Multi Layer Stencil Tutorial: Snake & Vine
In this tutorial I'm going to walk you through a multi-layer stencil making project from start to finish. All you are going to need are some basic drawing and cutting tools and three of four hours of patience to complete the project. You can download the artwork here if you you want to work on the same design .
If you prefer to find something that is more your style, consider getting your hands on some graphic design resource books. Both Pippin Press and Dover books have many great publications that cover various graphic themes by period and style.
There are more ways than one to get through a project like this one but I'm going to keep the techniques as basic as possible. At the end of this session I will give you some more elaborate strategies to approach this type of project.
The inspiration for this stencil design came from a Pepin press design book "Graphic ornaments 1900". This snake and vine design which would make a cool border stencil, skateboard stencil or t-shirt stencil.
1. The original Artwork from Graphic Ornaments 1900
Image taken from Graphic Ornaments, published by The Pepin Press, www.pepinpress.com.
I redrew the artwork and kept my version of the artwork pretty close to the original then scanned it into photoshop where I cleaned up my lines and added the registration marks on the top left and top right of the picture. To keep the project simple I sized the drawing to fit onto an A4 size piece of paper. If your printer is capable of printing on a banner setting, you can make it quite a bit larger. At this point you can print out 3 copies of the art-work. One for each layer.
Stack all 3 copies of the artwork and the 3 pieces of drafting together carefully and make a couple of holes over the registration marks. If you have hole punch this will be ideal, otherwise you may use a sharp thumb tack.
Take your first sheet of drafting film and spray one side evenly with spray adhesive and let it dry for a few minutes. When glue is tack dry, place it over one of the artwork copies and smooth it down being careful to align over the registration holes.
You are now ready to cut the snake part of the stencil. Take your time and remember to cut away from corners.
Peal away the artwork from the drafting film
Place a new piece of drafting film over another copy of the artwork and cut the vine layer .
Once again peal away the artwork from the drafting film
Your last layer will be the berries
Peal the artwork from the film and your all finished
A quicker way to get through this process is to print the artwork directly onto the drafting film. This is a method I personally have used for many years. Drafting film takes printer ink very well but it might be a good idea to print out a small sample of line work to test your print settings first. In this situation you could omit printing the registration marks. After you print out the three copies of the artwork stack them together so the line work lines up perfectly then punch out the registration holes with a hole punch or a sharp pin. When you are ready to use the stencil on a wall , put a few pieces of low tack masking tape on the wall and directly under the registration holes then use a sharp pencil to mark out the holes onto the tape.
Although you can simply hold the stencils to the wall with low tack tape, I prefer to coat the back of the stencils with spray adhesive for extra security and to prevent any accidental bleed.
There are many good resources for you to draw on when looking for inspiration for a stencil. I hope you have found this tutorial useful in laying out the foundations for a stencil design .
When working on a complex stencil like this one its important to take your time and do a good job. A well thought out and executed stencil can last for hundreds of impressions and this is important if you are using it to make a living or stenciling many rooms in a house.
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