August 2017 StencilGirl Voices - Project 1

Hi everyone!

OK, I have a confession it make. Are you sitting down?  I stalk my mailman.  And it's been going on for the past year and a half.  But in my defense, I only stalk him during the third week of the month...  Shocking, isn't it?  You see the thing is that I belong to this club. Not just any club though... I belong to StencilClub.  And on the 15th of every month, StencilGirl sends Club members a collection of 3 really cool stencils designed by some incredible artists.  (And this month there was even a bonus stencil designed by StencilGirl founder Mary Beth Shaw included!)  The only way to get these stencils is to be a member.  And so now you know why I stalk my mailman...

For July and August, I was one of three lucky StencilClub members chosen to play with the StencilClub collections early and to have our projects featured on the StencilGirl Blog.  Today I'm thrilled to finally be able to share the first of my two August projects with you.  It's a 10X10 mixed media canvas that features Mary C. Nasser's Second Star on the Right and Straight on 'til Morning StencilClub set. 

I started by collaging papers onto a canvas then stenciling with the Sun 4X4 stencil from the collection. 

I began to build up the layers using the stars in the 9X12 collection stencil and molding paste  

Mean while, I used a stylus to emboss a few stars onto a copper sheet, cut them out with tin snips, and aged them with patina using a method that I learned from Jeri Bellini.  

Jeri's uses an overnight process using salt, white vinegar, and ammonia to create a gorgeous and authentic verdigris finish that truly looks aged.  Here are some other pieces I'll be using in another project that came out of the same batch as my stars.

After many more layers of fluid acrylic paint, stamping, and stenciling on the canvas, I adhered my copper stars onto my canvas with Yes Paste, highlighted and outlined with my trusty dip pen and india ink, and voila, my canvas is done.

 Next time we visit on the blog, I'll share my second August StencilClub project with you.  Thanks for visiting.