Stenciling

Lesson 2: Adding your Individual Stamp - Stencil Equipment

Not only does the medium with which you paint affect the very special look of your stenciling project, but also the way you apply that medium. In this chapter we're going to think outside the box a bit - to look at things besides brushes that can be used to apply paint - and to look at things besides the traditional stencil that can be used in place of the stencil to create interesting effects with paint.

Think about it - stenciling is not simply mechanically patting paint into a cut out opening to create something that looks like it was produced on an assembly line. You can be really creative with stencils. Combine different elements of different stencils to create a design or scene that is your very own.

Better still, develop a distinctive style. If you shop the different stencil designer's sites on the web you'll notice that some have very distinctive styles. Some go for an old-fashioned look, celebrating the stencil, bridges and all, as a historic craft. They worry little about shading and such, going for a completely traditional style. Others go for painterly effects - their own work has shading and texture so that it is hard to realize that the end product started as a stencil. Others may like a dreamy style, using translucent paints and pale colors as their trademark. Once you have mastered the basic art of dabbing paint through the stencil opening you'll find yourself wanting to develop a signature style of your own. The right equipment can make that easy.

Just by way of illustration, the photo at the top of the page uses stencils, but also a sea sponge, magic markers, glazes and plaster stencils created with joint compound - something we'll discuss in detail in the lesson 3.

Applicators Affect the Effect Part One

The tools you use to apply the paint greatly affect the look of your finished product. You can create work that is as smooth looking as porcelain, or incorporate a lot of texture into your style. It all depends on the applicator.

• Stencil rollers These are small rollers made of fairly dense foam, made specifically for stenciling. They are great for covering large areas quickly. The trick as with traditional brush stenciling, is to dip it into a tray of paint and then roll that roller almost dry before you actually apply it to the wall. With some practice, in large areas, you may find that you can accomplish a bit of shading and highlighting with this tool. But usually the end product is quite uniform and flat. The roller itself is smooth in texture and so that is how the paint goes down - smoothly. No brush strokes, and very little color variance. And sometimes that is exactly what you want.

• Sea sponge At the opposite end of the spectrum is the natural sea sponge. They tend to be of odd, amorphous shape with holes of varying sizes all over them. A sea sponge is the perfect tool for pouncing on a paint finish when you want texture.

  The sea sponge is one of my favorite tools. The more tightly you sponge the less texture you get - yet you will always end up with a slightly "broken" paint finish. This screams "hand crafted" while at the same time looking sophisticated. It's my tool of choice when creating mural backgrounds of skies - I use several shades of blue from deep at the top to nearly invisible at the horizon. Then using white diluted with glaze I sponge in drifts of transparent clouds. It's also the tool of choice for creating faux marbled effects, and many other popular faux finishes. And that broken finish works miracles at hiding flaws in less-than-perfect walls.

  I also like to use a small sea sponge when stenciling furry animals - the texture gives a better illusion of fur than a brush can.

• Sponge mitt You can buy a mitten with a sponge textured palm that will create a finish similar to that of the sea sponge. This can be good for relatively small surfaces that you want to cover quickly with a textured look. However, there is more regularity in the spacing of the sponge holes, and you run some danger of creating mitt-shaped patterns if you aren't careful. Some people prefer the convenience of the mitt, and the predictability of the sponged pattern.

  One technique where this tool may be superior to the sea sponge is in creating a look of faux stone, as in a stone wall. Base coat the wall with gray - the color of mortar, then mask off the area into stone shapes and then repaint the wall in whatever the base color of your wall will be. Then lightly sponge on a darker shade of that color, and a somewhat lighter shade. Concentrate the darker sponging around the outer edges, and the light toward the center of the stone for a dimensional look. The more regular shape of the sponge mitts holes are better suited to cut stone than the often very irregular ones of the sea sponge. When you remove the masking tape to reveal the gray "mortar" you'll be amazed at the effect.

• Cosmetic sponges There are all kinds of cosmetic sponges, from small "brush" types like those used to apply eye shadow to small round or oblong sponges that are so dense that they are absolutely without texture. The eye shadow brushes are great for working in tight situations - the small, pointed tips of leaves and flowers, for instance. The larger sponges are perfect for small projects where you want an absolutely smooth finish.

  If you like to get close to your work, without the intervention of a brush handle, sponges may become your favorite applicators for stenciling and other painting projects. And cosmetic sponges not only work well in traditional stenciling. Wait until you have tried painting on glass with these ultra-smooth brushes!

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