Paintstik Rubbings and Stenciling

Any stencil will do.  Metal, plastic, or otherwise!  Make your own, as far as that goes.  I like the more open spaces of ones like these shown below:

Get yourself some fabulous fabric.  Even a solid batik or cotton is great! 

And in all my paintstik adventures, I have yet to wash the fabric first, with the exception of my own hand dyed fabric, which of course, have been washed to set the dye, etc.  Some folks have been told to remove the sizing by washing fabric first… but I’ve never had any problems not washing commercial fabrics; even batiks.  But you do as you feel you need to here!  This is how I started the leaves for “Leave It Beautiful in Twilight” – the table runner posted here.

Take the paint directly from the stick, using a stencil brush.  You can also apply color with the paintstik end, directly on the open space of the stencil.  Or you can transfer and blend the colors onto a plastic coated paper plate or piece of freezer paper, shiny side up, and then transfer to the fabric as you like.

It’s best to work in a circular motion, ‘scrubbing’ (but too hard), from the outside edges of the stencil, toward the inside.  The little leaves in a row on the stencil?  This would be a fabulous pattern on a border of a quilt, on the collar of a shirt… the hem or the sleeves.  Cool! Make your own unique fabric prints!  I love blending paintstik color with the colors of the fabric underneath. It really adds a special tone and depth that I find… SWEET!

Another tip:  Use a temporary adhesive spray to lightly spritz the black rubbing plates, or your stencils, which helps to keep the fabric from moving on the plate… and REALLY helps so that your images are clear, and not ‘smeared’ or blurry, as can happen with the fabric moves over a slick surface.

A GRIP N GRIP mat is absolutely essential to great rubbings!  Well worth the $18.50, in my humble opinion.  And cleaning up the mat is a breeze… using a lint roller!  True story.  I just found that out recently, and took the lint roller to my very, very, dirty mat, and it took off the ALL (and I do mean all!) the old paint and every other piece … and left it clean and shiny! Fully restored to it’s former glorious sticky-grippy consistency as when I first purchased it!  The key:  “stick to it!”  with the linty roller paper.  Replace it often, and press down hard as your roll. 

I love to overlap designs!  Change out the colors and mix it up a little!  It makes for a more visually interesting pattern, in my opinion. And it’s FUN to do!  This is the piece I painted for “Dancing With Bright Eyes.”

Base piece for “Dancing With Bright Eyes“

My favorites are the iridescent types.  But the matte colors are fabulous too.  Great for mixing and making your own creative color combos!