by Shelly Stokes, Founder and Creative Mentor

As I started today’s post, I realized that I have been working with Paintstiks for nearly 15 years. Holy buckets, Batman! Where have the years gone?
In that time, I confess that I have made every mistake in the books – and then some. Worse yet, I made them frequently until I really sat down to study the process and see what worked and what did not.
Today, I want to talk about making personal prints with Paintstiks and Rubbing Plates, and share some strategies that will allow you to avoid two really common mistakes. Yes, you get to learn from all of my experience – and the gazillion goofs I have made over the past decade and a half.
To follow along, you will need:
- One piece of relatively plain fabric (a fat quarter is fine)
- One Cedar Canyon Rubbing Plate with an overall pattern
- 3 or 4 Shiva Paintstiks that coordinate with your fabric
If you are brand new to Paintstik Rubbings, go back to Part 1 of this series for a review. Pay attention to the information about sticky mats, sticky spray and using the side of the paintstik for making rubbings.
Create Personal Paintstik Prints
To make an overall print like you see on the cover of Paintstiks on Fabric, you simply fill up your fabric with rubbings, using one or more plates and several colors of paint. Easy, peasy, right? Well, not quite. It is a whole lot easier if we start at the beginning.
Just so you know, there are two classic pitfalls just waiting for you, an unsuspecting victim. Yes, you are going to make these mistakes. It happens to the best of us – you are in good company.
Mistake #1 is running off the side of a rubbing plate and leaving a big smudge of paint where you don’t want it. Mistake #2 is attempting to line up (or “register”) paintstik rubbings one after the next to make a continuous design.
Both of these problems can be hazardous to your “happiness” quotient, so I am here to share my strategies for avoiding them like the plague. I like to be happy while I paint. 🙂
Step 1: Prepare to Paint
Remove the film from the side of 3 or 4 Paintstiks. Spray the top of a rubbing plate with 404 sticky spray. Place a Grip-n-Grip mat on your work surface. Press your fabric to remove wrinkles. I’m using one of the Op Art Rubbing Plates for this demo.
Step 2: Paint the First Image
Lay your fabric over the rubbing plate. Press the fabric gently onto the plate. (The sticky spray will hold it in place.)
Using the SIDE of a Paintstik, paint from the center of a rubbing plate toward the edge, stopping before you get to the edge of the plate. (The fact that a plate is 7” square does not mean you have to paint the the whole thing.)
By painting a portion of the image and stopping before you get to the edge of a plate, you stop Mistake #1 dead in its tracks. Woohoo! I love stopping mistakes before they happen.
Step 3: Move the Fabric, Paint the Next Image
Lift the fabric from the rubbing plate and move the plate a few inches. The edges of the first painted image should still be on the top of the plate, but not right in the center.
Using a different color Paintstik, paint the second image. Start in the center of the plate and stop before you get to the edge. Allow the second image to overlap the first image for a short distance.
Whatever you do, DO NOT attempt to “register” or “line up” rubbing plate images one next to the other (Mistake #2). You can’t see through the fabric to get the plate in just the right spot, and all you will do is get frustrated, grumpy and desperately in need of chocolate!
If you are really masochistic, be my guest, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I actually attempted this for one project and just about drove myself crazy. Trust me, it’s not meant to be.
Step 4: Fill the Fabric with Painted Images
Once you get started, this is pretty easy. Paint a portion of a rubbing plate image, move the plate a few inches, change colors, and paint the next image. Then again, and again.
Your overlapping images will fill the fabric gracefully and create a really beautiful result. You will have what I call a “Personal Print” that will be unique to you, and make your next project really stand out! Here are a couple of examples.
To create this piece of fabric, I used one of the Doodles plates and a bunch of Iridescent Paintstik colors. I used my favorite Candice Bag pattern from Lazy Girl Designs to make a bag that I used until I literally wore it out.
For this gorgeous fabric, I used one of the Floral Fantasy rubbing plates and a couple of Matte Paintstik colors. The matte colors are not as smooth as the iridescent colors when you are painting, but the effect is still lovely when it is all done. This cute little bag is made from the iSnap pattern from Stitchin’ Sisters.
What’s Your Secret for Making Personal Paintstik Prints?
Now that I have shared my best strategies for avoiding two messy mistakes, I want to hear from you! Do you have a method for making paintstik prints with rubbing plates? Please share with your friends here in the community. You can leave a comment here, or click over to our Facebook page.
I really enjoy the newsletters and the tips I have learned. Looking forward to more info on the Cameo and your playtiume.
Thanks, Ruth. I’m so glad you find the tips helpful. Writing the newsletter is on the things I enjoy most!
Great article. Going to get my paint sticks and get to work.
Woohoo! I’m always excited if a post gets someone to “go play.” 🙂
That was inspiring. I’ve got the rubbing plates I haven’t used yet and I’ll try this this afternoon.
Share what you do with your Silhouette. I have one and am endlessly frustrated trying to make stencils.
Will do, Jan. I spent several hours yesterday testing out materials on the Silhouette. (More than I should have… but that’s another story.) Some things worked great, some not so great. I think it’s going to take a fair amount of experimenting to decide what I like best.
I really like the overlapped images, but it occurs to me to wonder if it’s possible to get lined-up images by iron-marking lines on your fabric to correspond to the size of the rubbing-plate, ie
Measure rubbing plate
Fold up fabric horizontally and lightly press folds,
Open
Fold up fabric vertically and lightly press folds between previously ironed lines
Open and place on rubbing-plate.
I imagine you wouldn’t get perfect registration, but perhaps good enough. It might be better to start on a centre space instead of an end/corner, and work outwards. And since you’re not colouring right to the edges of the plate, you could then fill in the gaps by rubbing them over a different plate with a small or regular pattern.
Judith, I can hear the gears going round in your brain from here! Good for you! There are many ways to “kinda-sorta” get the images lined up. Just no good way to get them precisely lined up. Nor are most of the designs created in such a way that the design would flow nicely from one image to the next. I dislike putting creases in the fabric because it always shows in the finished rubbing, even after the fabric is pressed thoroughly.
You can definitely intersperse two rubbing plate images. That can be lots of fun. If you decide to try out your ideas, I would love to see the results.
Shelly, Love your newsletters, tips and expert advice. I Love the paintstiks and plates, though I have to admit I am involved in several medias and my rubbing plates are crying “NEGLECT,” I will get to them one day soon. Perhaps this newsletter will inspire me though I must obtain some sticky spray first. Best wishes and keep up the good job, you’re a most inspiring business lady.
Thank you so much, Judy. I appreciate your kind words. That sticky spray is the best thing since sliced bread — I’m not sure what I would do without it!
Mm, yes, creases do show if they’re in your rubbing section, but if you rub inside the marked lines and press the creases out before you fill in the gaps with an all-over it might still work. Or the crease lines could actually be a design feature.
I’m not doing much rubbing at the moment as I’m working very hard on my original technique quick-piecing of checkerboards, octo-diamonds and spirals. But in the moment of writing that, it occurred to me that that could be another solution to the problem of creases – hide them in the seam-lines. My technique preserves the way the original fabrics line up with themselves, so it would combine well with line-up rubbings.