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!
