Vinyl Stenciling | Be the Good
Today’s post is probably the most common way that I have seen vinyl used, but thought that I would cover it this week since I needed to make some gifts anyway and I did use vinyl to make them. Vinyl Stenciling is an easy way to make a sign look professional and hand painted. Of course, there are signs out there that aren’t well done, but with some quick tips, you are sure to be able to use vinyl like a pro!
To begin, you will need to create your image. I am going to be showing you two different signs that I made using two different stenciling techniques. They are both popular designs that I am sure you’ve seen all over pinterest. I will be posting the other one later today. This first one is one that my mother in law asked me to make for her to give as gifts. She liked the way the original looked, but not the size. I got to work finding the right fonts and came up with something that is very similar to the original.
I made my sign to be about 10″ by 13″ so that it could be used on a shelf or hung on the wall, or really put anywhere. When I originally painted the gold and cream letters on, the gold blended into the wood so much that you couldn’t really read it. I used a black thin point marker to outline the gold letters so that they could be read without a problem.
The way to make this one is to cut out your vinyl, and then remove the letters from the main vinyl so that you are left with the blank space. I used some plain brown vinyl that I ordered from Expressions Vinyl, but you can use any color you have on hand since you won’t be leaving the vinyl on your board at all. Once you have weeded out the letters from your vinyl, use some transfer tape to move the vinyl from the backing sheet to your board. (In the picture you can see that the dark part is the brown vinyl, and the white is where the vinyl has been removed.) Now you can paint the letters any color that you would like and leave the raw wood look. When you paint, make sure that you don’t have a ton of paint in your brush, and use a blotting stroke instead of just painting the paint on. It will prevent the paint from leaking underneath your vinyl. One other important tip is that you will need to remove the vinyl before the paint has 100% dried or else it will pull the paint up a little bit. To get the middles out of the letters, use a straight pin and fish them out being careful not to scratch your paint.
To finish off the sign, I sprayed it with a clear coat spray paint so that everything would be sealed and protected. It also gives the sign a nice finished look. That’s it! What do you think? Could you tackle a project like this?
Oh, and don’t forget! There is still time to enter to win a $25 gift card to Expressions Vinyl in our I <3 Vinyl giveaway!
