LotusBlossom

[Franklin]

This looks great. Some very nice and interesting techniques you used there. I should take more time to read other peoples worklogs, because I only just discovered this great workklog. + rep from me.

[amberella]

So it took me about 24 hours and 3 different stencil attempts to finally make this work. When stenciling, it's not so much the intricacy alone that creates problems, but the curves vs. straight lines & chunks of space vs. little lines. Straight is easy to cut and blocks of space are easy to cut. Tiny little curves and thin lines are near impossible. The plastic is brittle and likes to break off if lines are extended too far beyond the base - not to mention that the design just looks like a big jumble and loses clarity. But I finally simplified the design enough to have it work (I think).

This is the photo I started with:

After freehand drawing the first unsuccessful stencil, I tried running the pic through a Photoshop stamp filter, which did help some:

I'm working with two colors (purple and green) which together create white. So usually I'd do two stencils, with each having their respective areas cut out and then having the cross-over areas (white) cut out on both. For this design, though, a lot is white, and the white is near little curvy lines which are very hard to replicate across two stencils. And if they don't line up perfectly, you get weird line edges that look like a bungled 3-d image. This stamp helped simplify the design, but obfuscated which areas needed to be which colors. Blech.


After the second stencil broke (and broke and broke - and had positive/negative problems) I had to simplify further.

So in the end I used one main stencil and painted green, then taped the areas that stayed green and painted purple to create my white, then had a separate purple stencil. What a bitch.

There's also some shading that's not visible in the pics.

I think I'm also going to add some Japanese symbols to the right in the blank space. Not sure what to say yet.

amberella

EDIT:

Here are some additional pics of the failures. How exciting.

Too complicated:

Simplified, but pos/neg probs:

Drawing for final stencil #1:

[DaveW]

Impressive work, most people would avoid such a difficult subject, but you're jumping right in there. Don't let it get you down if it doesn't work, although I can see I don't need to tell you that. +Rep.

-Dave

[amberella]

I started over on this last square board to try it again from scratch. Been working busy for a while so pics soon when the new version is done. Hope all is well with everyone!

amberella

[.Maleficus.]

Damn is that impressive. +rep from me too.

[amberella]

hey just an fyi that my stuff is all packed up to move - got an apartment in NY (brooklyn) ... so the system is quasi put together already and i will update you sometime next month. happy halloween/thanksgiving/winter holiday of your choosing.

-amberella

[Computer-Geek]

Any Updates?