Write it on the Wall Wednesday #3

 

  I did this wall in my grandson's room here at our house. It was my first experience with cutting my own stencils. It's really pretty easy. Just like I did in the first week, I measure the width of the writing I want to do, create a banner that size in MSPub, and according to what that tells me I create letters in a super large font. 

  

for this project I only need one each of the letters used, because as stencils I can use each letter over and over. The quote I'm using for the sample here is "It is a happy talent to know how to play." You can tell in the pic above how many of the letters I need fit almost on just one page. The font I'm using is Poor Richard, in about 270 point size. I like this font for cutting stencils because of all the little openings--see how the a, h, p,y e, n don't completely connect? It's useful when coloring in a stencil.

Aside from the sheet(s) of paper with appropriately sized letters about all else I need is a small pane glass, blank sheets of stencil plastic, a stencil burning tool, like a wood burning tool (use your coupon at Michael's) and paint pens.

 

The stencil burning tool heats up quite fast. The sandwich you make goes: paper with letter, glass, stencil plastic.

 

I cut the sheets of blank stencil plastic in small squares...it's handier to work with. In this case I fit two letters on each square. Just outline each letter with the heated tip as if it's a pen...it melts right through.

 

It looks like a rough cut but it doesn't matter. It'll all be good.

Now use a level to draw a light pencil line on your wall.

 

Spray a light mist of adhesive on the back side of the stencil.

 

The *I* in the pic above looks like it has already been used because I tried painting without the adhesive-- it was difficult enough that I remembered this step right away!

 

See, now I don't have to hold it up to the wall--I just press it on and start painting. The trick with these paint pens, especially working sideways like this, is to keep dabdabdabbing the nib onto a paper plate or piece of waxed paper...it brings the paint out in a nice flow. These pens I worked with today are years old. Fresh ones would've been better, I'm sure.

 

Luckily I'm using black today. This wall is rather bumpy, so my edges aren't as nice as I'd like. No problem---I just come along to even out here and there with a black Sharpie marker.

One other quick thing I did while at the computer was to print out the quote with a silver highlight. I take this to the project wall with me. Not only is it reminding me what I'm writing ;-) it also shows where to use the highlighter pen for a more authentic *shadow* look.

 

The combination of old pens, medium nibs(I think a fine point would be better for the shadow) and this bumpy wall, I have to say my original completed wall came out a lot nicer. Here, let's look again, for another perspective of the shadowing, this time in gold.

 

Seems that plaster is smoother than the wall I painted on today. I did this blue wall about four years ago. I used thefaux leather paint technique and then went over that finish with a clear coat. I think that helped create a smoother surface for the writing. Also my pens were probably fresh and unused.

I hope I was clear enough for someone to want to try this. I loved seeing the first week's idea with scrapbook papers put to use by some of you crafty readers already!

I feel I should explain the strange cafe au lait and purple striped wall that I used for today's sample. It is the half bath in the laundry room that I did when we first had it built five years ago. First I wanted to stipple and sponge some combination of mainly purple (don't ask me why). Well it was way too cavernous looking so then I masked stripes and brought in the coffee color that was right there in the laundry room. When I pulled off the *magic blue tape* it hadn't done it's magic AT ALL...the lines where the paint stripes met were not sharp...they were all wobbly. So THEN I thought to go to the auto supplies store and bought several packs of silver pin striping to cover each line where the two paints met.

Funny, huh? Hey, it's worked for over 5 years, and that's a record for me! After painting random letters on it this week and maybe even next week I reckon this little room's gonna get a redo real soon! :-)

Comments

[kalle]

i haven't tried it, but i've read/seen that if after you put up the tape, go over it with the base/wall color, let dry, and then do the stripes, the paint that bleeds under the tape will be the wall color, and you'll get a nice, sharp line.

[finance jobs]

Thanks for the stencil techniques..

[BrendaLou]

I guess now that you've taken the mystery out of this, I'll have to actually do it! I'm enjoying Minnesota another week and then home...I imagine I'll have to get right on it if I can ever decide what to write.

[Mary on Lake Pulaski]

Thank you for sharing your tips on stencils. The method I used on my last project was much more tedious. I am going to try this soon!!

[Jocelyn]

Wow! Great work. I love the words that they sell at Kohl's and places. Yours looks fantastic.

[Diane Duda]

Nice work, lady! Thanks for sharing.

[Cheryl]

What a great tutorial. I have always wanted to try this but have been afraid. You make it look so easy!