Clockwatching

Ed, thanks for the gracious welcome. Talking to you and Betsy was fab, as usual. Thank you for letting me run on at the mouth AND blog for Stencil1. To kick things off, here’s a quick and dirty stencil project I did with my officemate E.

Unlike some unfortunate souls, my day job is pretty sweet. The hours are long and we work hard, but creativity is encouraged and our downtime is our own. Last week, E and I found some notebooks heading for the trash and rescued them with a little TSP — Tape, Stencil, Paint. Why waste when you can resuscitate?

We chose stencil designs from Ed’s newest book, Stencil 201, which contains 25 reusable stencils and rad project ideas that go way beyond paint. In minutes, we had inspiring vessels in which to log our hopes, dreams, and creative sparks. And we killed some time we’d otherwise be watching the clock.

Notebooks

What you need: Notebook, low-tack tape, acrylic craft paint or Stencil1 Sprayers*, paper plate or scrap paper, stencil brush, soap and water for brush clean-up

Note: Stenciling is a dry brush technique. When applying paint, remember the rule: Less Now. More Later.

1. Tape the stencil where you want your design to appear. Squirt out a dollop of acrylic craft paint onto paper plate.

2. Dip your stencil brush in the paint, picking up a small amount of color, then dab brush to remove any globs. You want just enough to fill in a small area of the stencil without squirting paint underneath.

3. With an up and down “pouncing” motion, dab the paint onto the surface, filling in a small open area of the stencil. (Less Now.)

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the image is filled. Allow to dry and do a second or even a third coat, depending on the intensity of color you want. (More Later.)

5. After a minute or so of drying, remove the stencil and admire your new dreamcatcher.

*This project works great with markers and colored pencils too.

Photo by Brian Haskell

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