Trainings
| 3.11.21

Guide To Making Stencils

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ABOUT THIS TRAINING

This guide was originally published by Extinction Rebellion Print Workshop and modified for NooWorld. 

Extinction Rebellion Print Workshop is inspired by the work of the Atelier Populaire using historical context to speak to the present. Principally started by Paris 68 Redux, the XR Print workshop is a continuation of the free screen-printed posters produced during the Paris May '68 protests by the Atelier Populaire; Art Students occupying the art universities in support of the Paris strikers. Posters are made using lo-fi and accessible arts materials so that anyone with the resources can set up their own workshop. Work together, print as much as you can, and have a lot of fun doing it! Then take the posters out onto the streets in an act of civil disobedience and fly-post walls all across the country.

This training is a 3 minute read.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED

  • A4 printer 
  • Tracing paper
  • Eraser
  • Newsprint
  • Cutting mat
  • Scalpel handle
  • 10A scalpel blades
  • Scissors
  • 4” foam rollers
  • 2B pencil
  • Masking tape
  • 275G paper
  • 4” paint trays 
  • Selection of emulsion paint
  • We recommend John Purcell paper 0207 7376765

STEP 1

You can download your free stencils and artwork at the dropbox link here 


STEP 2 

Print out the artwork you would like to use and trim them down so you can piece them together and take them into the full image. There should be some little overlaps to get the image to work. 

STEP 3

Draw an outline around all the sections that you want to cut out to form the stencil with reverse tracing paper. You can do this with kitchen grease-proof paper. Once you have the image drawn onto the tracing paper, reverse it and tape it down onto reasonably heavy cartridge paper so it doesn’t move while you are working. 

STEP 4 

Draw over all the lines that you put on the tracing paper and they will transfer off onto our cartridge paper. The cartridge paper is 270 grams, which is heavy enough to make a steady stencil and make a lot of prints with the roller and emulsion, but also light and soft enough to be pretty easy to cut with a scalpel. 

STEP 5 

Probably the lengthiest part of the process is cutting out all the black areas to form the stencil. You can refer back to your positive image while you are cutting.

Congratulations! You have made your stencil. 

USING THE STENCIL

Roll your high roller/radiator roller in some emulsion paint and make sure you don’t overload the roller with paint. Use firm pressure as you roll over the stencil. Note: if you whiz back and forwards too much over images with a lot of fine detail, you will start lifting bits of the stencil off and you’ll have lots of paint going underneath the stencil and smudging the image. 

MAKE A TWO COLOUR PRINT

Let your design dry. Place the stencil back where it was originally and shift the stencil slightly to one side. Go back over it with another colour. 

XR PRINTSHOP TUTORIAL

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