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Stencil Brushes are traditionally round with dense, blunt natural bristles. The bristles can be very stiff to very soft. Brushes that are too stiff will be difficult to use. I favour bristles with a little 'bounce' when tapped against a hard surface.
Stencilling should not be done with a wet brush; therefore, it's a good idea to have at least one brush for each colour family as well as a variety of sizes.
Shading Brushes are similar to an artist's filbert brush with a short handle. They have a flat shape with rounded tapered natural bristles, ideal for shading that cannot be achieved with a bulky stencil brush.
Foam Rollers can't be beaten for uniform and fast coverage of large areas. Choose high density foam rollers with round ends.
Acrylic Paints are fast drying, opaque, inexpensive and readily available in a wide range of colours. They can be applied with a stencil brush or foam roller to achieve soft blended effects to totally opaque coverage. Beginners are often concerned about liquid paints bleeding under the edges of a stencil; however, with proper technique, described below, this will not happen.
Solid Stencil Paints are slow drying and transparent. They are slightly more expensive than acrylic paints and have a limited range of colours available. Their solid form makes them less likely to bleed under the edges of a stencil, even if the brush is overloaded. Because they dry slowly, they can be blended easily; however, they also smudge easily if there are multiple overlays. The slow drying and transparent qualities of these paints result in a very soft water colour effect but make them unsuitable where opaque coverage is required or if the background colour is dark.
- Low-tack Tape is available at most paint or hardware stores.
- Stencil Adhesive Spray is used to hold the stencil in position while it is being painted. It is particularly useful to hold fine bridges in place that, otherwise, might move under the pressure of a swirling brush.
- Palettes can be any flat washable or disposable surface that does not absorb paint. I favour a stack of freezer paper cut to fit a large clipboard.
- Stencil Cleaner is a spray that will remove dried water based from your stencils.
Stencilling is a dry brush technique. This means that you should use a minimum of paint and build up the colour gradually which results in a crisp print with no bleed under.
You load just enough paint to distribute it evenly on your applicator. Avoid saturating the applicator. Next, off load the excess paint onto a pad of paper towel until the applicator is almost dry to the touch. It is a good idea to test your loaded applicator on an uncut portion of the stencil before you begin to paint. If you leave a wet smear there is still too much paint on the applicator. To prevent paint from drying on your applicator, cover with a damp, not wet, paper towel when it is not in use.
While you are painting, lift the edge of the stencil occasionally to check the progress. The print tends to look darker when you remove the stencil.
Shading will add dimension to your stencilling. A circle becomes a sphere when you shade around it's edges. You can shade by varying the value of a single colour or by using solid stencil paint in shading colours over the base colour.
Cast shadows are the last important step for stencilled trompe l'oeil. Determine the direction that the shadow would be cast based on the natural or imagined light source. Consistency seems to be more important than accuracy in this instance. Look around you for real life examples.
You can paint the shadow with a shading brush by roughly following the contour of the object, then blurring the edges. A less realistic but easier alternative is to move the stencil in the direction that the shadow would be cast and stencil lightly with solid stencil paint in a shading colour. Remove the stencil and soften the edges with a clean dry shading brush.
Stencil Brush with Acylic Paint. Pour a puddle of paint onto your palette. Pick up a small amount of paint on the tips of the bristles. Rub the brush in a circular motion on a
clean spot of your palette to distribute the paint evenly. Rub the brush in a circular motion on paper towel to remove the excess paint. Holding the brush perpendicular to the surface apply the paint by pouncing the brush, called stippling, or swirling
in a circular motion. Reload your brush as needed. The coverage should be light and transparent. If greater coverage is required, build up the paint gradually. As they say "several light coats are better than one heavy coat". Remove paint build
up on your brush by drawing it through a dampened paper towel or alternatively use a clean dry brush.
Stencil Brush With Solid Stencil Paint. Solid stencil paints form a skin on their surface which should be removed, with a paper towel, before using. Rub the stencil brush into the paint, right in the container it comes in. Swirl the brush on your palette
to distribute the paint evenly. Swirl the brush on paper towel to remove the excess paint. Holding the brush perpendicular to the surface apply the paint by stippling or swirling. If greater coverage is required it may be necessary to allow the paint
to dry between coats.
Roller Stencilling. Pour a puddle of paint onto your palette. Use a piece of card to spread the paint to a thin layer. Lightly roll the foam roller back and forth through the paint until it is evenly distributed. Roll the foam roller back and forth on paper towel to remove the excess paint. Lightly roll the foam roller over the surface of the stencil, increasing the pressure as the paint runs out, until you have achieved the desired coverage.
Shading Brush and Solid Stencil Paint. Rub the shading brush into the paint. Rub the brush back and forth on paper towel to remove the excess paint. Use the broad or narrow side of the brush to scrub on shading colours.
Single Overlay Stencils have the entire design cut from a single sheet of film. There are gaps between the individual elements of the design called bridges which emphasize the details of the picture. When elements with different colours are separated by small bridges the colours will overlap. For example, some pink from a flower will overlap onto the leaf and some green will overlap onto the flower. The result is that in addition to the original colours you now have a blend of several colours in between. This is called broken colour. Careful use of this technique can yield a more visually interesting print.
If it is essential to separate the colours you can mask the areas you want to protect with tape or a piece of card.
Multiple Overlay Stencils (or bridgeless stencils) use extra overlays to define the details of the design thereby eliminating the bridges. In order to line up the overlays I use a point registration system. Small triangles are cut into the corners of each overlay and matched up for accurate positioning. The overlays are numbered in the order they are to be used.
Position the first overlay, secure with low-tack tape or stencil adhesive, and stencil. Before removing the first overlay, place a piece of low-tack tape on the surface to be painted under each registration mark and stencil the registration holes with a colour that contrasts well with the colour of the tape. When the stencil is removed the registration marks remain on the surface. Line up the registration triangles on subsequent overlays with the painted triangles on the wall.
Vertical Registration is used when two separate elements of a design need to be lined up in relation to each other. An example of this is a column where the capital is painted on above the base but may be separated by eight feet or more of column. Using a plumb line or level, mark a vertical line on the wall with chalk to indicate the center of the design. The stencils have a registration mark at the top and bottom indicating the center of the motif. Line the center point on the stencils with the vertical line on the wall.
Masks. Dropouts (the part that falls out of the stencil when it is cut) have been included to use as masks whenever possible. Masks are useful when you want to stack elements of a composition: for example, a group of pots where one appears to be behind another. After you paint the pot at the front of the composition it is masked with it's dropout. The second pot is painted a little higher and overlapping the first.
- Stencilling on a Grand Scale
- Using Simple Stencils to Create Visual Magic, Sandra Buckingham.
- Stencilling Techniques, Jane Guass.
- Stencilling, a Harrowsmith Guide, Sandra Buckingham.
- Art of Stencilling, Lyn Le Grice.