for the used paper towels!
the large pomegranate stencil is positioned over a portion of the towel.
I used liquid acrylic paint on this sample


I picked up the minimum of paint on my brush to avoid depositing a large amount through the stencil.



After the paint dried, I positioned the smaller pomegranate stencil on the towel.

I like the variation of scale that using both stencils provides!

The lovely thing about paper towels is that they can be layered with fusible or gel medium onto paper or cloth.  They turn up in a wide range of places in my work.

Next:  The Recycled Facial Cloth
I love my used facial washcloths (these are Oil of Olay) because they are made from unwoven cotton and take ProcionMX dye quite nicely.  I have done all sorts of things with these cloths in mixed media cloth and paper projects.  I was anxious to see what they would do under a stencil.  
Here is the facial cloth prior to using the stencil.
The color and script were previously created with ProcionMX dye under a silkscreen.

Using a cheap paint store brush I "pounced" orange paint through the stencil.

Once dry, I overlaid more images with black paint.

The result is a nice layered effect with a variety of shapes and textures!

Next:  A concert ticket and a sale tag become a cool gift tag!

this sale tag (purchased at an office supply store) was first painted with a wash of 
red-orange acrylic paint.
A combination of black and white acrylic paint was used to create the mottled effect.

Once dry, the concert ticket was glued onto the sale tag.
These are fun to make and really jazz up a special gift.

Old postcard/new substrate for a collage:
This old postcard was lightly gessoed, allowing some of the imagery to show through.
First, I used the large pomegranate stencil and applied black acrylic paint.

Second, I marked the stenciled edge with a bright pink marker,
then used a combination of black and gray paint through the smaller stencil on the right side.

Last:  Fun on Fabric!
First, using the large stencil with black and white acrylic paint, I moved
across the surface of the cloth.

Second, I placed elements from the smaller stencil into the pattern.


The movement of the shapes, as well as the variation of scale from using both sizes of the stencils,
creates an interesting pattern across the surface of this piece of commercial cotton cloth.

I had a lot of fun experimenting with these wonderful stencils on a wide variety of surfaces.  I hope you will take time to stop by the other participating artists' blogs to see their projects:  


Thanks so much for stopping by, and let me know what you make when you play with your Crafter's Workshop Stencils!











33 comments:

  1. what great work with the pomegranate stencil! I love that you use so many recycled and upcycled items. That is awesome inspiration!

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  2. AWESOME creations!!! you make me want that stencil even more!!! =)
    hugs, SannaS

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  3. These are such great ideas, the results are fantastic.

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  4. Love the bright colors you used and your end result is awesome!

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  5. Stunning - love that stencil and the colours you used look awesome

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  6. OMGosh what wonderful and beautiful ideas..... I love her stencils and how versatile they are.....

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  7. You made beautiful stuff with that stencil. My fave is the tag. Very happy to discover you through Julie.

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  8. WOW! I am New to Stencils and am really looking forward to this Blog Hop. I had no idea you could use them on so many things. All your Samples were Beautiful and you gave me a wealth of Information just in this First Post. Thank You from the bottom of my Heart. Can't wait for the next one now....

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  9. Quite the variety of creations that you made with the one stencil. Creative and pretty.
    sue_clarke@hotmail.com

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  10. Wow, so many neat ideas. Love how you used both sizes of the pomegranate stencil. It really adds interest to the projects.

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  11. Thanks for all the good ideas! I generally use stencils in layered backgrounds, mostly in my journals, but lately in larger pieces. thanks for playing this 'hop.'

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  12. I love your use of the large and smaller stencils together, and the pink with the gray black and white. Great effect.

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  13. Stunning work and using both sizes of stencil is a great idea to add more interest to the pieces. I was almost going to just stick to purchasing the 6x6 stencils as I have only just started to look into stencils since taking up art journalling recently :)

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  14. What a wonderful series of techniques and ideas! Thanks so much for being a part of the stencil hop!

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  15. Cool projects! I have actually looked at the designs on my paper towels and my scratch sheet after I've inked edges.

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  16. Awesome inspiration, I love the use of the facial cloth, way cool.... I am learning to use my stencils in all sorts of creative ways, right now mostly use them for creating backgrounds and adding texture to my art journals... Thanks for the inspiration.

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  17. looks like you had fun playing. cool stuff!

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  18. thanks for your wonderful inspiration! I love the variety of substartes you used and how you varied the stencil sizes!

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  19. Those are great projects. Thanks for showing us your techniques. Have a nice day, Johanne L.

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  20. This is such a neat post! I really love your scientific approach to crafting and how you did all that experimenting/playing. The results are fabulous, and it's something I definitely need to do more - just kind of play with my stuff.

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  21. Love all your ideas...dumpster diving take recycling to a new level...LOL!!!

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  22. Fantastic ideas...I love using stencils on my canvas paintings and cards...

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  23. oh..I adore pomegranates and I love what you've done! that paper towel one is especially fabulous. and the gift tags won't need a gift, they're so fancy!

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  24. I recently purchased a bunch of the stencils as I am starting out with an art journal and thought these would be perfect for my backgrounds.

    I LOVE what you did with the paper towel. Thanx for the inspiration!

    KimMJ
    bast830@comcast.net

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  25. Leslie your used paper towels are masterpieces! I love the layering of bright colors! I never would have thought about using facial cloths - now I'm going to go raid my bathroom closet... Beautiful work!

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  26. I just love how you've used so many different surfaces with the same stencils for so much variety and ideas.

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  27. Love the stencils on fabric. I can't wait to start
    playing. Thanks for all the inspiration.

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  28. Thanks, everyone, for your great comments. I had a blast playing around with these stencils and I want to encourage you to check them out and let me know what you create with them! Please stop by often. I'll be doing another
    tute in June with more of Julie's stencils!
    xoxo

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  29. I love what you've made with the stencils. I like the idea of recycling, the papertowels look fabulous. Thanks for the inspiration. I have recently made a mini with some of Julie's stencils.

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  30. These are absolutely fantastic ideas! I am off to work with the gessoed postcards idea.

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  31. Cant' wait to get home to try some of these techniques. thank you!

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  32. I have SO much to learn. Thank you for teaching us.

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