Do you know how many times I’ve written about making your own stencils for Real Living? I’ve lost count. But the number of times I’ve actually tried it (up until this project)? Zero. Ooops. Luckily, it is just as I wrote about and is even easier than I thought it would be. I stenciled some birdies on Layla’s wall – I still have some more to do but ran out of time to finish in time for posting – and thought you need to know how easy it is to do this.  

In your toolkit…
1. A cutting mat or chopping board

2. Clear overhead projector sheets or the plastic cover sheet from a document protector – you can buy both in singles from stationery stores. Mine are A4 size. Keep in mind it might be harder to find anything bigger if you want larger stencils – you might need to join.

3. A stencil template. Print out a great shape, pattern or photograph, trace one or draw your own. Obviously the less detail the easier it’ll be for you.

4. If you’re going for a large area or just one colour, a sample pot is ideal. But if you’re doing smaller pieces and lots of different colours like I have, skip the hardware store and grab an acrylic art set from the $2 shop. You can just mix the colours to get the shade you like. I mixed mine with a pot of plain white interior paint.

5. Something to mix the paint on. I used an old tile.

6. Scalpel for cutting out. 

7. Paintbrush for… um… oh yeah, painting

8. Paint swatches. If you had a colour in mind, this will help you get close to it! 

9. Spray adhesive so your stencil will stick to the wall smoothly and stop the paint bleeding

Your how-to…
1. Place your stencil template underneath the sheet of plastic and use the scalpel to cut around the shape. You might not go straight through the plastic first go, but the groove will be enough to gently retrace your steps and cut through.

2. Work out which way the stencil should go on the wall (remember, text can only go one way!) and use the spray adhesive to spray the back of the stencil lightly. Leave to dry for about a minute and then stick on the wall in place. Smooth your hands over the whole sheet so no bumps and press extra  firmly around the edges of the cut-out so it’s fitted properly to the wall. Any gaps will mean the paint will bleed through and cause you to swear loudly.

3. Mix your paints or go with your pre-mixed paint and lightly brush from the outside of the cut-out in towards the middle. Ensure the paint goes right to the edges but remember to smooth it back into the middle as paint will naturally pool on the edges and not look so even once the stencil is removed (and can also lead to smudges). Once stencil is filled in, brush lightly in one direction over whole image for final neat brushstrokes.

4. Gently peel away the stencil from the wall and you should have your image sitting all pretty by itself. You can use several times before you need to respray the adhesive. It pays to wipe the front of the stencil and the inside edges over in-between uses with a baby wipe or damp tissue to prevent build up which can warp your shape.

 

And here is the flock as it is right now – still more birdies to come. But so far, I like it and so does Layla who squeals every time she walks into her room and points to them and makes her funny little birdie “tweet” noise. Too cute.

Come back tomorrow for a great giveaway, worth $150! xx

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 4:12 am and is filed under craft, decorating, family, house, kids, project. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.