Article: If you plan on creating an original design, you might want to take a piece of paper and a pencil to sketch out some concept designs. If you plan on using a pre-made image, like one used by your favorite artist, video game, or TV show, you should should find a high resolution copy of the image. High resolution images will result in crisper, cleaner stencils. Beginners might want to stick with simple designs while learning the basics of stencil printing. A simple line drawing or thick, plain, black text will work well for your stencil. This can be easily done on a computer with image editing software, like Adobe Photoshop or MS Paint. You might import an image from online or your personal image library and make some modifications to it with your editing software, or you might use your own original artwork. If you don't have a printer, you can always look into how to make a stencil by hand. With image editing software, it will be easy for you to move around components of the design until you are happy with it. Text, in particular, will likely require some adjustment for you to get the right placement and size. Compare the size of your design to your substrate, which is the technical name for the thing you'll be stenciling onto later. This will prevent you from creating a stencil that is too large. Some examples of substrates you might stencil your design onto include: t-shirts, backpacks, posters, towels, walls, folders, and so on. You might want to change your image properties to "Black and white" before printing. This will make it easier to identify the parts you will need to cut from your image to make your stencil. You should print your image in black and white on a sturdy piece of paper, like card stock or posterboard. Depending on your printer, you may be able to cut a piece of white posterboard or card stock down to the size of a normal sheet of paper and use it in your printer as you would normally. Depending on your region and printer, your standard paper size may vary. Generally, you can expect most printers to accept paper 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) wide. Sturdy paper will result in a sturdier stencil. Using normal paper for your stencil might cause it to fall apart while stenciling.
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Brainstorm your stencil ideas. Create your design. Print your design.