Reversing the Stencil

CreativeKady, Karen Burchill here with an art journal tutorial that demonstrates how to reverse the stencil and keep colors bright and bold when working on a black background.

The Crafters Workshop provided me with products but the ideas and opinions are my own.

Scroll down to the bottom to click on the link to take you to the step by step YouTube Tutorial.

Today I am working in my Canson Mixed Media 7 X 10 journal. QUICK TIP: tape off the page to get a straight clean edge and keep all the products out of the coils.

First I apply a coat of TCW9002 Black Gesso. This provides a great matte finish.

Select your stencil. For this technique, I prefer using stencils that have wide-open spaces. I am using TCW877 Spider’s Web in the 12″ size. Remember what is stencil material will end up being black while the cut out parts will end up colored. To ensure that stencil does not move and you get crisp lines, tape the stencil down.

Apply TCW9001 White Gesso with a makeup sponge over the entire stencil. To prevent seepage don’t overload the sponge. The sponge should not look wet. It is better to apply 2 or 3 light coats. Don’t worry if it looks patchy at this stage. Leave stencil on and let dry naturally. Be sure to wash gesso off the stencil.

I am using Liquitex Basics paints. I use Dioxazine Purple, Cadmium Red, Orange, and Bright Yellow. I start with the darkest color and work inwards applying the paint with a makeup sponge overlapping and blending colors as I go.

Remove the stencil and dry completely. I have a bit of white peaking through. Sometimes I leave this as I like the effect but for this page, I wanted crisp black lines so I take a liner brush with watered down acrylic black and paint it.

To add interest I place the stencil back on, grab my polka dot stamp and stamp with the purple and then white right over the stencil. This keeps the black lines black.

Here’s how it looks when I remove the stencil. Don’t you love it?

With a background as colorful as this I choose to keep my focal images black and white. Today I use Tim Holtz’s Crazy Dogs stamps. I printed out my sentiment with my laser printer. I glue all these elements with TCW9045 Matte Gel Medium.

I remove the tape and use my Fineline Applicator to add a white line to frame the page.

To watch the full tutorial and see this page come to life, click below.

Thanks for joining me. I hope you give this technique a try.

Check out all my social media https://linktr.ee/creativekady

Karen aka CreativeKady

2 thoughts on “Reversing the Stencil

We love to hear from our fans, so please leave a comment here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.