Monday, January 10, 2011

Doctor Who Stencil Art - Canvas

My first crafting post!
Please excuse my writing style and way of explaining things. This is my first blog and I wouldn't be surprised if some parts sound confusing as I learn how to explain on and write a blog better.

Now back to the craft!

I wanted to give my friend a Christmas/Going Away gift before she left to study abroad, so it had to be something good.  *Idea* - Doctor Who themed gift. We are both huge Doctor Who fans and often spend our down time when working on our campus programming board discussing all things related.

My inspiration came from a Craftster post I saw while searching for ideas. (Check it our Here)
I loved what this person, taerowyn on Craftsrer, did and thought I could do an amateur version for a gift.

My process:

Unfortunately, I had a brain lapse and forgot to take pictures during the process. That would be more helpful, right?

For stenciling, this is my second attempt, I use the handy kitchen supply known as Freezer Paper. Freezer paper is waxy on one side and paper on the other. The paper side is perfect for sketching patterns and the wax side sticks to what you want to stencil on when ironed.

First, I found pictures/photos I wanted to stencil.  I decided to do the 3 most recent Doctors (9, 10, & 11) and the Tardis (If you are not a Doctor Who fan, ignore those words and just know that is 4 pictures).
I do not own Photoshop software of any level, so I had to use Microsoft Word to change the photos into Black & White pictures.

Example:



Next was tracing the picture onto the paper side of the Freezer Paper. As you can see there is a lot of black on that photo and it distorts the edges, so I had to get creative and compare pictures for an idea of where the edges of the face and hair should be.  

After tracing I cut out the parts that were black in the B&W photo with an Exacto knife. That was a learning experience and, no worries, no one was harmed during this craft project!

As I mentioned earlier, Freezer Paper can be ironed on to many things temporarily. I ironed on the Freezer Paper stencil to the canvas and used a sponge brush to dab on black paint. After the paint dried I peeled of the paper and ... WA-LA, art! 

**Something learned from the project: While stenciling is now one of my more favorite crafting techniques, canvas does not make a nice seal with Freezer Paper. I had to re-do my Tardis because the first version's paint bled and feathered everywhere.

Finished Product:

Isn't my orange desk a lovely background.

I hope to have another craft or cooking project ready soon! 
I also plan on learning how to better layout and manage this blog so it looks more appealing... we will see.



6 comments:

  1. Yay! I'll be following! I'm not the best crafter in the world, so this is pretty cool to read!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wowza woman!
    How cool are those pics!
    I'm not just saying this because he's my fave, but I think the David T one is the best Dr pic...well, maybe it's cuz he's my fave ;)
    love the tardis too!

    does the freezer paper work for things like t-shirts too or is it better for canvas and paper?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Becs - David was my fav too, but he took the longest to find a picture that would actually work. So many pictures with face shadows!

    I did a Supernatural pillowcase for a gift too (forgot pics oops), but the freezer paper worked much much better on the cloth than canvas. I've seen a lot of people do t-shirts that come out nicely too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooooh, well I'll look into freezer paper then, it's been years since I've tried t-shirts and stuff.

    But you did a great job then on David! You'd never know it was a challenge with how good it looks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there! I've included a link to your Doctor Who stencils on my Squidoo site entitled Doctor Who Pumpkin Patterns. I hope you don't mind! (They were too cool not to add!)
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Fluffy & Heather!
    Sorry I didn't respond sooner - never got the notification for this one :)

    ReplyDelete