Stenciling tips

Always be careful when using sharp items. Cut away from you.

 

Right away I will warn you: The biggest mistake in stenciling is too much paint on your brush. If the brush is not dry enough the paint will seep under the stencil, causing the edges of your design to be fuzzy rather than crisp. The centre of the stencil will be heavy with colour, which makes an undesirable finnished affect.

 

Step 1: Position the stencil sheet on the object and tape it on each corner so it won’t slip Hold your brush in an upright position so that when you dip the end bristles into the paint it coats evenly Dip the brush into the pat and then tap it up and down on newspaper to remove all excess paint. The paint should go on almost dry. A dry brush will achieve a clean, sharp design. The paint on your brush should feel dry to touch.

 

Step 2: With the brush straight up and down tap the paint onto the area to be stencilled. This motion is called “stippling”. If  you use a hard pounce the dry brush will cover the area and you will avoid smeariing and bleeding paint under your stencil. Tapping up and down with the brush in a pouncing motion allows you to cover the area so that it becomes more dense as you continue.

 

Step 3: When finished carefully lift the stencil sheet to check the design. Always work one section of the design at a time. Letting each section dry.

 

For my stencil design that I drew I used rustic flowers as inspiriation. I simply used printer paper and carefully (and I do mean carefully) cut away the design I had drawn. I cut away the paper where I wanted the paint to be. With cautious use I was able to use the stencil four times on a project and still finished up with a useable stencil for other projects.  Of course you can use an old cereal box or other type of stiff card if you want a more durable stencil.