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from the January
2008 byhand Newsletter
I adore working with brass stencils! They're versatile, encourage
you to work with a variety of mediums, and produce delightful
results every time.
I have an extensive collection, and when I pull them out to
play, I can do so for days at a time.
The Cadillac of brass stencils is, without a doubt, Dreamweaver©,
produced in consistently fabulous designs by Lynell Harlow.
There are stencils and supplies available in the Quietfire Design
shop, with some newly released styles already in stock.
For your creating pleasure, several techniques will be explained
step by step, with sample cards provided for many of the techniques.
There are certainly other techniques to learn, to get the maximum
from your stencil investment. I encourage you to web-search
to find your way to more fun with these little gems.
TOOLS & MATERIALS
REQUIRED
DRY EMBOSSING
Deborah
use Heart with Ribbon Stencil for this card
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This is familiar to most card makers.
Place your stencil on the front of the paper, secure with
removable tape. Turn the paper over, placing on
a light source (light table, window or any glass
that will let you view the stencil underneath the paper).
Use your embossing stylus, running it inside the
brass stencil area over your paper, creating a raised
design.
This
card is a simple sample of dry embossing on vellum,
mixed with a sentiment stamp heat-embossed with
white embossing powder.
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TIP:
To help your embossing tool glide more smoothly, use
a small piece of waxed paper and rub over the paper's
design area, or run your embossing tip through your
hair. The natural oils provide lubrication.
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SIMPLE STENCILLING
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This is a very easy technique for beginners.
Simply tape your stencil onto your cardstock,
and, using a variety of colouring mediums and a ¾" stencil
brush with a "dry brush" technique, stencil inside
all cut-out areas, using a circular motion, being careful
not to get colour underneath the stencil.
For this card, I used a blue iridescent
PaintStik to stencil "Thank You."
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PASTE EMBOSSING
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Deborah use the Single Bare Tree Stencil
and Keep
Your Faith for this card
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This technique is my favourite, and can
produce such striking results! It's particularly good
for dark cardstock, and it's as easy as icing a cake.
Dreamweaver's
embossing paste, in my opinion, is the best on
the market. It's available in Glossy White, Translucent,
Black Matte, Gold, Copper, and a variety of vivid colours.
You can mix colour with the paste (try acrylic
paints, PearlEx powders, Perfect
Pearls, Lumiere
paints…experiment, the possibilities are endless).
You can also apply color once the paste has dried (try
chalks, dry stippling with acrylics).
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Be patient with yourself when you try paste
embossing for the first time. It can be messy. But that's
part of the fun! It's important to work quickly, as the
paste dries quickly.
When you set up, have a container of warm
soapy water immediately handy, so you can drop your stencil
and palette knife in to soak immediately after using.
Position the stencil on your cardstock. Starting at the
top of the stencil, make a "hinge" (one complete piece
of removable tape
across the top of the whole stencil, so that your
stencil lifts up easily), and tape out any unwanted design
area on the stencil. (Some card makers prefer to tape
along all four edges of the stencil.) Pick up paste on
the bottom of your palette knife and spread over the brass
stencil's cut out areas (remember…icing a cake!), then
scrape off any excess paste, smoothing the paste as you
go.
Remove stencil immediately by lifting straight
up and "opening the hinge" to keep from damaging the paste
area. Allow to dry for 40-60 minutes.
Clean stencil and palette knife immediately.
These
cards use black, white glossy, black matte and gold glossy
embossing pastes. The "Thinking of You" card also uses
copper leafing over a rubber stamped image (see instructions
below)
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EMBOSSED GOLD
LEAFING
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Deborah
used Thorn Border and Each
of Us has a Song for this card
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I absolutely love the wonderful, elegant
results gold leafing provides.
Working with gold embossing paste,
follow directions above for paste embossing. Let dry.
Reposition the stencil over design area and tape again,
using removable tape as before. Stencil all of
the design with finger dauber and the glue from a glue
pad (I use Stewart Superior's Stamp and Stick Glue Pad).
Remove stencil and drop in water until you have time to
clean it.
Dry the glue by using a heat gun,
for approximately thirty seconds, keeping it moving so
it won't bubble the paste. After letting it cool for a
few seconds, test the area with your finger. It should
attach to your finger, or feel dry.
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Place the card on a paper work space or an open file
folder. Lay the leafing sheet gently on top of design
and tap with your finger or a stencil brush so it adheres
to the glued area. You can also use leafing flakes,
in which case you'd just tap them gently onto the prepared
surface.
Burnish leafing with a stiff stencil brush and don't
be afraid to brush hard, as this process will remove all
the jagged edges of excess gold leafing around the embossed
edges. Tap the excess pieces from the file folder into
a container, as these can be used again.
If
Nothing Ever Changed can be found here.
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To use leafing over rubber stamped images,
stamp your image with any embossing stamp pad (ie Versamark,
Top Boss, Ranger), sprinkle Stamp 'n' Bond over
top (Stampendous), heat set, and apply leafing as above.
Deborah also uses The
Essential Glue Pad for this, too.
These cards use gold paste embossing
with variegated metal leafing, and a sentiment
stamp heat-embossed with copper embossing powder.
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BLEACH STENCILLING
Fill a small
fine-mist bottle undiluted bleach. Test different colors
of cardstock by spraying lightly with the bleach spray bottle.
Each card stock bleaches and colors differently. Some don't
have a significant amount of change, so you want to experiment
to discover which ones bleach the best and give the effect you
desire. Place the stencil on cardstock and lightly spray it
two or three spritzes. Remove stencil and clean with water.
The bleach continues to work for a few minutes on the cardstock
and the results are spectacular.
SHADOW EMBOSSING
Stencil "Thinking of You" using black craft
ink and a stiff stencil brush. Use the dry brush technique so
the color doesn't slip under the stencil and cause smudges.
Shift the stencil less than 1/16" toward the upper left corner.
Tape out all of the edges with removable tape. Paste with Dreamweaver
Embossing Paste as above. Remove immediately and clean stencil.
GLITTERING
Carefully set your brass stencil on two sided
transparent
tacky paper which has been cut to the size of the stencil
with a ¼ inch outside border. {ed. note. We suggest putting
a light layer of Coconut Soap on the back of your stencil before
laying it on the double-sided tape}
Shake coloured glitter over the cut-out areas.
Pat down to ensure good adhesion, shake off any excess.
Very carefully lift the stencil, then shake clear
or iridescent glitter over remaining sticky areas to achieve
this pretty result.
Let your imagination go wild with all the possibilities
of this delightful medium.
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