We have seen some terrific new stencils at the craft store and decided to put together a little “Stenciling 101” post for anyone who wants to try them out. To go along with our tips and tricks here, we made a video so you can watch us stencil and see our technique in action.

Really there’s no trick to it. Just a few instructions and anyone can do it!

Disclosure: This post has some affiliate links for products we think you’ll like. Even if you don’t want to buy the items online, we think it’s helpful to see what they look like, so you can buy them at your local craft store. If you make a purchase from one of these links, we’ll make a small commission. There is no additional cost to you at all, but it helps us a little so we can pay for our web hosting and the tools and materials we use in these videos and blog posts. All opinions are our own from our own personal experience.

How To Stencil

Materials We Used For Our Stag Plaque

Wooden bamboo cutting board
Large stag head stencil
Plaid Folk Art Multi-surface Acrylic Craft Paint, Teal #2920
Sponge pouncer paintbrush (round bottomed sponge paintbrush)
Paper plate
Masking tape

Steps

1. Center the stencil on the bamboo cutting board or whatever you are stenciling. Use masking tape to tape the stencil in place. It’s important that the stencil stays in the same place the whole time you are painting it.

2. Squeeze out some paint onto a paper plate. Dab the bottom of the pouncer into the paint, rotating the pouncer as you go to evenly load the paint onto the brush.

Then unload the paint from the brush by dabbing the paintbrush onto a clean dry part of the paper plate. The brush should be evenly covered with paint, but not too much paint. This is really a dry brush technique.

3. Dab the paintbrush up and down tapping a light layer of paint over the edge of the stencil and onto the surface. Layer the paint. Do not squeeze or squish the paintbrush.

You don’t want the paint to run under the edge of the stencil or bleed. By using a dry brush (and paint that isn’t too runny) you can tap the paint into the stencil and avoid bleeding.

4. Reload the brush as needed but be sure to offload the brush too each time so you always have a fairly dry brush.

5. Continue pouncing the paint onto the surface and along the edges of the stencil.

Once the whole surface is painted, double check your edges and paint. Then remove the tape and remove the stencil while the paint is wet.

Stenciling is fun and there are so many wonderful designs to use! We have stenciled a squirrel onto a wooden tray, fleur-de-lis deisgns onto a floor cloth, and shells onto a canvas tote bag. If you are just getting started with stenciling and find you have some questions, leave us a comment and we’ll reply. We’d love to help!
Jennifer & Kitty