My first experiment with stenciling was to create some cute onsies for a girlfriend's baby shower. I had success and failure, and overall a fun time!
I searched high and low for the evasive freezer paper, and have come to the conclusion that at least with plastic I can re-use the stencil!
I argued with my exacto knife and decided to spring for a fancy swivel thing which was worth it's weight in gold!
So without freezer paper, instead I looked for overhead projector sheets. Finding none, I settled with a set of thin plastic binder dividers, a great price at only $1.77! To solve the problem of "unstickyness" I went with Elmer's spray adhesive, which can work for a temporary tackyness if sprayed and left to dry for 10min. I printed my picture, and sprated adhesive to the plastic, waited for it to tack, and stuck it on my paper. (I first found it still to be too sticky, and the paper stuck too much, so my second try, I first stuck it to my pant leg to make it a little less adhesive). After the argurment with my exacto knife, (brand new), I tried my new fancy swivel "Shape Express" and it went sooooo much quicker! And it looked better too! I re-applied the the adhesive, (it lost it's tackiness over night) and next I mixed my paint with the fabric medium, (as I've been told to do by the great posts around here) and went to work. My first attempt was pretty dismal. What I learned:
The fabric medium said one part medium to two parts paint. I found that when it was closer to half and half, the paint flowed a bit better. I was scared about seepage (sp?) and didn't put enough down and the edges looked crappy. So the next try I put too much down, and there was a crappy looking ridge at the edge. The perfect solution was to put lots down, but then "empty" my sponge brush on paper, and sop up the excess so it was nice and smooth! Oh, and my first attempt also looked crappy because I didn't wait long enough for it to dry, and since the adhesive was *too* tacky that try, it pulled at the fabric as I took it off and added to the crappy edges. Patience is a virtue, they say! Next one I did the pant leg thing again, and waited a good hour before seeing my results! Oh, and on my two tone stencil, I found that the adhesive stuck too much to the paint below (dry ofcourse) and sort of crapified it a bit. Next time I'll just leave the paper on those parts. Easy fix!
So with out further ado... My first FAILURE: (It looks worse IRL)
My first Success:
My not quite perfect, but not a failure:
And my iron on just for fun. Just a side story here. My girlfriend's hubby wants to name the baby-to-be "Jacques" because of an inside joke from years ago. My girlfriend HATES the name, but he won't let it go! Bit of an inside joke...
It says "Hello, my real name is..." She'll hate it. He'll love it. It might never be worn, but the laughs will be worth it!
And my new discoveries:
The cool swivel knife thing, (Fiskars Ultra ShapeXpress) took some getting used to. But once I had it, I FLEW!~
I always get so much help from Craftster. I don't know if this will help or not, but it might give a few ideas! Thanks to everyone for all their posts and inspirations!
