Anyone ever tried to stencil on a design?

O

Omega Leather Works

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Jun 13, 2007
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Hey guys. I've been trying to get a stencil that I cut out of plastic to work, but it's proving difficult.

The stencil isn't elaborate (it's a spider), but does have some somewhat fine lines.

The problem is that the dye, or paint (I've tried both) bleed under the stencil and it becomes a blob. I got halfway decent results at one point with the paint, but it wasn't repeatable. I even tried just using Super Sheen on a dyed surface. I figured that subtle look would be kinda cool, but, it too, bled under the plastic.

Any ideas for combinations of dye, or any chems that I might try? I really don't want to give up on this without exhausting every reasonable possibility.

Thanks
 
have you tried one of those ultra sharp point Sharpie pens? Its about the only way I've found that doesn't spread out in contact with the leather.
 
Not knife related stencil work but, contact adhesive works well for keeping lines crisp. The spray kind applied to the back of the stencil always worked for me. Letting it dry for 60 or so seconds makes cleanup easier. May produce undesired results on porous materials though.
 
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You might have some luck using an air brush if the stencil can be held down well. Very light, multiple passes.
Randy
 
Yes, I do believe that part of the problem was my ability to keep the stencil in perfect contact with the surface.

I have some spray adhesive. I'll try it on a piece of scrap. I'll also try airbrushing.

Thanks guys!
 
Frisket paper.

I haven't tried it on leather though.
It's what airbrush retouchers would use to mask off and stencil areas.
The glue should be just enough to hold but not mark.
Art supplies stores carry it.
 
Thanks guys, I'm betting one of these ideas will work perfectly. I've been a bit busy, but I'll update once I've had a chance to try some of these suggestions.

I made the stencil by hand cutting (what a pita!) the design out of the cover of a plastic 3 ring binder. I bought the binder just for this purpose, but I think it is a bit too flimsy.
 
I've hand cut many a stencil, Manila folders, card stock, sheet protectors. Adhesive is the key as is like was suggested with the airbrushing, light passes and multiple layers. If you're dye is too wet it's probably going to bleed regardless of how you try to mask. Unless maybe you created a negative of your stencil and waterproofed the medium around it. That is assuming you're trying to do this on leather. Either way, good luck. Now I have the itch to try this on leather.
 
fwiw I use a Silhouette Cameo to create my stencils. You'd be surprised at the detail you can cut out with it. You can cut vinyl, card stock, thin plastic, etc. I use cheap overhead projector rolls for camo stencils. You can just use vinyl since it's leak free, removable, you can use the negative of your print, and best feature it's reproducible. (just print of new stencils as you need them.) The cutter isn't all that expensive all things considered.
 
Great stuff guys. :)

About the Silhouette Cameo. All of the die cutters (big shot, SC, etc) get pretty good reviews on Amazon. Do you have experience with any of the others? I've actually never seen these before you mentioned them. So for a vinyl sheet, are you using the kind that stickers are made from? It seems like that would be a great option. The kit seems reasonable too.
 
You should be able to silkscreen print on flat leather prior to fabrication. Using photo stencils you can have elaborate, detailed, designs. Should be lots of tutorials and youtube vids out there. I used to do T-shirts back in college. It's pretty simple.
 
No experience with others.. I wanted a pro vinyl cutter a decade ago but they were pricey but when I saw the cameo a couple years ago.. I finally took the plunge. It fits on my desk and I just change out the blade holder for different duties. Blade has a twist for depth so you can cut things that are pretty deep. (think thicker card stock) I use it to cut templates for folding boxes for example and the Pen (use it to draw high res manga/anime vectors). I've cut different thicknesses of vinyl and even textured carbon fiber type vinyls. I also use the vinyl to cut stencils for use with etching on glass jars. So yeah you get a lot for your $$$. Keep in mind the software is like $50 for the upgrade that allows importing of Illustrator files and you need a program that you can work vectors in and some kind of graphic editor but if you have them, it makes things like stencils so much easier. and yes.. you use sheets of sticker vinyl. (quality / depth varies) and lay the sheets on contact sheet that you feed into the cutter. It keeps everything in place and aligned when cutting. I also use clear contact shelf paper from home depot if I am low on vinyl for stencils. It's easier to peel off afterwards and is cheaper for when I do long camo stencils. For leather.. you could probably stick the vinyl right on the leather and peel what you want dyed, then dye it with less bleed. I know it sounds like I'm a Cameo shill.. but I really don't work for them. lol

also if you have vector art of something you want to stencil (that isn't too large to fit in an envelope and you're state side) I don't mind cutting it and mailing it back for you to test out. Just shoot me an email if so.


Strigamort said:
Great stuff guys. :)

About the Silhouette Cameo. All of the die cutters (big shot, SC, etc) get pretty good reviews on Amazon. Do you have experience with any of the others? I've actually never seen these before you mentioned them. So for a vinyl sheet, are you using the kind that stickers are made from? It seems like that would be a great option. The kit seems reasonable too.
Click to expand...
 
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shunsui said:
You should be able to silkscreen print on flat leather prior to fabrication. Using photo stencils you can have elaborate, detailed, designs. Should be lots of tutorials and youtube vids out there. I used to do T-shirts back in college. It's pretty simple.
Click to expand...

Silkscreen? Yeah, I bet you could do some seriously cool graphics. I wonder why nobody does it. I know that the general feeling on leather paint is bleh, but I've used it on flat leather and quite like it. It cannot replace dye, of course, but if you are looking for brilliance the paint works well. I think it would be great for this type of work.

magnetik said:
No experience with others.. I wanted a pro vinyl cutter a decade ago but they were pricey but when I saw the cameo a couple years ago.. I finally took the plunge. It fits on my desk and I just change out the blade holder for different duties. Blade has a twist for depth so you can cut things that are pretty deep. (think thicker card stock) I use it to cut templates for folding boxes for example and the Pen (use it to draw high res manga/anime vectors). I've cut different thicknesses of vinyl and even textured carbon fiber type vinyls. I also use the vinyl to cut stencils for use with etching on glass jars. So yeah you get a lot for your $$$. Keep in mind the software is like $50 for the upgrade that allows importing of Illustrator files and you need a program that you can work vectors in and some kind of graphic editor but if you have them, it makes things like stencils so much easier. and yes.. you use sheets of sticker vinyl. (quality / depth varies) and lay the sheets on contact sheet that you feed into the cutter. It keeps everything in place and aligned when cutting. I also use clear contact shelf paper from home depot if I am low on vinyl for stencils. It's easier to peel off afterwards and is cheaper for when I do long camo stencils. For leather.. you could probably stick the vinyl right on the leather and peel what you want dyed, then dye it with less bleed. I know it sounds like I'm a Cameo shill.. but I really don't work for them. lol

also if you have vector art of something you want to stencil (that isn't too large to fit in an envelope and you're state side) I don't mind cutting it and mailing it back for you to test out. Just shoot me an email if so.
Click to expand...

Nah, you don't sound like a sales rep. I appreciate the details. I appreciate the offer, I don't have any vectoring software, but I've been interested in it since I saw Ian Atkinson using Illustrator (I believe) to make patterns. Right now I'm drawing and fitting patterns, then transferring them to stiff plastic sheeting. Printing them (and especially saving the file) would be nice.

My list of must have (and just plain wanted) tools is constantly changing and rearranging. May as well throw a die cutter on the list. Too bad they can't cut leather. :)
 
fwiw.. I did an experiment last night.. I used a vinyl sticker cut from the cameo and wanted to see how much the dye bled. I used dark brown oil dye then wipe it down with resolene and let it dry.. then pulled off the vinyl with some tweezers. It didn't bleed too much. I have some more complicated stuff I'm going to try soon to see how it turns out.

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Hey now that's really cool. I looked at that machine at Hobby Lobby. Seems pretty dang reasonable, and their 40% off coupon mentions that the Cricket is not applicable, but says nothing about the Cameo.

At 40% off it becomes inexpensive. I have a feeling that they'd refuse to honor the discount, but who knows.
 
40% off would be a killer deal if you can finagle that from Hobby Lobby. heh

I think that my next attempt will be at using an airbrush instead of a dauber. Should have less bleed, if any at all. Another option would be to layer the vinyl and dye in between layers. You could create a 3D effect with your font this way. Another option would be to cut on painters tape or aluminum tape... I'll play around with it this week and find the best mask.
 
Yeah, I'd definitely like to hear how the airbrush works. I've been using a Preval sprayer and it's worked very well for normal coverage. Probably not as good as a good airbrush setup though. It splatters a little, and I don't like the disposable aspect, but they are extremely reasonable at least. I don't know how they turn a profit, but that ain't my problem! :D
 
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