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Stuck on Stencils

Arrrgh! I knew I shouldn’t have taken a class. Whenever I learn a new art technique, I always spend way too much time playing around with it. Now it’s not just the printmaking part, but the stencil cutting that I’m all obsessed with. At first I was cutting them from regular paper, but those weren’t holding up so well. Then I remembered Tyvek!! I cut a bunch of those over the last couple of days. A bunch.

hand cut Tyvek stencils for gelatin printmaking by Christine Terrell

I was using some of them today while attempting to make images on thin Japanese paper because I wanted to try using some in encaustic collages.

gelatin printing on thin tissue paper by Christine Terrell

I got a few printed and tried part of one in a little collage I had half finished. The blue funky asterisks l are from the prints. I like how they sit up a bit from the rest of the piece. I think it has potential.

Meadowlark Encaustic collage by Christine Terrell

With the encaustic iron out as well as some sheets of tyvek on the workbench, inspiration struck—cut stencils with the heat tool! I switched to the little pointy tip and got to work. It’s a lot like drawing. The edges aren’t crisp like with the xacto or scissors, but they have a more organic quality that I’m interested in playing around with.

Tyvek stencils cut with a heat tool for gelatin printmaking by Christine Terrell

I’m going to try printing with these tomorrow to see how they work. If anything good happens, I’ll post some pics.