Why do I love crayon rubbings? Is it the historical significance that brass rubbings played in medieval times?  Is it the memory of first grade making leaf rubbings? A little bit of those but the biggest reason is crayon rubbings are immediate gratification.  No waiting for anything to dry.  The only prep work is taking the paper off a crayon so this is my kind of play!

New to watercolors?  In the video, I share how coloring them in with watercolors enable me to get lights and darks of the same color by just changing the amount of water I used as I color in the crayon rubbings made with  Triangular Pathways and Trio of Thorns.

Watch Making crayon rubbings with stencils and watercolors on YouTube.

All you need is a crayon, a stencil, and a piece of paper.  I chose book text for the added pattern of the words peeking out but you can use any paper you want!  I wondered if book text would be too thick of a paper to do this, and it worked wonderfully but I imagine each paper is a little different so if you have any problems you may want to experiment around with a variety of weights of papers.

Those bargain boxes of Crayola crayons from back to school time are quite handy when it comes to making rubbings!  Here are the steps to making a crayon rubbing:

1.  take the wrapper off the crayon
2. put a piece of paper on top of the stencil
3. rub the crayon on top of the paper (you can tape it all down, but I prefer to just hold it with my hands)

A big perk of using a crayon is there is zero waiting for the crayon to dry and it won’t smear if you use something like watercolor on top of it.  The crayon acts a bit like a fence and keeps the watercolor in, so it looks like I painted carefully, but you know I am not that detail oriented!

What if you don’t have watercolors?  Try substituting with a spray ink.  In the video, I used a green Dylusions spray ink to get a similar look.

Use one color or multiple colors- the choice is yours and can give you a variety of looks.

All the color variation is simply adding more water to the watercolor or less water.  The less water that was added, the stronger the color. The more water that was added, the softer the color.  Instant variation!

 

 

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and it helps keep the free tutorials coming!

I want to be a detective, live in a castle, have a conversation with Matisse, get out of a thorny situation, spend the afternoon at the fountains of Versailles, and travel an unpredictable path.   How do I know I want to do all of this?  Whatever floats around in my head comes out in my art and this time it came out as 7 new stencils!

Below you’ll find the inspiration for each stencil…but first the GIVEAWAY after all that is the important right?

• Prize: A complete set of all 7 new releases! Of course, if you win and you’ve already ordered any of the new stencils, you can pick any of my other 50+ stencils at StencilGirl.
• Get Entered: Leave a comment on this post. Want more chances to win?  Bonus entries for sharing this post on Facebook, or Pinterest, or Instagram! How will I know you did it? Just leave a comment telling me where you shared it.
• Blog Posts all Week:I’ll have new videos on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday and I figured you’d like more chances to win- so all of those blog post comments and shares will be included in the giveaway too so be sure to check back for the new videos.
• Who Can Win? I want everyone to have a chance to win, so international folks are eligible too!
• Deadline: Random.org will be picking a winner from the 4 blog posts on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced on the blog the next day.  ***UPDATE*** Giveaway is now closed

If I had a time machine, the one person I would love to spend an afternoon with is Henri Matisse.   My fascination with both his work and the man intensified after reading, Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Conquest of Colour: 1909-1954  Every page I read mades me have more and more respect for the master of color and his not so easy journey.

The Cut Outs Inspired by Matisse stencil was inspired by how he handled a huge challenge.   Later in his life, Matisse could no longer paint or sculpt due to declining health but he found a new way to create – his paper  cut outs.  These cut outs of organic shapes of coral and seaweed are symbols of determination and a powerful creative spirit.

These stars, like Henri Matisse, follow no one’s rules but their own! Each star has anywhere from five to nine points and a distinctly jaunty personality. Let their joyful, offbeat light shine in your play!

It’s no secret in my family that I want to live in a castle.  I’ve told my kids that the little one King Ludwig built in Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle, was maybe a bit too much for me.  Perhaps something smaller, but with ample towers.  Needless to say that hasn’t appeared under the Christmas tree yet, but I can now stencil all the fairy tale towers I want with the Once Upon a Time stencil.  It includes the 5 tower masks, the row of diminutive towers, and the tower stencil.

Fairy tales seem to have thorns and those tough situations that princesses and queens have to navigate.  This briar patch of interlocking thorns and branches is the perfect pattern for any project—it can be used to evoke images of enchanted forests, fences, tumbleweeds, and more.  The Trio of Thorns stencil includes a large and small version of the same pattern to give you lots of flexibility in your play.

If you look closely at this pattern, you can see large, rounded triangles connecting the smaller triangles. This shape is called the Reuleaux triangle, and it is the only shape other than a circle to have a constant width, and it can even be used as a drill bit to drill square holes! This strange, wonderful combination of circle, triangle, and square can be the perfect metaphor for the unpredictable paths we all find ourselves traveling.  The twists of life’s journey where you may be heading steadily down one path and then suddenly make a sharp turn into a new direction inspired the Triangular Pathways stencil.

An episode of The Streets of San Fransisco staring Michael Douglas and Karl Malden had a kidnapping and a ransom note made with letters cut out of the newspaper.  Apparently, that left a big impression on me, because ever since watching that rerun as a kid, I wanted to be a detective and solve the case of the cliched ransom note.

The hand drawn letters on the Ransom Alphabet stencil are wonderfully wonky to create playful words.

Arched Fountains was inspired by the glorious fountains of Versailles.  While doing the typical whirlwind tourist type things at Louis’ little cottage, I fantasized about spending an afternoon just enjoying the fountains  and soaking up the opulence of his time at Versailles.

You bet I have videos of the play with these stencils that I’ll be sharing starting tomorrow, so leave a comment, get entered to win, and stop back for the videos!

***UPDATE*** Giveaway is now closed

Giveaway details:

• Prize: A complete set of all 7 new releases! Of course, if you win and you’ve already ordered any of the new stencils, you can pick any of my other 50+ stencils at StencilGirl.
• Get Entered: Leave a comment on this post. Want more chances to win?  Bonus entries for sharing this post on Facebook, or Pinterest, or Instagram! How will I know you did it? Just leave a comment telling me where you shared it.
• Blog Posts all Week:I’ll have new videos on Thursday, Saturday, and Monday and I figured you’d like more chances to win- so all of those blog post comments and shares will be included in the giveaway too so be sure to check back for the new videos.
• Who Can Win? I want everyone to have a chance to win, so international folks are eligible too!
• Deadline: Random.org will be picking a winner from the 4 blog posts on Jan. 31st at 11:59 pm. EST. Winner will be announced on the blog the next day. ***UPDATE*** Giveaway is now closed