April 18,2007  BALANCE... What does it mean to be balanced in today's world?

I finally started practicing with making stencils again. I have attempted cutting stencils with an exact-o knife but my hand cramps. I could cut out bigger designs. But I am not capable of cutting fine details. So I bought a stencil cutter at Joanne Fabrics. I need a great deal more practice to get beautiful smooth edges. But it is allot easy with this electric tool. The hot knife really does glide through the plastic like butter. I guess there are two drawbacks with this method. The first is the tool is very hot. The second drawback is the smell of the burning plastic. But I hope to get better with practice. Plus I believe the messages on both these pages relate to living a balanced life. It is important to learn to let go and fly with love as our guide.

Comments

[Julie Prichard]

The pages look great! I know what you mean about the smell....I alter my breathing so that when the knife is in the plastic, I am bnlowing the smell away from my face. LOL What we do for art... :) Have a great weekend!

[michelle ward]

Susan - great pages! I think it's cool that you tried the exacto first so you would know how awesome it is to use the heat tool. I like how you painted over the letters twice. Thanks for sharing with the team!

[Flo]

I don't know what I am more wowed by - your stencil designs themselves (esp. the top one), or the beautiful journal pages you made with them.

I know what you mean about the hand cramps with hand cutting with a knife :)

My hot stencil cutter arrived in the mail this morning, so I will have a play with it tonight - I have the burning plastic smell to look forward to :)

[ArtKat]

Great stencils, they look good on your pages, too! You might want to try some different kinds of plastic, some smell worse than others when heated. I didn't think the mylar I had was too bad, but take my word for it and don't try styrene - awful! :)

[Lay hoon]

this is beautiful.
I use knife to cut the stencil. This is my first time heard about the hot stencil cutter. It's must be a great tools except the 2 drawbacks that you described.

[Cath S]

That 'Let Go' is brilliant - your pages look great :-)

[Becci]

Your post is pretty neat Susan! I agree living a balanced life is super important and just might be one of the major keys to life! Might be the Libra in me too...

Have a great hair day! Becci

[Ursula C]

Love the stencils and your pages look fantastic! I especially love the first one, and that green is a great colour.