#stencil tutorial

I made this for someone who is unable to use a craft knife, but can use scissors. I hope this is helpful to someone else out there! My apologies for the low quality, this was initially a 17 page pdf. Tumblr beloved refuses to let me add pdfs, so I had to make it into images.

Tutorial images under the cut (it's long because I added photos and details)

made one for reddit so I might as well post it here as well

Materials

writing utensil (pen, pencil, marker, etc)

paper (i usually use plain printer paper but most other scrap paper works fine as well, just be aware that thicker paper makes it harder to trace existing designs/logos)

clear packing tape

scissors and/or exacto knife (those little scissors you can get in cheap nail care kits work great

Optional Materials: Device w/ screen of your choice, printer

Step 1:

Draw out your design, trace from device, or print out design

(in example image I am tracing from a screen)

r/AnarchoStencilism (Deviantart link if you prefer) is great for free stencil designs

Step 2:

Cover both sides (front and back) of the design in packing tape

Step 3:

Cut it out

Step 4:

Use your exacto knife/scissors to cut out the design

Step 4:

Apply to whatever you want!

Happy DIYing!

Quick T-Shirt Stencil/Paint Tutorial Thing with Paint.net

DIYing this into a tshirt for the Chrissy Chlapecka concert!!!!

Disclaimer: This is not as detailed as it should be, nor is it universal to every image you may want to stencil. I also am not a graphic designer so there are probably easier ways to go about this.

Part 1) How I made the stencil:

Step 1) Acquire image and make a printer friendly stencil (I use paint.net). This way you don't waste all of your ink

Usually I use the magic wand tool to select and delete the inside to leave the outline.

And this is how I make my stencils usually, clean it up, make it black and white, yadda yadda.

Today I did it a bit differently tho (for funsies)

I went to Adjustments-> Levels adjustment and messed around until I got what I wanted (adjusted the input histogram) (don't ask me what this means I'm not a graphic artist, I just fuck around until I get what I want)

Then, I made it black and white

I changed the contrast to make the lines distinct (after trying to print it the first time because it was hard to see. )

Part 2) Bringing your stencil into the physical realm

Hit Ctrl + P to bring up the print menu (if you are using anything other than Windows, I'm sorry). Instead of

PRINT THE STENCIL. Cardstock will give you a much better stencil because it will be more durable.

Then you can take an Exacto knife/craft knife and cut it out. Any old one will do, just make sure your blade is sharp. I did not document this process because I didn't think about making a tutorial until after I finished

My mom is cool and let me borrow her ergonomic knife that she uses for cardmaking (WHICH IS SO GOOD INCLUDED PICS IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHICH ONE)

AFTER THAT YOU BE VERY CAREFUL AND CUT THINGS OUT. I chose this design specifically because it was already ideal for stencilling, but if yours is not, be sure to leave some attachment points

NOW YOU GOT YOUR STENCIL

"Shabby, what about the dot in the 'i'?"

Fret not, fret not! It shall be addressed. I borrowed some low tack tape (again from my mom) (thanks mom) (shout out to moms with craft supplies). I'm going to trace the dot of the eye, cut the tape in the dot shape, and place it over the 'i' when I paint the stencil.

Actual shirt painting later I forgot to wash it 😭