July 16

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Getting ready to do some stenciling!

(cut with scissors as I don't know where my stinkin' exacto knife is......)

I was working on the other side of this legal-size manilla folder, and didn't even notice the excellent circle segment, etc, on this one until I turned it over to get a pic of the stencil/mask.





Stenciling came to an abrupt halt last year, when summer turned to late fall in an instant. (not going to be doing any spraying inside!)

This spring it was cool and rainy, and then hot, and then the spraying studio (aka "garage") was full of stuff.

Finally, the spraying studio was usable, it wasn't raining, and it wasn't unbearably hot, and we weren't going anywhere, and we didn't have company.....

One thing that happens with stencils and masks (the hand, above, is the mask -- you would lay it down on some part of your work you wanted to preserve, and spray over it, masking whatever you were preserving) is that they become interesting, in the process of being sprayed, and you think you would like to use them in a project rather than spray over them and lose whatever it is that pleases you about them.

I am fond of using my hand, and think it would be a good idea to cut many of these so I can use a different one any time I become attached to a stencil/mask and don't want it to get wrecked by more spray......

For example, here is my previous hand mask. I didn't want to spray over this, so I quit using it.





Note that it was cut from a regular-size manila folder, and I thought the arm should be longer, so I taped a piece of newspaper to it. Love the "LOOK"....





Another detail I really like about this -- love those orange dots.........






I should find (or replace) that exacto knife. Much easier to cut around small curves (like the ends of fingers) with the knife than with scissors.........

Particularly when the piece you are cutting out is as important as the piece you are cutting it out of..... You don't want to trash either so the other can be pristine.....


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