-Stencil printing is an easy and versatile way to make multiple prints of an image. It also acts as a nice alternative to regular brush painting and can give crisp, smooth lines. In this workshop we will focus on T-shirt stencilling, but you can also use the same techniques to print wrapping paper, postcards, and placemats, to decorate fabric for sewing, or to do graffiti. We are going to use brushes to stencil with but you can also use spray paint to print on fabric, or other surfaces too! (But be sure to work outside or use a mask if you are using spray paint.) The materials we are going to use are readily available at most art supply stores and are fairly inexpensive.

What you need:

-Surface to stencil on (Fabric, T-shirt, paper, etc)
-X-acto or other type of cutting blade
-Stencil brush or foam roller (Stencil brushes are typically flat rather than pointed. Some stores sell brushes specifically for stencilling, but you can easily buy a regular, cheap brush and cut it down)
-Fabric paint (I usually use Speedball brand screen printing ink. Make sure it is for fabric though)
-Material to make the stencil with (Clear plastic, or acetate works well, but you can also use heavy cardstock)
-Tape to hold things in place
-Smooth card or other surface to stretch the T-shirt over. Masonite boards also work well for this.
-Water for clean-up
-Something to draw out your design with. You can use whatever drawing materials you are comfortable with or you can work from photographs or computer print-outs
-An iron to heat set the print when it’s dry
-Repositionable spray adhesive (Use only outside or in areas with good ventilation since it can be very toxic)
-Mactac (Also optional. Works well for “island” pieces in a stencil. Can also be used for the stencil itself if you work carefully with it)
-Hair dryer (Optional. Works well to help speed up drying between layers of paint)

What to do:

-Once you have an image to work from such as a drawing or computer print-out you can start cutting the stencil. If you are working on cardboard or something else you can’t see through you can do your drawing right on the surface.
-To cut the stencil, tape down the acetate sheet over the drawing so it won’t move around. Cut the acetate using long, continuous movements. This will make the stencil lines smooth.
-You can also find things that act as “ready-made” stencils. Things such as mesh fabric, wire screens, leaves, etc all work as stencils. Use your imagination! Just about anything that has a shape can be used as a stencil!
-When cutting your stencil make sure it is all one piece so it doesn’t fall apart when you pick it up. If you make a mistake it is usually pretty easy to fix with a bit of tape.
-Once your stencil is ready, attach it to the surface you are working on so it doesn’t move while you apply the paint.
-Paint the open areas of the stencil by stomping in an up and down motion rather than on an angle. You don’t need much paint on your brush to do this with. If you have too much paint or work on an angle the paint sometimes “bleeds” under the stencil and makes blobs.
-You can also roll the paint on with a foam brush. Again, make sure you don’t have too much paint on the roller.
-Depending on the colour of fabric you are working on and what colours you are painting with you may need to do a couple layers of paint before it looks nice and solid. If you are working with dark colours on light fabric you may not need a second layer. Generally it is a good idea to do the first layer in white to seal the fabric and then paint the second layer in the colour you want to have in the end. Make sure the paint is dry in between layers.
-Once the paint is dry you can remove the stencil. If you are careful you can use the stencil again to do more prints. You can also use the “opposite” side of the stencil to make backward images. Another option is to use the “inside” pieces of the stencil to print around.
-Before you wash the shirt make sure you heat set the ink. This step is very important. To heat set the ink iron the image for at least 3-5 minutes. If the ink is really dry you can iron directly onto the paint. Alternately you can place a piece of scrap fabric or plain paper between the image and the iron to keep things clean.
-The better you heat set the image the less likely it is to fade over time. Another hint in keeping your print looking good is to wash the shirt inside out.
-Have fun! And experiment. There are a lot of fun things to do with stencils!

-If you want to make multi-coloured images use a different stencil for each colour.
-To line up multiple stencils you can mark them with “x” s and line them up as you print.
-If you look on the Internet you can find a lot of stencil-based fonts to work from.
Some of them are: Analog, Army, Cargo Crate, Crass, Crimescene, Gunplay, and Opium.
-There are also a lot of books on stencilling at the library

A few websites about stencilling (an a few other assorted things):