Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Make Homemade Stencils

Used to decorate walls, floors, boxes and fabric, stencils are the best way to transfer accurately repeated designs to any surface that can be painted. Some of the first stencils made can be traced back to cave paintings in 30,000 B.C. Some of the earliest methods of stenciling included pushing vegetable dyes through cut leaves to decorate bark cloth. Craftsmen, designers and artists use stencils to beautify rooms, create heirlooms and quickly paint repeated patterns onto canvases or wood panels.


Instructions


1. Photocopy your chosen design to the size you desire if you need it to be larger.


2. Color the entire backside of your design using the side of the colored chalk.


3. Place your design face up on the card stock, or heavy paper, and trace the design with a pencil.


4. Cut the design out with the cutting blade, leaving a blank area which is now your stencil.


5. Tape or hold the stencil in place on the surface you wish to paint so it does not move as you paint in the image using a brush.