StencilGirl - Five Hamsas Stencil

Shared from: StencilGirl Talk               Date: Thursday, December 18, 2014

StencilGirl Guest Designer Laurie Mika

Welcome to Guest Designer Laurie Mika!!!

When Mary Beth asked if I wanted to be in her book as a guest artist I jumped at the chance. I loved the idea of using stencils with polymer clay, but of course, I like anything mixed with polymer clay!!!  Stencils on clay is a match made in heaven! I had used stencils before but the opportunity to be in her book provided the catalyst for using them in different ways.

Recently when I was asked to do a “guest designer” blog post using a few of the StencilGirl stencils I immediately had an idea to create an Indian inspired mandala. I knew that it would be painted and embedded with little jewels and glass pieces. I also knew that I wanted a Hamsa or hand shape in the middle. I chose a few wonderful stencils that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on!

The first step was to roll out a slab of polymer clay to accommodate the Five Hamsas stencil:

Using a rolling pin, I rolled over the stencil with enough force to create an embossed look

After making sure that the stencil design was deep enough, I then cut out the hand shape using a clay scalpel:

Now the fun began with painting the clay! I mixed up a little pink acrylic paint and used my finger to apply it to the tops of the embossed clay which highlighted the design:

When the paint was dry, I began laying out the doodads onto the surface and glued them in  place with Weldbond glue:

Now I was ready to create the circular mandala that my Hamsa was going to sit on. I rolled out a larger slab of clay to accommodate large Rose Window  stencil:

You can see the embossing in this picture:

Here are a few pictures of painting the mandala:

Now I embedded some glass mosaic tiles, beads and millefiori:

Almost done!

Here I have glued the hand onto the clay mandala and it is ready to go into the oven for about a half hour:

While the mandala was baking, I painted and then collaged a napkin onto a deep cradle birch panel:

For the edges of the panel board, I used a border stencil to create a design which adds to the overall East Indian look:

And voila, the final project with the mandala glued onto the background panel:

SUGGESTED PRODUCTS USED: 

• StencilGirl - Five Hamsas Stencil
• Our range of StencilGirl Stencil products
• Sculpting, Pottery and Relief Products
• Adhesives, Glue, Glue Dots and Others
• Arylic Paints