Creating Fabric Collages with Lynn Krawczyk's Stencils

I know you heard about Lynn Krawczyk's beautiful new set of stencils called "marked" from artistcellar! There was a fabulous blog hop including many wonderful artists who used the stencils in lots of creative ways! 

I'm excited to share how I used them too! Plus a give-away! Just scroll down and leave a comment to win the set of four stencils.

I decided to play exclusively with sheer fabrics. So, I pulled out tulle, cheesecloth, organza and chiffon in a variety of colors. (By the way, I love Lynn's signature on the packaging of the stencils.)

Here are two of the stencils laying on two different fabrics and the Adirondack color wash ink...

that I sprayed over them.

The chiffon bled a bit, but created an interesting look. I love the speckle you get with a spray.

Next I used acrylic paint and my beloved spouncer tool.

Check this out! So ethereal and subtle! This is very light blue paint stenciled onto navy blue tulle.

This is a reverse print. First I dabbed paint through the stencil, then I flipped it over and pressed it onto the purple organza.

After an hour or so of painting, spraying, dabbing and printing, I had this collection of printed sheer fabric.

Now the fun part... actually this is just more fun! I began cutting and arranging pieces to create a small fabric collage. I added some solid fabrics as the base.

Eventually, I ended up with these two designs. I machine stitched curvy arched lines over the top and trimmed them.

Another fun part: hand stitching!

Can you see the stenciled pattern on the blue organza. I really love these shapes!

Here is a bit of the cross shaped stencil with machine and hand stitching.

I call this stencil macaroni, but its official name is "commas." This is that reverse print you saw earlier.

Here is a bit that was created with the spray ink. The best part of creating a collage with layers is seeing how those blue shapes look different as they sit over the lavender and then transition to sitting over the blue base fabrics.

Finished pieces...

Concordance, 6x6 inches

Alliance, 6x6 inches

I mounted both pieces on stretched canvas and painted the edges. Here they are hanging. Isn't it fun to see them in a real setting!?

Stencils are a great addition to my studio. I love the ability to create original fabrics in unique ways with stencils, then pair them with other printed and solid fabrics to create collages that have depth, detail and interest.

Let me know how you would use the stencils in a comment and I'll pick one random comment to receive Lynn's set of stencils. You have one week to comment. I announce the winner on Wednesday, August 20. But if you must have them now now now... check out the amazing collection at artistcellar. Lynn's are there, plus lots of other stencils by other fabulous designers.