Make Stencils from Hot Laminated Film

McGyvering Laminated Film into Stencils

Example 

Yesterday I needed to make laminated tags for a sewing machine that was going in for repair.  Didn't want to take a chance that any part would fall into a black hole of other machines.  As a result I had several pieces of laminated film left over after I cut out the tags.

What, oh, what could be done with these?  I hate throwing away anything that may serve another purpose.  After a couple of hours, the thought hit me that since the left over pieces were very firm, impermeable to water and also transparent, they might be able to be used to make stencils.

Tools and Materials Used:
- White paper
- Laminated film
- Craft knife
- Freezer paper
- Water
- Paper towel
- Fabric
- Iron

My first attempt at cutting a stencil from the film was to freehand cut a vine form.  The picture below is of that stencil.  Because of the glass like transparency and light reflection, I placed the stencil(s) on a black background, so they appear quite dark but at least they are visible.

Vine Stencil

Since the vine cutting was successful, and because I had a couple of larger lamination scraps, I drew a picture of a sun shape on white paper, placed it under a laminated piece, taped it to the paper, and started cutting the stencil.

Laying Laminated Sheet Atop Paper Pattern

Cut Out of Stencil and Paper Pattern

Because the edges of the stencil are almost invisible upon fabric, placement became difficult.  To overcome this difficulty, I put painter's tape around all front and back outside edges of the stencil.

Painter's Tape Put on All Outside Edges

In order to be able to know where the cut out began and ended, I placed a couple of small pieces of tape onto the stencil.

Final Stencil Ready for Painting

The colors I chose to apply with stencil brushes were orange and red.

Palette Colors

I started stenciling directly onto the fabric; however, when the fabric became wet with paint, it tended to distort.  After the first sun shape print, I ironed freezer paper to the back of the fabric to provide stability to the fabric.

Freezer Paper Ironed to Back of Fabric

The width of the freezer paper was wider than the fabric and tended to make the whole unit roll up.  A simple solution was to cut away excess freezer paper.

Excess Freezer Paper  Cut Away from Fabric

In order to keep the sun shaped prints aligned, I placed a ruler onto the fabric as a printing guide.

Ruler as Guide

Aligned Printing

Clean-up was a breeze with laminated film cut stencils.  I merely sprayed plain water onto the stencil and then used a paper towel to wipe off the paint.

Stencil Cleaned with Water and Paper Towel

 Finished Stenciled Fabric with Stencils Used

The "experiment" proved to be so successful that I am sure that I will be cutting more stencils from laminated film in the future.  Their ease of use and clean-up and their permanency will surely be a go-to stenciling method for me in the future.  I'm so certain of this that I have edged 3 additional left over pieces of laminated film with painter's tape.  They are ready to go when the muse visits again.

Laminated Film Prepared for Stencil Cutting

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

© Linda Friedman 2016.  All rights reserved

From Small Block Print to Large Stencil - A How-to Guide

I am presently developing a quilted art work in which I am using one image in a variety of orientations, sizes and colors.  It started with a very large bird image that will appear on the front of the quilt but I also wanted it to appear on the reverse side. 

                                 From this                                  to this...

First I cut a block,

Soft Kut Printing Block

I printed the block in my sketchbook,

I cropped the top image and printed it in 2x2 

poster format and taped the pages together.

Next I cut enough freezer paper to cover the image

 

Here is the freezer paper laid over the image 

with the shiny side down.

 I traced around the image with a 

fine tip permanent marker.

A stencil is now ready to be cut with a craft knife,

BUT,.,

Before beginning to cut, I removed the posterized

 image from under the freezer paper.

Here is the beginning of the stencil cutout.

Here is what the partially cut stencil looked like.  

The remainder of the shapes were ultimately cut out.

I ironed the the fully cut out freezer paper stencil to

 the fabric on which I wanted the image to appear.

I used a plate as a makeshift palette, foam brush

and Setacolor opaque white fabric paint to paint

the stencil.

And here is the finished stenciled image that I believe

 successfully suggests a very large block print.

 

Always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

 

 © Linda Friedman 2014.  All rights reserved.