/* */ Beulah Bee

February 26, 2014

let it go


e.e. cummings is the poet who inspired the text on this tag
(you can read the poem here)

I'm new to using paste medium and since I need the practice , I've made another tag for link-up to the Simon Says Stamp Monday blog challenge (a second-chance to win the prize drawing can't hurt either).

I just jumped in this time, spread medium all over the tag and pressed in a bird cage stencil. After it dried, the uneven texture made me think of hills and valleys so I used some acrylic paint and a landscape was born.

Since the impression on the side of the cage was messed up, the idea of birds escaping came to mind (déjà vu) and I found a Tim Holtz stamp that worked. Due to the surface's uneven texture there's no way I'd get a perfect impression so a few areas were filled in with a marker.

All in all, it was a good lesson. To be an artist means letting go, right? By treading new territory I've learned how this stuff works and see its possibilities.

Now I just need to figure out how to photograph it!

My cat will help.

February 25, 2014

Make a Bird Cage Stencil

First I found an image I liked
(thank you Graphics Fairy).

Then I used Photoshop to posterize it
to remove small details and thicken
the lines and then I printed it.

I taped the print-out on some
stencil paper (I like using Yupo).

Then I used a black marker to
highlight the areas I would cut.

The cuts aren't perfect but I
like the hand-made appearance.


The end result works as both a positive or negative image. The left image was made using the normal stenciling technique. The right image was made by inking the stencil then rubbing a piece of paper over it (like a collagraph).

Houses are for People

Paste medium and a stencil were used to create this tag but it fought me every inch of the way!

The stencil was hand-made and the paste emphasized the space between the bars and gave it a funny dimension.

So I scraped off most of the paste and re-inked the bars by hand.

Thank goodness I coated both sides of the tag with gesso before I started, otherwise, it would never have held up to the abuse.

I plan to make another bird cage stencil (this one's worse for the wear) and I'll post the steps I take so you can see my approach.

I'm linking this tag to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is Paste. The background is Idea-ology tissue paper and the birds were made with a stamp from Stamping Bella.