I have enjoyed using stencils as design elements in some of my monoprint work. My guest artist post is today. I choose to make an Exploding Box. As you will see the finished project is a box and once the lip is removed the box "explodes" apart. You can do a google search for directions to make one of these which is what I did.
Using heavy hot press watercolor paper I cut out the parts.
I decided I wanted to make the box look like an old brick building. I painted the parts with a light colored paint first and then used a brick stencil.
To make the building look old I used a technique my friend John Arbuckle taught me. http://artjuvenation.blogspot.com/ To make it look like peeling paint I covered part of the pieces with petroleum jelly. I painted a different color over that and it acts as a resist. When the paint was dry I rubbed off the paint that had the jelly underneath. I loved the look this gave the box pieces.
I then printed out some windows I found online. The stencil I decided to use are ones Seth Apter (http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/) designed for Stencil Girl. They are graffiti themed. You can see on the piece for the lid I started on that.
I turned the piece over and collaged the inside of the box or building.
Next I painted the second box piece and then used the stencils on it.
Here you see the completed box exterior. I used a fun tool called an eBrush to get the stencil designs on the box. I felt it really mimicked the spray paint that is most often used on buildings. http://www.craftwellusa.com/products/ebrush
Here is the box "exploded" open. This was a lot of fun. I think often artists forget to have fun with their work. This was not only fun but I learned a lot using some techniques I seldom use.
