My stencil spray paint art process

Hi,

So, I thought I'd document the process of creating my next spray paint art project. 

I’ve done a few of these sort of thing in the last couple of years – it keeps me quiet and I quite enjoy the process. Well, I enjoy the final spray paint bit, that’s the fun part. The preparation work , which I’ll document below, is the part that takes the longest amount of time and effort. 

This is where I’d love to have a machine to do the cutting work! I’ll have to sell a few more paintings before I can afford one of those!

I’ve tried various different materials to create the stencils, and have settled on a thin card (about 2mm thick). This is partly because it’s fairly robust – so I can use the stencil a few times, but mostly because the place that I work use it for something else so there are off-cut scrap pieces. As a result, it’s a free material!

I tried creating stencils with just paper, but they lift up when spraying, and can’t really be used more than once. I also tried backing the paper with a transparent plastic coating (bought for about £5 from B&Q) to make it re-usable, but again this still lifts up. I even bought some re-positionable spray adhesive to stick the stencil to the board I was spraying onto. Whilst this worked for the spraying part (no paint bleeding under the template), when it came to removing it from the board, the paper either ripped, or the plastic stretched! After spending ages cutting the stencil out, this was pretty frustrating to say the least! It could only be used once.

So card it is. This seems strong enough to use a few times, and doesn't get paint bleeding under too much. I do weigh the stencil down sometimes with tins of spray paint, or a carefully positioned heavy bolt or two, but for me this is the preferred option.

Anyway, the first step is to decide on a template, that, when sprayed with multiple paint colours is still recognisable. Previously I've done a cow, zebra and giraffe. This time I'm going with a lion.

It’s quite a simple shape, but has plenty of space to spray in - the black part, and should be distinctive enough when finished.

I’m going to lay the printed template over the card and sort of emboss the lines onto the card, then go over this with pen to give me a line to cut to. 

I’ve tried sticking the paper to the card before, but it sometimes rips when I’m cutting out – despite using a new X-Acto knife.

I know the card and paper are both straight edges so If I match the corner of paper up with the corner of the card, then I can always put it to one side and start again later and it’ll still be easy to line up.

Once the whole template is drawn the lengthy cutting process starts. If this was a Youtube video – this would be the bit that I speed up! 

I have an outer shape, and also a template for the face in the middle. 

Then when it’s cut out, I take it to paint in the spray booth – a.k.a. my shed!

I’m going to use a piece of black 3mm hardboard to spray onto – also recycled from my place of work.

Place the templates over and weigh down around the edges. I’ll use a few heavy bolts for the face section in the middle.

Once finished, I cover with a thin film of clear gloss varnish, just to help seal the paint to the board so it’s not so easy to scratch off.

And there we go all done!

In an attempt to save up for a cutting machine, I put most of the pictures onto eBay. The Cow has been the most popular so far - I think I've sold all three of those that I've made.

Here's a few others I've done in the same sort of way. All of which can be found here on eBay if you want a closer look.

I paint these directly onto the black hardboard, with no frames. If anyone can think of a good way to hang these please let me know! I can't screw anything to the back of the boards as they're so thin, but they look kind of nice without a heavy frame. I wondered about super-gluing a couple of Velcro strips to the back?

Thanks for looking,

Richard.