Stencils, Stamps, and Layered Takes; Reviews and Art on the Gel Plate!

Sunday’s Synopsis for May 7, 2023

Notes, links, spotlights, and highlights from the Live Stream with Patricia and Mariah of PM Artist Studio.

P & M (Patricia and Mariah) kick off a Sunday Arty Live stream with a look at a vintage book called “The Language of Flowers”. Watch this replay for reviews and tips on some crafting materials, surprise new stencils and stamp designs. Then see a fab long-haul technique on the gel press.

Art Supplies

Patricia reviews self-healing cutting mats. Her favorite turns out to be made by Newbraug; the 9×12 inch one is currently under $12 at Amazon. Along the way, she gives some honest feedback and tips about using the swivel head-cutting tool, too. Plus, don’t miss her tip about using empty toilet paper rolls to corral wayward paint tubes.

By Popular Request: New Industrial Stencil Set

About halfway through the morning’s stream, we’re surprised by an amazing rectangular franken-stencil Ceri Griffiths. No glue or tape is needed now, it’s available in the shop: Industrial Market. The modern and industrial-looking rectangular-shaped design gets small companion stencils and masks to go with it. During the video, you will see Patricia use them all on the gel plate today, putting them through their paces.

You can have stencils ’til the cows come home, but sometimes you just need a nice sharp line from a stamp.   ~Patricia

Ceri added coordinating individual foam stamp designs to match the companion shapes in the Industrial Market stencil set. Look for Frayed Weave, Regimental Rectangles, Coded Mesh, and Silly Spheres. Finally, there’s a single design of Rhonda’s Victorian Parlor now available in a nice-sized foam stamp.

The Poinking Pay-Off

“Poinking” was the word of the week after Patricia invented the term for a hand-applied mixed media texture technique using a stencil. She dresses up several Carnation Truss stencil prints in more layers of mixed media exploration. The Carnation stencil, by Darcy Sanders, is not just for blooms and blossoms, it’s got incredible potential for variety.

The Ultimate Ombré Effect

“Go big or go home,” they say. Using Big Bertha, Patricia’s 8-inch brayer, she creates a beautiful ombré effect with several acrylic colors. It is the final layer to pull a print from the Feathery Eye design. Remember, when working with fluid acrylics (those “loosey-goosey” ones) on a final layer in this manner: No lollygagging.

The second ombré pull on the next Gel Press plate becomes the pull layer for The Puzzle stencil with a dramatic choice of colors.

Long-Haul Technique on the Gel Plate

Watch her layer on, and then remove many different colored pull-off prints as she demonstrates her signature gel plate move with the small stencils in the new Industrial Market set. I know I really appreciate hearing her think out loud as she makes her design and color decisions. This technique results in so many awesome prints. Count the prints she gets!

Tips for your Maiden Voyage in Collage

If you’re a reluctant collagist, you’ll see how easy it is to get started with Ceri Griffiths’ new Industrial Market stencil set, some paper, and your gel plate. The prints practically collage themselves for you!

Mariah Makes Mondays

Mariah announced a new weekly YouTube live each Monday, 10 AM Central (11 AM Eastern). Look for a variety of projects on her table!