Stencils from Pictures

[cabarber]

I have a photo I would like to make a Stencil of - I have Photoshop but am not real good with it. Does anyone know how to get the different colors to separate into layers so I could print the different stencils on acetate?[?]



Woman with a Big Truck!

[Laura]

Hi woman with a big truck!
If you really would like to cut the stencil out yourself, i would suggest you buy a burning tool from a craft store. You hold it like a pencil and it literally burns thru the mylar. You figure out what you'd like all one color, then trace that onto the mylar, burn it out, then repeat for each color you'd like. This burning tool allows you to get a lot of detail into your stencil. You can also use a very sharp cutting instrument, but the burning tool goes faster. Hope this helps!

Laura

[Michele]

How hard is it to make a interior brick wall look like plaster is cracking and breaking away from underlying brick? I have a large brick wall that I would like to paint the same color as the rest of the room and then stencil or paint a couple of corners so that it appears that red brick is underneath.

[Laura]

Michelle,
if what you're saying is that the underlying wall is the red brick, meaning, you're painting over the red brick, then you want just corners to show of the red brick.....simply use masking tape to tape off the areas you want the red brick to show, then paint around the rest. You can achieve the "broken brick" look by masking off crooked corners, like it was breaking away.

Laura

[NotNorm]

About two years ago, I mostly finished the living room in my house with a faux finish (a night sky blue/violet combo). What my wife and I really wanted was a border around the top of the room that had a silver/gold sun, moon and stars theme. I drew the sun, moon and stars on paper, but I couldn't figure out how we were going to make a stencil that we could use. It seemed like paper would fall apart, and the roll of mylar we bought refused to flatten out of it's rolled up shape. We'd like to finish that room. Any suggestions? We are total beginners in stenciling.

[Laura]

NotNorm....you're almost there, don't give up. It's easy! Not sure why your mylar isn't working, it should, unless it's not really for stenciling. Anyhow, couple ways you can go about it. Easiest and probably cheapest way is to go to a Ben Fraklin or Michaels craft store and buy an unused clear sheet of mylar. PLAID sells them for a couple of dollars. They will be in with the stencils. Then just trace your design on the clear sheet of mylar and either cut it out using a knife or this burning tool you can also get at the craft store. Knife is probably cheaper, but the burning tool is super easy and fast and who knows, if this project goes smooth, you might want to try it again! Let us know how it goes!

Laura

[Laura]

i

[MrStan]

Another suggestion Norm, would be to scan the image to a computer, and use the heat resistant 8 1/2x11" sheets to print it out on. This same technique may work for color layering, although you would have to print out a copy for each different color...

these sheets can be purchased at staples, office max, or some other office supply store.

[MrsFauxster]

When we have complicated stencils we need to create we send the photo or picture to laserexcel stencil company-they make the stencils quickly and beautifully, and then we have no migraine headaches to deal with!

"work smart-not hard!"

Amanda

https://www.artisticillusions.com

[curveylpn]

i am really looking forward to try out new stencil technques and working smart not hard is always the best way to go

[Public Designs]

If you want to use photoshop to separate the layers by colour then I suggest using the magic wand tool to individually select the colours. From there you can copy and paste them onto new layers. Make new layers by using control-shift-n

[DIYingIt]

Photoshop has a filter under artistic called cutout in which you can designate the number of colors and the sensitivity of the details. You need to start with a pretty simple picture to make a stencil, but I think if you're good with your brush tool, you can convert it using cutout and touch it up from there to make the stencil shapes. Good luck!

[mrcaptainbob]

Stencil...

An old post, but a super update! Good stuff to know.

[toastixeoh]

Every time you select a color in the layers section create new layer before dropping in your color. This will allow you to keep your layers separate and keep your work from getting messed up since you can always just remove a layer. This is the best way to separate layers, just make them as you go.