Once more with feeling (tea without camera)

I still don't have a camera that takes decent photos, so I'm bringing back a "semi" tutorial I created back in April, 2010 for Tea Tuesday. 

The month April should have been an indication that I was planning to show ways you can recycle, upcycle, repurpose, reuse, renew objects destined for the trash. I'm sure (if you've been around my blog at all) you are aware of my love/hate relationship with plastic. You've heard me rant about it before. However, until the packaging industry catches up to the consumer's needs and pollution free wrapping, we will have plastic. So, that's why I decided to add a little plastic to Tea Tuesday.

Plastic I love to hate includes plastic lids. My mission was to make a stencil, so I hoped I would love the outcome. My plan was to glue an image to the plastic, then cut the stencil out using my image as the guide, rather than having to redraw the image onto the plastic lid. I wasn't sure this would work since I'm craft knife challenged, but it was the only way I knew how to cut the plastic, since scissors could stretch the plastic and ruin the stencil.  Now it's time to walk you through the process I went through.

All plastic lids have a raised circle in the center. It doesn't matter the brand or quality, they all have them. We'll have to contend with it when making our stencil if we want our stencil to actually lay flat. So take that raised hump, caused by the injection molding process, into account when you plan your design.

I spent one entire afternoon drawing this simple cup to honor Tuesday Tea.  I knew my design had a lot of problems, because I simply don't know how to draw, but it was mine, so I had to live with it. Please note that anything BLACK in this image was removed from the plastic to make the stencil. What you see in black will be what you get when you use the stencil.

I cut the outer ring. You need some incredibly sharp scissors to cut that ring. If they are even the slightest bit dull, they will tear and stretch the plastic. If you don't believe me, check the upper part of the "circle" above.

I put a black dot in the center hump and got out the Wacky Tac, given to my by my friend Sally, who shops on QVC, the only place I know you can buy this repositionable glue made specifically for scrapbooking projects. The plan was to cover the "hump" anywhere in the tea area. It had the most material that can be cut away from the plastic lid.

 Next I totally saturated the back side of the drawing

and prepared to wait at least four hours for the glue to dry.

This is what the circle looked like after I glued the drawing to the circle later that day in preparation for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.

The next Tuesday I started playing with my now cut stencil and some fabric spray paint I received in order to write a tutorial on the paint.

If you compare the drawing above to the cut stencil, you will note I was not as ambitious with the details of the coffee cup stencil as I originally sketched it. However, I was pleased to have managed to cut it out at all. The first thing I did was lay my plastic cup stencil on a piece of clean-up fabric from a flour resist dyeing session.

I apparently didn't get the stencil placed properly, because instead of an image of a coffee cup, there was just a blob of paint.

It happened every time I used the stencil with that paint.

Then I got the bright idea to use black paint around the stencil on a dried tea bag.  That was an even worse disaster.  Remember how I've always said I can't draw?  This only reinforces my inability to create even the simplest of items or objects.

But, in the end, I still have the stencil, the wooden block and a tea pot cut from card stock I used as a mask, and later as a coaster.

Have a great Tea Tuesday.  I want to welcome Patty home from her trip to Britain and Ireland.  I can't wait to see what she has planned to show us with her traveling tea cup.  I also hope your art and tea (or any other drink you choose) make you smile today.  Please leave a link if you are drinking along with me.