Easy Tape Stencils for Decorating, Clothes, T-shirts Etc...

This is a great project for anyone who needs to make small batches of T shirts but doesn't have (A)The time (B)The knowledge to do real silk screening.  All you need is a basic design, thick paper or card (not cardboard, it's too thick), a pen knife, and lots of masking tape.


what you need:

1 piece of card paper to fit your drawing or to print your design

Black sharpie (ultra fine tip or fine) or black gel pen

Pen knife 

Masking tape tape-- I usually use 2 inch thickness, but the normal width is fine, you just need more of it.

block of wood or thick cardboard to put over your work surface

Step 1: The Design

Draw out your design based on how good you are with the knife. Start out with a simple design with not too much detail. Keep these same rules in mind if you're using a printed page.

Step 2: Tape It Up!

Lay the paper on your wood or cardboard.  Cut (or tear if you're lazy like me) pieces of tape slightly larger then your paper. Apply your tape in nice straight rows, with each piece overlapping the last one down. Cover your entire paper this way with no gaps between the tape(otherwise the paint gets to the paper and the stencil shrinks when it dries).

Step 3: Cut

Now cut carefully along the lines of your drawing/print, making sure to cut only the marked areas, removing the spare pieces as you go. After your design is fully cut out, cut along the edges of the paper to remove it from the wood/cardboard.

Step 4: Done!

Now your stencil is all cut and you're ready to paint! For most of my designs I use acrylic paints applied with a small sponge (you can get big bags of those little makeup sponges for very cheap in the cosmetics section of most drug stores), but the really simple designs do work pretty well with silk screen.

Sorry I don't have pix for the GOT COFFEE? shirt, here are some others just to prove it works!