Fun and Easy Reverse Stencil Art Project
A co-worker of mine asked for some assistance for her daughter’s birthday. Here’s a fun and easy reverse stencil art project.
My friend knows of my love of crafting and had found an idea on Pinterest that she wanted to do at the birthday party. The theme was unicorns and the guests were to paint canvases with a unicorn stencil on them. Essentially, the guests were painting the background. The unicorn stencil was placed on the canvas and was to be removed once the paint was dry.
Once I found a unicorn silhouette that we liked, I cut it out of stencil vinyl. For this project, I used Oramask 810 which I also used for glass etching – you can read about that post here. It may also be used as a stencil for painting wooden signs. Oramask is sticky, but not permanent at all. It has a sticky backing, just like regular vinyl. I cut out the Oramask using the vinyl setting on my Cricut. Then I used transfer tape to remove it from the backing and placed it on the canvas. For this project, I used a low-tack shelf liner to transfer it over – this allowed me to reposition the unicorn without having to worry about it sticking too much.
The image can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. The unicorn that I made did not have any cutouts – it was one solid piece. You could also have a more intricate design, just be careful in transferring it over to the canvas. This technique would also work on wooden signs.
I had cut out the unicorns and applied them to the canvas in advance – I suggested that she simply use her fingers to press down the stencil just before the activity. This way, it was stuck down on the canvas all around. Due to the temporary nature of stencil vinyl and the canvas, I think that the edges would unstick and lift a bit if you didn’t do the painting right away.
What You Need for the Reverse Stencil Art Project
- blank art canvases – these can be bought at the dollar store and come in a variety of sizes; you can also get them in craft stores like Michaels
- paint and paint brushes
- a stencil cut out of stencil vinyl (I used Oramask 810, but I’m sure that removable vinyl like Oracle 631 would work too; I’ve even heard of people using freezer paper as stencils, but I have not personally tried that yet). You will need to weed the excess vinyl.
Prepare the Canvas for the Reverse Stencil
This is just so easy – simply put the stencil on the canvas. Since it is stencil vinyl, it won’t stick permanently. In fact, I felt that I needed to really rub it down to make sure it stayed.
Once set up, the guests paint anything they wanted for the background. Anything goes, really – it looks good in the end, no matter what. You can paint right over the stencil.
The guests took their painting home and were asked to let the paint dry before moving the stencil. Once the stencil was removed, you saw the outline of the unicorn and there you have it!
This is a great activity for almost all ages – it really does not matter what the background looks like so any painting skills will work. Some were systematic like the rainbow background, but others were free-form. Once the stencil was removed, they all looked great.
This is a great birthday party activity, as well as a school activity as the end result is successful for anyone. I was told that this was a really popular activity at the birthday party and the guests all loved doing this. I’m so pleased that I got to help out with this kind of activity. I seem to discover new things to do with my Cricut Explore 2 all the time! These would also make great gifts for Mother’s Day or for grandparents. I’d like to maybe try a more complex stencil next time – one with cutouts – like words may be, and see the end result.
Many thanks to my co-worker for the use of the photographs.
Here are some Mother’s Day ones that were made.
Hi! Love these. What size canvas did you use?
Hello! The unicorns were a standard 9×12 canvas. The Mother’s Day Mama Bear ones were smaller, 5×7. This is such a great activity.