How Make A Basic Stencil

I made a stencil to put on a book cover I was working on and found I was very intrigued by the process and wanted to share it with you guys.

I skipped a few letters and drew them by hand because of how I wanted them to look.

You will need:
Tracing paper
Construction paper
Exacto-knife or other sharp object
A Hard board (wood works really well)
Tape
Preferred drawing utensils (markers, pencils pastells, etc)

Directions:
First, draw what you would like to make a stencil of. Keep in mind that you will have to cut this out later. I actually used several stencils to make my original copy.

Next, copy your drawing onto tracing paper.

Use the tape to secure the copy on top of the construction paper on that board.

Use the exacto-knife (or substitute) to cut the design out of the tracing paper and the construction paper underneath. You will need to push hard with the knife to cut through both layers of paper.

In places where there are full circles such as in certain letters, leave ties between the middle piece and the rest of the stencil (I missed this step). Do not use cardboard as the board to cut on. It will get cut as well.

Once you have finished cutting out your design, remove the tape and your stencil is complete.

I recommend testing the stencil out on piece of paper before using it on something important.

You can do so much more than just letters when making a stencil. I hope you guys like this post.