7/23 Jen's Making Stencils From a Photograph tutorial

Making Stencils From a Photograph

I love to create personalized pages or altered items from images that mean something to me.  So, I found a way to create a silhouette of my kids in order to use on a page, journal, frame, or any where I want!  I start with a photograph of either the entire body or just the portrait.  Side views work best but even a photo of an object, as long as you can tell what it is without any inside details, will work.  

Here I chose a few photos of my youngest son, Christopher.  I am using a regular copier transparency (you can find these at any office supply store).  

1. Place the transparency on top of the photo that you want to use.  Print the photo on a piece of copy paper first or use one that you already have printed.  You will want a Sharpie marker or permanent marker for the next step.

2. Use a permanent marker to trace around the image.  Cut out the traced transparency carefully with an Exacto blade.  Make sure you cut neatly as you will be using both the positive and negative spaces. 

You can see here what I mean about cutting so you can use both.

3. Now you are ready to spray. Lay the transparency (with the image cut out) onto a piece of paper. I chose a piece of music paper.  Use Glimmer mist or spray paint to spray.  Lift the transparency off and clean off.  Let dry.  I also used the positive image (or cut out part) to spray onto a page with three different colors.  You will see that it created a different look to the negative space one. 

 

4. Next I used a stamp to create a design inside the empty space of one of my images.  I placed the negative space transparency over the sprayed image lining it up (you could place removable adhesive on the back to hold in place).  I used a text stamp and stamped the space to create a filled in version of the image.  Lift the transparency off and VOILA!  

 

 

5. I did the same to the next space with individual letter stamps to create an artistic alphabet background.

 

6. Here's what it looks like so far...

 

7. Next, back to the music paper.  I cut out the image and pop dotted it onto the last space on my page so it sticks up slightly.  I wrote my journaling over it and added a title and heart sticker for emphasis.  

Here's the finished journal page:

 

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial on how to make your own personalized masks/ stencils from photographs.