It may come as a surprise to you when you first think about it, but stencil art is possibly one of the oldest art forms that have been practiced by mankind. Dating back to cave paintings, early man essentially applied the same principles that artists and interior designers make use of today, albeit back then it was in a much cruder form. Placing a hand up against the wall of a cave and blowing some form of paint or pigmentation around it, creating an imprint of their hand on the wall, was our way of announcing our presence way back then. Today, stencil art has developed and transformed to a refined visual treat that gives you tons of exciting patterns and variations with which to adorn your space. When it comes to using stencils with your existing wall paint, you can attempt to create a stencil art piece of your own with a few important steps in mind. While creating a gorgeous stencil art is no easy task, here’s a few things you need to know to get started.
What is Stencil art? Stencil art is the technique used by artists to recreate a pattern or print on a particular chosen surface. The technique relies upon the pattern being pre cut into a sheet of plastic or wood in a manner where the holes make up the pattern, that will eventually be filled out with paint. Wall paint is then applied in a manner across the sheet which leaves behind the intended pattern.
What kind of paint is used for stencil art? Stencil art makes use of similar types of wall paint as those that are used on regular paint jobs in homes or offices. This is usually an acrylic or latex type of paint which sticks to the walls well and is applied once the wall has been primed and prepared for the stencil art. In today’s marketplace you will be able to find stencil wall paint options that are extremely easy to work with, durable and washable, protecting it from any damages that may occur.
So, how does it really work? Well, the first thing you need to do is settle and decide on the pattern you’d like to replicate on your wall using the stencil art technique. You can browse the internet and find shapes or patterns or characters, anything visual that you’d like to create a repetitive pattern of, on your wall. Once you have that in place, go ahead and trace it out on a rectangular sheet of plastic. This sheet will now be used to create the art itself. With the chosen pattern outlined on your sheet, proceed to cut out the holes, leaving behind just empty spaces in the sheet along your pattern and shape. These empty holes are actually your pattern as they will create the imprint onto your wall once the wall paint has been applied. Having your stencil ready, you now need to decide on the wall paint colours you’d like to use to create your stencil art masterpiece. While you could decide to try creating a stencil on a blank white wall, it could be very interesting to see which colours of your wall paint interplay well with one another, adding to the overall visual delight. If you’ve chosen a base paint, make sure you apply that first onto the entire wall and create the canvas for your stencil art. With the basics in place, you’ll need a few more items such as a stencil paint brush, paper towels to clean up any unwanted marks and some tape to hold your stencil sheet up in place while you paint over it. Make sure you prepare the wall by ridding it of any dirt, grime or mould that may have built up. Now, you can get to the fun part of the actual painting. Fix your stencil sheet on a chosen section of your wall with tape so that it doesn’t fall out of place. With the sheet in place, proceed to use your stencil wall paint and stencil paint brush to gently paint over the stencil sheet in short strokes. Make sure you take frequent breaks and review your work so that you don’t end up going too off track. Once you’ve applied the paint over the stencil sheet, peel it away and review your artwork until you’re satisfied. If the first one is good to go, take the sheet and place it right below the art you just made and repeat the process until you fill out the entire space you’d like to transform with stencil wall art.
While it can be fun to take the DIY approach to stencil wall painting, the art form is not an easy one to pull off by yourself and you may need to bring in the experts. Aapka Painter provides an extensive range of stencil art and designs so all you need to do is contact us and we’ll provide the end to end solution you need to create designs you will be proud of.