Seven short steps on how to create your own graffiti stencil, which is what me and Bambi did this weekend.

You’ll need:

* a cool design
* one sheet of acetate (overhead projector paper, for you people over 25)
* a crop / blade tool
* a fine permanent marker pen
* masking tape
* a piece of plastic (steal an ADT sign) or cardboard (a case of beer should do. I was thinking about getting one anyway)

Step one

Print your design onto paper. You can also just print the outline of your design, to save ink.

Step two

Using a non-smudging marker pen, trace the design onto your acetate.

Step three

Using the blade, cut out all the spaces in the design. You’re creating a negative image of the one you printed, cutting out where all the ink was. When you’re done cut the whole completed design out of the spare acetate.

Step four

Create a plastic / cardboard frame for your acetate design. Make the inside borders slightly larger smaller than your already-cut design, creating an area for the acetate to overlap. Make the outside border large enough to avoid spraying your hand while you hold it.

Step five

Attach the cut design acetate onto the plastic / cardboard frame with masking tape. Best here is to place the positive image (right way round, horizontally) on the BACK of the cardboard, so that it’s flat against the surface you’re spraying onto. In other words, the plastic / cardboard frame should be in front of the acetate when you hold it facing you.

Step six

Hold the stencil flat against a surface and spray from a distance of about 30cm, otherwise you’ll saturate the image and it will smudge and drip. Enjoy this part.

Step seven

Remove the stencil carefully and marvel at how amazing you are. You can also immediately use the wet side of the stencil to make a gritty stamp of the negative image.

Tips

During step three, avoid cutting out whole contiguous regions, like the inside of the letter “A” for example, or when you spray, you’ll have a big black triangle. You will have to leave shafts of acetate connecting the image to form one, unbroken region of acetate. This explains why stencil fonts always break the letters into whole parts.