Stencil Tutorial - Ingredient #1 = Patience

Okay, so it looks complicated, but if you really think about it it's as easy as tracing a stencil onto the wall and painting it. But for those of you who want some more detail, it is my pleasure to give you some step by step instructions on how to make your very own stencil wall. I think the title should be your warning and I would not attempt this project if you don't have lots of time and enormous amounts of patience. 


Materials:
-Stencil
-Pencil
Folk Art Metallic Pearl White Paint (one bottle = 1 coat for me)

- Paintbrush 
- Wet Rag (for the many mess ups!)

I posted earlier on how to make your stencil, but will go over it again real quick.

1. First, pick out the shape you would like to stencil, find an image online, blow it up to the size you need and print it off on printer paper.

That will leave you with this (after you cut it out):

2. Use an exacto knife to cut out your shape on stencil paper:

3. Now it is time to slap it up on the wall. 

I started in the top right hand corner of my wall. I didn't bother with a level or anything, but do recommend tracing the pattern from the top to the bottom. I got ahead of myself and started moving horizontally which got me off a little bit in the middle. I used a pencil to lightly trace the pattern and plan on going back over the pattern again with my paint to get some of the lines out. You can see some pencil lines which is why I would recommend using a colored pencil of the color you plan on painting if you can track one down (I was to anxious to start so I went ahead with a lead pencil). 

4. After you trace one row of the pattern, it is time to whip out the paint.

It is important to always paint inside your pencil lines.

Because this isn't necessarily a stencil, it is merely the cut out of a shape, you cannot just trace the pattern over the entire wall and then go back and paint. It requires you to do some layering (put stencil over freshly painted part, like shown above) to ensure the pattern stays the same size . 

Good luck, let me know if you have any questions!