Stencil Making 101

I've had a few people asking about how I do stenciling.

So here it is...

Stencil Making 101

Sit in your seats, raise your hands when you have a question and absolutely no gum in class. ;)

Note:  I'm not going to provide a link to where you can buy this stuff because:

1- You can find it all at any craft stores or online.  It's easy to find and varies in price.

2- Because no one is paying me to advertise their store, so I'm not gonna. :P

Just search for them in your favorite internet search engine and you'll find them easy peasy.

For making my stencils I use this:

It's simply called a

STENCIL CUTTER

It's about $20.

You can find them at any craft store or online.  Price starts at about $10.

This thing heats up really hot and just melts the plastic film where you want it.

You trace around the pattern like you would with a marker.

Just a really hot marker. Ha.

It takes some practice, but it's not difficult.

Just go slow and steady.

(It melts such a small amount of plastic so I wouldn't worry about fumes.

I've never smelt any or dealt with anything like that and I've been doing this for years.)

I like using the burner better than an Xacto blade because it's quicker, easier and makes less mistakes.

A wood burning tool can be used too.

I also use thin transparent plastic film.

I actually have a whole roll of this stuff and I just cut off what I need when I need it,

but they can be purchased in sheets as well.

It's cheaper in the long run to buy a whole roll though.

The important thing is to get a THIN plastic!

If it's thick it'll take forever to burn through.

I also have a long sheet (1' x 3') of thick tempered beveled glass.

Mine was given to me.

I'm not positive where you can find this.

Glass store?

Sorry.  I'm unhelpful here.

Just do NOT burn your stencil on your counter or table.

Just don't.

I've heard you can also use a Craft Board.

I have no experience with it that way.

Sorry.

I put my glass down on a hard surface (I use my table)

Then, I put down my pattern with the plastic film on top.

I then trace the pattern with the burner.

Once it's all burned I pop out the middle and my stencil is done.

When making a stencil you need to have breaks in the pattern.

If your pattern doesn't have any, you'll have to draw them in so that you don't cut through a spot that will disconnect the wrong part of the stencil.

This is most important when burning letters.

You need to be able to leave the insides or the e's and o's, etc.

Understand?

Here's a YouTube video showing how to cut the stencil with both a blade and a burner.

How to video

Disclaimer:  I do not know P.J. nor do I have any experience with her tools and supplies,

but I'd rather wear an embroidered kitten sweatshirt to a rock concert than 

put myself in front of a video camera,

so you get what you get.

:)

I hope this helps.

If you have any questions let me know and I'll help as best as I can.




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http://lbratina.blogspot.com/