How to Make Stencils for Watercolor Painting
Stencils make useful tools for watercolor painting. Hobby and craft shops often carry a variety of stencils, but making your own allows you to create custom stencils featuring images you may not be able to find in any store. It is effortless to make stencils. Using simple supplies, you can create as many custom stencils for your watercolor paintings as you need.
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Things You'll Need
- Transparent plastic art film sheets
- Marker (thin, black)
- Precision craft knife
Instructions
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Draw your stencil design on a sheet of plastic art film (like Mylar). Do this by hand if you are good at drawing. You can also place transparent art film over another image and trace it. The plastic art film is ideal for stencil work because the watercolors can easily be wiped away and stencils can be used again.
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Cut your stencil design with a precision craft knife. Be careful as you cut. Transparent plastic art film is delicate to cut. One slip could cause you to cut through your stencil the wrong way.
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Remove the inner part of the design by pressing your fingers gently against the outline and pushing the cut away part of the design away from your transparent plastic art film. It should detach easily, assuming you've cut through the entire outline of your stencil.
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Tips & Warnings
When drawing or tracing your image, line art works best. Coloring book images are ideal.
Exercise caution when cutting with a precision craft knife. Transparent plastic sheets cut easily. Also, consider using a cutting board so you don't accidentally cut into the surface beneath your transparent sheet.
