How to Make Reusable Letter Stencils Using a Computer
Reusable letter stencils allow you to personalize and customize craft and home-decorating projects. By using your computer to create these stencils, you will ensure that each letter has a consistent style and size that would be difficult to accomplish by hand. Once these stencils are made, you can store them away for future projects, whether you have individual letter stencils that can be rearranged to form different words, or a stencil that combines a specific arrangement of letters that can be spray-painted over. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Computer with word-processing program
- Printer
- Paper
- Scissors
- Cardboard
- Marker
- Pen
- Spray-paint
- Pencil
Instructions
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Choose a stencil style. You can either create a stencil in which you are tracing letters from the outside, or one in which you are filling in negative space on a paper that will display the letter when you remove the paper.
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Open a word-processing program. Select a font style and size that corresponds to the stencils you wish to make. If you need a smaller font size, increase the boldness or choose a thicker style to make it possible to cut out. Print out a few samples to fine-tune your selection.
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Type the letters you want to use for your stencils into the word processing program.
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Print out the pages that contain the letters. For large stencils, you may have just one or two letters per page. Use thicker computer paper, such as resume paper.
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Cut out the letters. Follow along the outline carefully with sharp scissors. If the letters themselves will be the stencils, you can cut through the paper around each letter. However, if the paper will be the stencil, you will have to cut the paper more precisely. For longer lasting stencils, consider tracing the paper stencils onto a piece of cardboard to make them more durable.
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Choose the best method for using your stencils. If your stencils are individual letters, you will likely use a marker or a pen to trace around them. If the paper of piece of cardboard is the stencil, it will be effective to spray-paint over them, exposing the letters once the stencil is removed.
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Tips & Warnings
If you don't want to use cardboard, you can also laminate the letters you printed from the computer.
References
- Photo Credit Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
