I’m so excited to be able to share the play that’s been happening with the Overlapping Shapes collection! It’s my latest release over at StencilGirl Products!

These stencils can work by themselves and they can work in pairs. In the video, you saw how the Overlapping Circles Filled fit right over the Overlapping Circles. The squares pair will do that and so will both of the heart stencils.

Here’s an example below where I did the base layer with the Overlapping Squares stencil in gray, then put the Overlapping Squares Filled on top. With the blue, I simply stenciled in some of the spaces. In the other, I sponged paint over the entire stencil.

The stencils can also be used alone. The purples, blues, and greens below are all courtesy of alcohol inks and the Overlapping Circles Filled stencil.

The graphic vibe of these stencils had me thinking monochromatic and here it’s stenciled onto a page from an old dictionary using a gel plate. In the video, you saw how easy it was to quickly stencil a full page using a gel plate.

These designs called for the rainbow too! Bright, vibrant, and fully saturated color!

The stenciling above and below was created using PanPastels and a gel plate with the Overlapping Shapes stencils. Yup, you can use PanPastels and get gel prints like this in one single pull.

One big jumbo bonus of using PanPastels on a gel plate is they are fully and totally sealed automatically! I’ve got an entire workshop all about combining the layering ability of a gel plate and creamy PanPastels called Gel Printing with PanPastels.

The hearts below was also created using PanPastels and a gel plate using just one stencil, the Overlapping Hearts.

Once you’ve stenciled the Overlapping Squares (or any of them), use a pen to trace the lines to create an extra feeling of depth. Here I did very loose lines all around the white.

Papers like this can also be cut apart. This gives you the flexibility and freedom to have a variety of sizes of patterned squares.

All those white spaces are a great place to doodle too! I was surprised by how meditative and relaxing it felt to use a pen on these papers. With everything happening in the world with COVID-19, being able to take a break from the stress and worry was a huge relief.

But that shouldn’t have surprised me because I know that using your art supplies can relieve so much stress and help get back into a calm headspace.

And after you’ve got it all doodled in, you bet you can cut clusters of hearts out!

Another way you can use scissors to give you different looks is by cutting around the edges. Both of the heart stencils were used to create this. First came the gray stenciling with the Overlapping Hearts, then Overlapping Hearts Filled was placed on top and the pinks were added.

There’s a very special reason that I used these stencils on these 3 papers and I’m saving the story for an upcoming video! If you’re not already on my newsletter list, get signed up and you’ll be sure to know when that video is released.

This Overlapping Shapes collection is an exploration of the idea that everything is connected. It symbolizes the moments and places where things overlap and the space that surrounds those points of intersection.

Holding space, people coming back into our lives, skills we’ve learned turning out to be stepping stones were what these represented to me during the design process. But I didn’t have any idea what it would come to mean in 2020.

The whole process of creating these stencils took about 6 months from the first draft of the idea to today, when they were released to the public. These started long before any of us had any idea what 2020 held for us all with COVID-19. But if there is one thing I’ve learned this year, it’s how truly interconnected the entire world is.

You can find the entire Overlapping Stencils collection at StencilGirl Products. If you’ve never been to their website, be prepared to see an incredible selection and diversity of artist designed stencils!

What happens when you fold a round gel plate over and over? A kaleidoscope gel print! There’s something so exciting when that gel plate flops back flat and the pattern is revealed!

If you want to see how this technique was discovered, and need a laugh, check out the livestream recordings in my Facebook group, Rediscovering Your Creativity.

Start with as many colors as you want and a gel plate. I’ve found the round ones my favorite to use with this technique but if you’ve got another shape on hand, then use that! After all, the best art supplies are the ones you have within arm’s reach!

Add blobs, smears, and bits of color on one side of the gel plate. Then fold it in half. Yes, fold it. Pictures don’t do folding justice so be sure to check it out in the video.

The folding happens very easily when the plastic protectors are removed. My daughter found that out in our livestream. You can see that video in the group here.

When you take your prints, the first one will have the most paint and as you take the ghost prints, each one will have less and less paint on it. This means you’ll see different details in each print! I love that every single print is unique!

How you put your paint on the plate will determine what your kaleidoscope looks like so play around with making different kinds of paint lines and smears.

Fold it as many times as you want. I tend to have 4 as my goal, but if I lose count then I just add whatever I want. And yes, I can have a hard time counting to 4 when I’m wrapped up in seeing what the colors will do!

The first print is great but my favorites are usually the 2nd and 3rd, the ghost prints.

Is this all a gel plate can do? Absolutely not! There are so many possibilities! Check out my workshops for more in depth ways to play!

But my workshops aren’t for everybody. If you’re looking for an art workshop that is an academic lecture experience full of formal terms then my workshops aren’t for you.

If you’re looking for playful step-by-step explanations of art concepts so that you can apply them with confidence all while having fun, then check out the workshops. But only if you want to enjoy using your art supplies.

Here are the supplies used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. For example, I’m an Amazon Associate & I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you get a really good feeling knowing that you are helping keep the free tutorials coming!

The other colors I used are cadmium yellow light hue, Cerulean Blue Hue, and Perm. Green Light from Plaza art.