Hot Glue Gun Stencils...

Who knew? Well apparently a few people judging from the You Tube videos available HERE, HERE, and HERE... but it was a new technique to me so I tried it this weekend!

You need:

a hot glue gun and a LOT of glue sticks, some parchment paper or a craft mat (I used 2 pieces of parchment paper),and I used a brayer to press down as it gets hot and hard on my hands to press the glue flat.

then for the printing you need:

a gelli plate, acrylic paints, and a brayer to spread the paints as usual, paper to print on.

You can follow the technique in any of the videos above, but basically, you lay down a design on the parchment paper using the hot glue gun, immediately press the other parchment on top of it, flatten it (for the gelli plate I found this is needed), then when the glue has cooled, lift it away from the parchment and you have your stencil!

Here are a few I did today:

Primary set (a la Jane Davies above), yellow layer first, then red, then blue.

Yellow first, then orange, then teal, with a wash of part yellow-part gel medium to soften it.

Olive green and magenta, with a softening overcoat of gel medium mixed with transparent iron oxide (Golden)

and its reverse ghost print (my favorite of all these I did today):

These are mostly tests, although there are parts of them I like and might tear or cut up to use in my journals or other art. When Leslie and I get together again after Christmas we are going to play with this technique more. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Linked to:
Colorful Gelli Party
Mandarin Orange Monday
Creative Every Day

WOYWW #203

When I looked this morning it was more like what was on my workdesk left over from last night's Gelli plate playing...

Here are a couple of the stencils I used for the red and black gelli printing session last night:

Linked to: WOYWW

More stencils...

Here are some of the stencils I have made the last week or so since I got my SIlhouette Cameo. If they are the light blue, then I have not used them yet. Otherwise the acrylic paint that I used is on the stencils. Once it dries it doesn't come off onto anything else and it seems to make the stencil a little more sturdy so I don't clean them off too thoroughly.

Many more ideas to make, and much more journaling and other fun uses to put them too... I need another Spring Break to play again!

Having fun making stencils...

It is a really simple process! I am so glad I got this machine because not only can I make a new stencil whenever I think of one, but also my hands do not have to go through the agony of cutting stencil material with an exacto blade. And of course now I can make much more intricate stencils than I could by cutting them myself!

First make a design on the Silhouette software:

Then cut the stencil with the machine. It is a bit noisy!

After it is cut, take it apart and you have the stencil and all the parts from inside to play with as well. What I like about this is that I can resize the same design and make a couple of stencils of various sizes to use.

Next prep the gelli plate. THis time I used some pink and purple cheap craft acrylic paints.

Making a print: The bottom part is weird because I wiggled my arm and it didn't print exactly smoothly but no big deal, I just use it as it turns out!

And later making a print from the inside parts of that same stencil:

It doesn't always have to be printed with the gelli plate. Here is another new stencil that I used spray inks with:

Linked to: Gelli Party (Carolyn Dube)

I took the leap...

and bought a Silhouette Cameo to make my own stencils. I had been debating this large purchase for a month or so and decided yesterday to go for it!

It arrives tomorrow and I cannot wait!

I can hear you asking, "Why would I spend that much money to buy a machine that cuts out stencils?"

Well have you priced stencils lately? Small ones @ $5-$7 each and larger ones @ $14-$15 each. Plus postage! AND... they aren't even my own designs!

Not that I don't love a lot of the stencils out there... I have a TON of Crafter's Workshop stencils already... but really... you know you can look at a piece of art that used stencils and know immediately if it was a Dina Wakely or Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencil... not that there is anything wrong with that but... I don't want anyone looking at my art and knowing whose stencils I used anymore! To me that takes a lot of the originality and creativity out of the work.

So for the price of the Cameo and some .007 thickness stencil mylar I can make 20 large stencils and I have already paid it off! And they will be my own designs or words or anything I want to make, no one else's!

Watch out art journal!