How to Use Stencils in Mixed Media Art

Stencils have always intimidated me, probably because the decor fad of the 80’s when I bought my first home was to stencil things on your walls, and they had to look perfect! I tried them a few times and they were always crooked or not filled in all the way, or the edges looked too smudgy, just not the look but in mixed media, smudgy, crooked, imperfect perfection is the goal.

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Warm up lesson with @willowing from #lifebook2018 it’s a bit too #dotty so I think there will be a layer of stencil to mute that back . Swipe right to see almost done 🙂 My word of the year #strength #mixed media #wip #newbieartist

A post shared by Christine Faith (@ahippieartist) on Jan 27, 2018 at 9:34am PST

 

I think I belong to a large club of art supply collectors who don’t necessarily USE all the lovely things we buy. I wanted to start using some of my pretties so have been watching the masters use their stencils in unique ways in art projects and journals.

Well, I have used a few of these at least! Good to look back at pictures of my pretties from Scrapbook.com.

Stenciling Techniques for Mixed Media Art

Tamara Laport goes through several different ways to use her whimsical stencil pack including spray inks, heavy body acrylics, liquid acrylics, modeling paste and more.

Tamara Laport Stencil Ideas Tips & Tricks

You can purchase her stencils through her Etsy shop here.
Tamara Laporte Whimsy Series Stencils: this includes 4 6×6 stencils. Flowers and hearts, houses, butterflies, and stars.

Tam’s Whimsy Stencils

Inspirational Words Series of Stencils – A 6×6 – 4 Stencil Set

Words to Inspire like  “You Are Enough”– “Believe” – “Stardust”– “Magic” –”Loved” “Beautiful” “Enough” and more. You can combine words, or use one as a focal point and add your own handwriting to create a quote for your art journal.

You can also buy both the sets for a discounted price.

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Another of my art journaling heroes is Dina Wakley. She taught me in her art journaling books that it’s OK to copy, it’s OK to trace, it’s OK to learn from your teachers. Yes, you should credit them with being your inspiration of course but if you’ve ever tried to copy what an art teacher does exactly I’m sure you’ve learned that yours looks like a sister or a cousin to the original example but it really never looks EXACTLY like the originals piece of art.

How to Monoprint with Stencils by Dina Wakley – Art Journaling Live

Dina is using a few of her stencils as well as heavy body paint in her demonstration.
Dina Wakley Heavy Body Acrylic Paint
Dina Wakley Mixed Media Stencils

Dina Wakley Art Supplies on Amazon

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Tim Holtz Stencil Layering Ideas at CHA

Tim demonstrates how to layer random stencils and stamps with inks to get lots of different effects The goal is always perfectly imperfect. Love that quote from Tim. Stenciling first with acrylic paint and then adding ink on top creates a resist of the original layer.

Tim Holtz Layering Stencils – On Amazon

Tim Holtz Misters – On Amazon

Dylusions Spray Inks – On Amazon

Tim Holtz Art Supplies on Amazon

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Jessica Sporn demonstrates stenciling on Tissue Paper Techniques starts at about 4:20 and it’s pretty brilliant.

Dry Stencil Techniques from Stencil Girl

She uses pan pastels and sand paper in ways I’ve never seen before in this video tutorial.

I hope these tutorials from some mixed media artists will help you get some of your lovely art supply collection a little dirty instead of staying in their pristine condition in the box. As Dina says. Done is better than perfect!