Stenciling On Wood – Top Tips for Results That Wow Every Time:

Stenciling is a great way of creating beautiful signs and designs in and around the house. You can do it quickly without any hassle even if you are not particularly artistic and produce great results every time. However, you must use the correct technique to create stencils that look awesome, especially if you are doing it on unpainted wooden surfaces because fixing mistakes can be harder. Some handy tips for creating wood stencils with zing:

Choosing the Wooden Surface for Stenciling 

You can choose just about any wooden surface to stencil and create a beautiful work of art. However, you need to remember that even if the results can be particularly striking on high-textured surfaces, it is much easier to select a smooth surface. The reason is that the paint can seep in easily on textured surfaces. However, if you still want the beauty of textured surfaces, you should sand them smooth before commencing the project. You can wait till you have mastered the technique before stenciling on coarse surfaces.

Use a Repositionable Adhesive Spray 

You can spoil the results if the stencil shifts. To prevent it from happening, you should spray the back of the stencil with a repositionable adhesive that will keep it from moving but allow you to remove it when you are done with that section. You will want to exercise care when spraying the adhesive to avoid creating a sticky mess around you. Keeping the stencil on a sheet of newspaper can help keep the area clean of overspray. The spray adhesive works better than painter’s tape since it holds the entire stencil in place, unlike the few small patches held with the tape. However, if you are using a single-use vinyl stencil, it will have adhesive on the back, and you will not need anything extra. Whatever method you use, you should place the stencil as you want it and smooth it firmly on the surface to fix it.

Paints and Brushes

You should always use stencil brushes for painting on wood since they have round heads that give a more even spread and clean lines without bleeding. You can use any paint though you will get better results with paints that are not shiny. Acrylic craft paints are a good choice because they give good results, come in hundreds of colors, and are cheap. According to Tropic Drawing Academy, acrylic paints dry fast, making them easy to work with.

To get good results, you should know less is more. You should pour a little paint on a paper plate, dab the brush, and remove all excess paint before applying. The brush should be almost dry for best results because a thin layer of paint prevents it from bleeding under the stencil and making it look messy. Apply multiple coats if you like to get the effect you want.

Conclusion 

Stenciling on wooden surfaces is easy once you get the hang of how the paint behaves on the textured surface. Usually bleeding due to excess paint is a problem, but you can tackle it with a dry-brush technique. If you want, you can seal the edges of the stencil with Mod Podge.

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