Introduction
During the 1970s, my Mom was really into Pennsylvania Dutch style stencils for home decor – I still have some of her old stencil brushes! I myself used stencils for some of my printmaking projects in the 1990s. Recently I’ve been experimenting with different ways of applying inks and paints on fabric, which is an application stencils are very well suited for, along with mark making on walls, furniture, paper and other surfaces. You can cut your own stencils or use pre-made commercial stencils. In this project I’ll explain how to cut your own and show some samples of how they can be used.
Tools and materials
Stencil material
Pre-made stencils
X-Acto knife
Plain paper
Low-tack masking tape
Tracing paper
Pencil
Self-healing cutting mat
Tools for applying the ink such as: sponges, stipple brushes, foam brushes, ColorBox Color Blender, sponge daubers, Inkcessories
Assortment of paints and inks
Water containers including one large enough to hold stencils
Rags
Pallete knife
Pallete (can be plastic food container lid or temporary pallete such as a piece of freezer paper taped down to your work surface)
Freezer paper
Old baking pan or piece of cardboard
Optional – scrap art papers of assorted sizes, colors and weights
Optional – Baren
Optional – brayer
Optional – heat tool