StencilGirl Squared-Off Blog Hop: Little Works of Art in Origami Frames for Your Art Journal
04/26/2019
Welcome to the StencilGirl®️ Creative Team’s Squared-Off Swap Hop. I hope your ready to be inspired. The Team has been busy swapping paper squares stenciled with StencilGirl®️designs, waving our wands, and creating magic to show you. Be sure to check out all of the linked posts to see how our band of creative souls mixed, matched, and used up their wonderful little scraps of swapped stenciled paper. And since a Hop wouldn’t be a Hop without a drawing, you know there’s got to be one. Later in this post I’ll fill you in on how you can win one of four $25 gift certificates for stencils at StencilGirl®️Products.
For my project, I decided to remain true to the Hop theme by filling Origami frames with little collage, landscape, and abstract works of art. I think they'll make sweet embellishments in my art journal. I hope no-one will be too disappointed that despite the fact that these frames are quick and easy to make, I’m going to leave teaching the folds to the Origami You-Tube professionals. (I followed along with this tutorial - Origami Frame Tutorial by Origami Fans to make mine. It’s only 3 and a half minutes long so you know it’s got to be quick.) Today I want to show you what I did with my Origami frames and hopefully inspire you to watch a few Origami tutorials, try a few folds of your own and start to use up those pile of paper scraps on your desk.
I know, I know.... some of you are thinking, “Did she just use quick, easy, and Origami in the same sentence?”. I sure did. Nowadays there’s absolutely no reason to be intimated by Origami thanks to the magic of the playback speed button on You-Tube. Having the ability to watch someone make the actual folds, rewind the video, and change the speed are real game changers, especially when you start with beginner Origami projects. Thanks to You-Tube, Origami is no longer the spatially challenging visualization nightmare it used to be for me. Since most Origami tutorials are close up demonstrations of the folds without any commentary, language isn’t a barrier either making Origami an art that truly brings us all together with nothing more than a piece of paper.
Back to my project....Here's a pic of the fabulous squares that I received to work with.
Square by: Kristin Peterson
Small Tangle Pods Stencil design by Cecilia Swatton
Square by: Trena Brannon
StencilClub December 2018 Fancy Houses Stencil design by Valerie Sjoden
Square by: Claudia Neubacher
Fallen Leaves Stencil design by Jessica Sporn
by Kristin Williams (Front of CitriSolve page)
Large Chain Mail Stencil design by MaryBeth Shaw
by Kristin Williams (Back of CitriSolve page)
Grid Outline 8x8 Stencil design by MaryBeth Shaw
Bonus Square by Kristin Williams (mop up / roll off page)
I knew initially that I wanted to create project to highlight the delightful doodle that Trena Brannon added to her square. That girl in the window gave this square so much personality. So I got out my watercolors and added a splash of color in the windows while I pondered. Waiting for it to dry, I began perusing my You-Tube feed.
When I stumbled upon this Photo Frame video by Origami Fans the wheels in my head started spinning. I watched it a few times and then folded a frame with Kristin Williams's mop up/roll off paper with the video playing at half speed beside me. When all the folding was done, I knew I'd found a home for Trena's doodle. So I glued her into the frame with a glue stick and added a few doodles of my own with a white Signo Pen. And I love how she turned out.
I folded another frame. This time I used Claudia Neubacher's beautiful Fallen Leaves square. I tore off the bottom left hand corner of what was left from Trena’s doodled square and used it as the focal point. It reminded me of a rocky coastline so I got out my colored pencils and used them to emphasize the water and the rocks. I'll bet that Trena would never have imagined that part of her square would end up being a seascape. I'm always amazed that how by changing the focus of a piece you can transform it into something entirely different.
This next set if pics are of two frames made with Kristin Williams’s CitriSolve prints. The frame on the left was constructed from the front of the print. It holds a tiny collage made with a few snippets of yumminess discovered in the piles of jumbled happiness in my studio. (AKA pieces of scrap paper, tea tags, snaps and other ephemera gleemed from among the many disorganized piles growing on my desk like weeds in my spring garden.) The frame on the right was constructed from the back of Kristin's print. I glazed it with Transparent Yellow Oxide and stenciled it using MaryBeth Shaw’s ATC Mixup #2 stencil. It holds another scrap torn from Kristin's mop up/roll off paper also embellished with MaryBeth's stencil design.
I was really liking the tiny details of MaryBeth Shaw's ATC Mixup #2 stencil. So I used it again, this time in teal over another mini collage made with Kristin Peterson's black and white graphic square. This frame holds a tiny scrap of Claudia’s Fallen Leaves and an old strip of pins waxed with encaustic medium.
I couldn't resist the temptation of making a frame from my new Crest Stencil. I used the Wild Ginger Crest for the Frame, and the Bamboo Stalks Crest for the focal point.
This one holds a special piece of stenciled paper that came wrapped around a Christmas present.
These frames were just plain fun to doodle in....
And last but not least, this collage includes an old picture of my Mom. I used a roof of one of the houses from the StencilClub December 2018 Fancy Houses collection to stencil around the frame
There's still plenty more inspiration to be had in the hop. Be sure to check out all of the other cool projects that the talented Creative Team has in store for you. Remember to comment to be entered into the drawing. The more blogs you comment on the more chances you have to win one of four $25 gift certificates for stencils from StencilGirl® Products. Comment by May 3, 2019. Winner notified by email May 6th.
Squared-Off Swap Hop!
Dots2Lines, Aditi & Sunila Mahajan
Jill McDowell - You are here,
Thanks so much for hopping over to my blog today. I hope that I've been a spark of inspiration for you. I'd love to have you stop by again. Feel free to hit the Subscribe button in the upper right hand corner to be notified of new posts. And don't forget to comment for a chance to win!
Hugs until next time and Happy Hopping... Jill