It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived. Helen Walton

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Ladies (and gentlemen) start your glue gun!


Recently I took a class at our local art center.  The instructor brought in stencils of trees
which we placed on watercolor and sprayed with assorted colors.
I was admiring the tree and wondered if I could make something similar.
I dug around in the closet until I unearthed my glue gun, some twenty years old, and
a bag of glue gun "bullets".
I made my first tree and when I placed it on my paper, decided to leave it on the paper.
I used matt medium to adhere the tree to the paper.
Then I painted the tree and paper gold.  It was too bright so used a mix of paynes gray
and burnt sienna to wash over it all.  After the wash I wiped it down like I had used a stain.  I added bits of gold and silver paint to brighten it again.
So here is my first stencil/turned artwork.


Once I got going, I decided to do some flowers to see if I could do something with them


Here they are resting on wax paper.  When cool, I peel them off.


Here they are.  After I do the staining, I touch them up with gold and silver (it looks blue here)
paint.  The results are primitive so I decided that surely glue guns have improved from my
20 year old one so off I went to the local craft store.
Glue guns are identical to the old ones!
The 'bullets' I had had a price of $1.99 for 10 on the old package.  My new ones were $9.99 and I got 20.   Well, maybe this week I will make a real stencil and use it the way we did in class but I will be using my 20 year old glue gun.

Blooming has slowed on the lanai.  It has been in the mid 80's and no rain and little humidity.
I have repotted 15 orchids and have about 5 more to go.  It is muddy, messy work but the results more than make up for the work

And my little "Yellow Bird" is blooming this week.

Happy PPF!

16 comments:

Sue (this n that) said...

Wow! Glue gun art... I totally love it Susan! Thanks so much for sharing your technique too. Your tree is gorgeous and so textural and the finished flower motifs and brilliant.
Phew, tough work potting all those Orchids - but well worth it from what we've seen. I love your Yellow Bird... that little pinched in section is a lovely touch too. Happy PPF!

sirkkis said...

Your technique is amazing. Lovely result.
Beautiful flower photos.
Happy PPF and weekend xx

Christine said...

Beautiful work, and happy repotting, well it has to be done!

Özge Başağaç said...

Hello Susan. Thank you very much for visiting my blog.I love making and using stencils, too.Limiting myself to 15 minutes helps making decisions while trying to use the stencils.I tried making glue gun stencils but i used a lot of glue sticks, so i decided to take a more economic way :)Your trials look very promising. Happy PPF :)

Faye said...

Looks like you have discovered an interesting and beautiful technique, Susan. Love the effect of your beautiful backgrounds.

John R said...

What a great technique. Both pieces are wonderful.

peggy gatto said...

Awesome idea!!! Now where did I put my glue gun?
Thanks!

Tracy said...

Lovely! You obviously have a lot more control with your glue gun than I do. No matter how careful I am, there always seem to be strings of glue everywhere!

Renee Dowling said...

I've made glue gun stencils before!

I really adore your tree and the metallic colours!

Giggles said...

These are gorgeous!! Very inspirational! I love how they turned out especially the texture and colouring!! Try a dollar store for the glue sticks...probably a bit cheaper there!! Thanks for sharing!

Hugs Giggles

riitta k said...

Ingenious! I do have a glue gun, maybe I'll have a try. Your Yellow Bird is stunning!!!!

DVArtist said...

Wonderful glue gun art. I too use this technique on some thing. You are absolutely right glue guns are the same just more expensive. LOL It is so sunny where you are. Flowers are beautiful.

Gloria j Zucaro said...

What a clever use of "glue". I have never seen this method before and plan to try it out with my "old" glue gun. Your blooming orchid is lovely. I think if you find the right window in your house(for me a North Light window) they do quite well and last a few years.

Anonymous said...

Great technique, I love your beautiful creations!

denthe said...

How fun to use your glue gun stencils this way! Great idea, I love what you did :-)

Nordljus said...

What a wonderful idea, to use your glue gun in this way! Your tree and flowers look wonderful!