Stenciling over alcohol inks

Multiple mixed media artworks featuring alcohol inks and stenciling with a variety of mediums and stencils.

11-12-20

Can you believe we are almost halfway through November already? Where does the time go sometimes?

A couple of weeks ago, I took a fabulous class in our Wanderlust 2020 course with Jennifer Pipe from Self Esteem Through Art. It was my first time trying alcohol inks and I had an absolute blast. If you are fascinated by watching things take on a life of their own, then I definitely recommend giving alcohol inks a try. It’s such fascinating fun to watch the inks flow and morph together, sometimes producing colours that you didn’t even use! It’s so cool! All my examples shown used a medium weight yupo paper.

To begin, I played with Ranger alcohol inks on the yupo paper. Then I let them dry fully for a day before I began my stenciling experiments. I took lots of photos as I went, and have included quite a few here for you to see the outcomes. If you have any questions, please feel free to pop them in the comments below, and I’ll do my best to reply to you.

For this page, I used stencil TCW899 Striped Mandala with TCW9012 Shimmery Goodness which dries iridescent. It gave this piece a translucent effect to the point that my friends were asking me how I got the alcohol inks into the mandala design (I didn’t, I just stenciled it over the top of the alcohol inks with a palette knife!). Doesn’t it look fantastic? This is definitely one of my favourite combinations.

Yupo paper with blue, turquoise, and purple alcohol inks that has been stencilied over using shimmery goodness applied with a palette knife through the striped mandala stencil. — TCW899 Striped Mandala stencil with TCW9012 Shimmery Goodness applied with a palette knife.

My next experiment had me using the TCW924 Lush Petals stencil with the TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife. Once the modeling paste was dry (the next day), I applied some mica sprays and finishing wax in silver to really make the design pop! I love the richness, dimension, and depth of the finished piece.

Yupo paper featuring purple and blue alcohol inks with marcasite silver modeling paste applied with a palette knife through the lush petals stencil. — TCW924 Lush Petals stencil with TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife.

I also decided to try the TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil over some ocean coloured alcohol inks.

Marcasite silver modeling paste applied with a palette knife through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil on top of blue and green alcohol inks on yupo paper. — TCW9033 Marcasite Silver Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife through the TCW500 Nautilus stencil.

I’ve wanted to try the TCW865 Asian floral stencil for ages, but I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity. This was it! I applied TCW9009 Black Modeling Paste with a palette knife.

Black modeling paste applied with a palette knife through the Asian Floral stencil on top of yellow, gold, orange, and red alcohol inks on medium weight yupo paper. — TCW865 Asian floral stencil stenciled with TCW9009 Black Modeling Paste using a palette knife.

Next, I decided to use the TCW912 Wheat Stalks stencil with the TCW9037 Grecian Gold Modeling paste applied using a palette knife. To add a tiny bit of dimension, but not darkness to the wheat grains, I lightly applied some black stabilo all pencil to the edges of the stenciling. This helped the wheat stalks stand out from the background a little more. This is the perfect Thanksgiving combination and will make a beautiful greeting card.

Yupo paper with green, orange, red, and yellow alcohol inks under the wheat stalks that were stenciled using Grecian Gold modeling paste applied with a palette knife. — TCW912 Wheat Stalks stencil with TCW9037 Grecian Gold Modeling paste applied with a palette knife.

For the last several pieces, rather than using a three dimensional modeling paste, I wanted to try tracing through stencils using Signo uni-ball pens. The names of the stencils are included in the captions below each photo.