One can never have enough birds....and if you are a Portlandia fan, you know this is true. My new Raven Stencil gives new meaning to the phase 'Put a bird on it'!
This new design, inspired by my Wing n' A Prayer Fabric, is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Here is some of my current printing with this new design, and some ideas for you to explore in your own surface designing.
Think about a stencil as a collection of shapes that can be separated for more design options. I use Post-Its to temporarily cover areas of the design while I print others. They are easy to move around and work really well.
Here, in black, is what the whole stencil looks like. Note: I did add a moon using the circle on my Global Shapes stencil. You can see how the post-its let me get a crisp definition of color for the different sections of the design!
FENCES & FRAMES: I'm drawn to the sticks framing the design. They make a border at the hem or edge of a garment. In the fabric piece on the dressform, I combined the sticks with the lined grid shape at the bottom to create this geometric design. I think I'll take it further by shaping the front edge of the fabric in a zig-zag, following the shapes I printed. The more I looked at this part of the design, It started to look like wooden horse head! (Ah...she sneaks the Year of the Horse in there again.....). You can see the printed design is the stencil upside down here on black canvas. I made this small frame in green below, by printing the sticks across the top of the design facing each other. Hand or machine stitching would be another technique to add to borders printed with the stick shapes.
STRIPPED FABRICS: Printing in between the stripes is a great way to create a new design. Masking tape, covering one set of stripes on the fabric, or Post Its can be used on the stencil. You could create a collection of complimentary fabrics (all on the same stripe), by using different parts of the stencil for each piece. The different pieces could be used for each pattern pieces of your garment. Definitely play with different size stripes and other prints to create
your own designs.
At the left, see the yellow Post Its covering the stencil (instead of tape on the fabric)-this gives the repeating design (in green) each time I print. Below are more parts of the stencil printed into the same stripe.
FABRIC PAINTS: I am using the Jacquard Textile Paints for my printing, I especially like the metallics.
MIRROR IMAGES:
Stencils easily lend themselves to this type of printing. Once the images is printed on one side...clean it off, flip it over and print from the other side. Magic happens! The space created in between the birds on the left, seems to be a heart! Ahhhh!
PRINT A SHIRT: I love working into a remake with my stencil designs- On this one below, I started by printing the collar tips.....see the part of the stencil I used below on the left...and the results on the right. A very appealing design detail!
Next, I pieced a black panel onto the lower back of the pin-strip shirt and stenciled the birds coming up on the back. Wow!! love the look...and the silver 'triangles' are the tip of the beak.......
You know what I am about to say if you have been in class with me....'Do more with everything!'
I know I am just getting started with this new stencil design....so please share your ideas with us!
GO FOR GEOMETRIC: The way you format a design is very personal... some of us are very organic in style... and some of us like a more structured presentation. You can place any shape over any stencil and create a new design!!!!! I often reach for the basic shapes in my Global Shapes stencil for this purpose. As you can see on the right..a manilla folder works well for cutting quick shapes you can use as a mask too. Try working with your Tee Juice Pens to add more detail to your printed surfaces. Lines, words, dots and your favorite doodles can build & define your printing style.
Enjoy the Day, Diane