Using a stencil on a curvy 3D surface can get difficult. Especially with an object like a mug, in which painting the design with precision is highly important.

Many problems could arise. You could struggle with the angle of the design being transferred to the mug. The paint itself can slip off as well, and there’s much more. So, stencils can make your life much easier compared to painting the mug freehand.

For stencil-painting a mug, the smaller the stencil, the better. It is also essential that the template is curvy enough to cover the mug easily. Other tips include using a sponge to avoid leaving marks, and much more!

1 Keep the stencil small

First things first, you need to get a small stencil. While mugs are already tiny objects compared to other surfaces, working with smaller stencils is nonetheless an advantage.

If you take a bigger stencil, you will find it harder to bend. Moreover, it will give you little flexibility over how much surface of the mug you cover with your painting.

2 Choose the right painting medium

The surface of a mug is very smooth and slippery. Not all types of paints will work on it. Paints that aren’t waterproof are out of the question, of course. But you would also need to select a type of paint that’s also scratch-resistant.

And that’s hard because ultimately, all painting mediums would either leave bubbles or get smudged off. And if you’re going for markers, choose oil-based ones like those by Sharpies. They spread easily, in the same way as paints, so they’re not that difficult to manage!

3 Use a sponge instead of a brush

Now let’s say you like the texture of normal plasticizing paints and want to use the mug as a decor piece only. In that case, you can opt for acrylic paints, or even glass or ceramic-based paints.

But along with that, you would also need to consider a suitable applicator. So instead of a brush, you can use a soft sponge. Use light pressure when pressing against the stencil. Also, remember to let the paint dry before removing the stencil.

4 Prep the mug by priming and sanding

One of the best methods to prepare the mug’s surface is to prime it. Before you begin, make sure that it’s completely clean. Take a cotton ball dipped in alcohol and completely rub the surface of the mug.

You can also use a paint primer such as one that’s designed for acrylic paints. Use 400 grit fine sandpaper over the mug’s painted and unpainted surface to make them even and flat.

Using sandpaper also helps in getting the paint to stick to the mug. Note that you will have to face a lot of dust. So again, use an alcohol dipped cotton ball or rag to wipe it clean. You can even do it with a dry cloth but it might not be as effective.

5 Protect your mug

Handling a mug can be tricky whilst painting! So what you need to do is block all the exposed areas that you wouldn’t be working on. You can use painter’s tape or brown paper or any sort of wrapping at all.

The reason is simple: Mugs are slippery and during painting, your hand might slip. Even if you don’t end up breaking the mug, you can pretty much ruin the design. In case you end up making a mess, you’d need to spend extra time and effort to permanently remove the excess paint in all the unwanted areas!

6 Keep the paint thick

You will have a problem sticking down the paint in thin layers on the mug. Thinned-down paint isn’t ideal for slippery surfaces. Your best bet is to apply thick paint as the thin layer will be removed immediately upon pulling the stencil. Even if you use ceramic paint, it’s ideal to keep the layers thick. The paint will get smoother as it dries but some marks would still be visible.

7 Keep touch-ups

To tell the truth, your first result may not be smooth. You’ll be tempted to make a few changes, so use tiny brushes for that. You can dip the paint into the brush and blend it in with the painted stencil design that already exists on the mug.

Remember that if you have any tiny marks, they can easily be scraped away by applying more pressure to the mug with the brush.

8 Let the mug dry

You need to leave the mug for at least 24 hours to fully dry. Make sure it’s in a nice and dry place, with no dust around. To make the paint permanent, you’ll have to bake the mug in your oven. That’s the only way to make it ready for food use.

This method is known as ‘curing’ and it may vary from one paint brand to another. Typically, porcelain paints come with proper full and proper instructions related to baking. Just make sure to keep an eye out for any fumes that might appear during the process. You wouldn’t want to damage your mug!

Conclusion

So make sure your mug is clean before you begin painting. Rub it with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol. It’s best to use a small stencil, never go for a bigger design as it will cause trouble covering the area precisely while painting.

When painting the mug, it’s best to use a sponge rather than a brush. The latter will leave marks all over the place, which can look untidy. You can also use smaller brushes to make minor touch-ups. Finally, look forward to your paint or marker instructions for baking the mug to make it food and microwave safe.

Also, don’t forget to check out our custom stencil services to get the best size for stencil-painting your mug. From illustrations and animals, we have all types of stencils that you could use for your mug painting!

Who says stencils have to be only for painting? You could use them with 3D mediums too. For one, paper is a great way to express yourself because it creates wonderful textures. It’s also easy to combine other artistic techniques with quilling, so you can use stencil-painted borders or even decorate the surface with buttons, sequins, and more.

Stencils can be used in many ways for quilling projects. The best way is to transfer the design onto a rough sheet. You can also place a sheet of tracing paper over it and use pins to cover the outline, which serves as pointers to curl the strips accordingly. Some other tips include using stencils to add base layer paint, and much more!

What is quilling?

Paper quilling is a type of art that makes use of paper strips to create bold and beautiful illustrations. So you take the strips and twist and turn them into various shapes. Then you bring them together and glue them onto a surface to create a story, a subject, an object whatever you like!

So you can use colorful paper strips. You can also experiment with various subjects. For example, you could make an animal or even hand-lettered quotes – and stencils can help you work faster and better.

Here are some tips for you to use stencils for paper quilling. We’ve also put together some extra esthetic tricks, so try those out too!

1 Trace the outer shape of the stencil first

The most basic step is to precisely outline the shape of the stencil. Take a rough scrap or piece of cardboard to get the design in hard copy in front of you.

Simply place the stencil and hold it down firmly to avoid it from budging. Since your main project is going to be quilling, the base you use doesn’t have to be the final surface.

2 Protect the base using tracing paper or wax paper

Quilling can get messy. So after tracing, your next step should be to put wax paper or tracing paper over it. Use some pins or paper tape to attach the edges of this sheet to the base beneath.

You’ll be able to see through the tracing paper easily. Next, grab a pencil (using a pen might tear the page). Keep the pressure light as you highlight the design once again on the tracing paper. You can skip this step if you feel that the design on the base is visible enough.

Grab some pins and put them around the outline of the design. Use them as guiding points for curling the paper strips.

3 Use simple stencils to make your quilled strips (optional)

The trick to amazing quilling is to keep the shapes simple. The best designs are a series of plain circles, rectangles, squares, and other such shapes. This technique is best for highly detailed quilling projects.

These templates serve as basic shapes for creating quills. You can then join each of them together using paper glue or super glue.

4 Use the stencil to paint your design onto the surface

You can do selective quilling too. By that, we mean that you can paint the stenciled design over the final surface before attaching the quilled paper strips onto it.

So you would need to copy the design onto the wooden plaque, cardboard, or whatever you choose for your permanent surface. Then, paint the letters first and proceed to cover them with quilled paper strips. That way, you’ll have a bit of the paint showing from underneath which will add more depth and interest to your quilling project.

5 Choose the height and width of the paper according to the cut of the stencil

The size of the paper strips depends on how big or small the holes in your stencil are. So if you have a stencil with very small patterns or writing, you would need to make sure that your quilling strips are extremely narrow.

But what if you have a big stencil? In that case, you can keep a variety of wide and narrow strips. You can use the wider ones for the outer edges of the stencil design, whereas the narrower ones can be used to fill in the hollow spaces within. Again, it’s totally up to you, detailed designs always have thin strips.

6 Use tweezers for handling the shape

Stencils will often make use of narrow paper strips. Handling such width is very difficult with the fingertips. So you should get tweezers to hold on to each strip better and curl it. You can also use the backside of a smooth and well-rounded pencil to create flawless twirls.

7 Create quilled borders

How about adding more interest to your quilling project? You can use long stencils to create borders to add around your final quilling project piece. Again, you can even paint these if you don’t want to add quilled strips. You’ll end up with a fascinating mixed media art project!

8 Use a stencil brush to add more texture

You can also use a stencil brush over the quilled paper strips that you’ve stuck to the wall. Rub dry acrylic paint onto the bristles and brush it over the quilling strips that you’ve stuck in place. However, you would need to be careful because going too fast or applying too much pressure can damage the quilling strips.

Conclusion

All in all, paper quilling and stencils go great together for creating unique projects. You can copy the outline onto tracing paper or a rough sheet. After that, you place pins on various points and use them to curl your paper strips.

Remember that the size of your strips depends on the depth and width of the stencil. You can always have more texture and variety by using paints as well. If you’re looking for stencils for quilling, you’ve come to the right place. Feel free to pick one from our huge collection at Stencil Monkey.

Try our custom stencils maker if anyone wishes to revamp their living space, even a couple of changes and augmentations can cause a house to feel new and refreshing. It is very easy to add zing to the different parts of the home and office with master planning and work.

Custom Stencils Maker Details

With so much time spent inside, everyone will get exhausted with the same view of living space and bedroom. Luckily, giving home another look doesn’t need to be pretty much as extreme as re-trying the whole deck and dividers or changing all stylistic themes and plan components. Indeed, even straightforward increases and updates can have the greatest effect.

These master home decoration strategies include installing custom stencils, green plants, shelves, and other items in the room.

The different rooms of the house are loaded up with unlimited potential outcomes that can change the whole energy of the space. In case anyone is tingling to change over those exhausting, exposed rooms into a styling focal point, continue to peruse.

Regardless of whether the owner is a nature lover, book lover, or workmanship authority, this write-up has tips and ideas for stretching out special characters to different home rooms.

Introduce racks

·  Introduce drifting racks and show hardcover books, plants, little antiquities, and different pieces and places.

· Shelves in the kitchen, drawing room and library will give the home a unique look.

Make a basket wall

·Longing for a tropical vacation vibe? Simple to make and pretty low on cost, a basket wall will get all the boo energies to home.

·Regardless of whether the owner needs to go unbiased or brilliant, they can perk up any wall with a variety of baskets in various surfaces and sizes.

Highlight walls

·Rather than adding components to a current wall, contemplate brightening the actual wall itself.

·Highlighting walls is a phenomenal method to change a space without an excessive amount of exertion.

· Have a go at utilizing a striking and splendid wall paint tone; use the latest wall textures and patterns as a backdrop.

·This is the best way to utilize fascinating canvas strategies like realistic shapes or strié or paint the whole roof.

Wall Stencils

· The home walls will look fantastic with a punch of new wall stencils with interesting shapes and patterns.

· If any person wishes to DIY, they can investigate the new DIY range with the help of a custom stencils maker.

Make wall gallery 

·  Show an assortment of fine art and photos that have a special place in heart to add tone and character to the walls.

· Ponder a durable shading plan for an agreeable impact. Settle on basic edges or acquire a variety of luxurious varieties.

Spruce up the surface with macramé

· The macramé pattern is in trend again, and this time it is going to stay long.

·  The weaving adds surface and differentiation to even the dullest walls.

Install plants

· Plants don’t simply look great on the windowsill. There are a bunch of places where placing plants can change the look of the whole room.

· Hanging creeper plants in walls mounted grower to add a bit of nature and green to the space.

All these ideas are very simple, easy, and effective in decorating home wonderfully. Also, the pointers here require no special rocket science like buying custom stencils maker is very easy as well.

Custom Made Stencils are always favorite to all. Unable to find the perfect fabric for your project? Why not make your own instead of choosing the next best thing to do? Creating fabric templates is easier than you think, and you have full control over the basic fabric, color, and pattern options.

Unfortunately, people who have acrylic stains on their clothes know that once they are dry, they cannot be removed. You may be wondering why you need to use fabric paint/ink or plain acrylic paint. Fabric paint has a medium that suspends acrylic and leaves a smooth, non-brittle surface when dry. Using acrylic straight from the tube leaves a rough, hard surface. However, with Fabric Medium, the texture is smooth and it moves and stretches with the fabric.

Please note that most prepackaged textile dyes and inks are translucent, if not perfect. Dark/black fabrics do not show translucent hues and are ideal for light-colored fabrics. Also, ink color and fabric color interact, so if you understand the basics of the color wheel, no problem. So if you want to dye a blue cloth with a red cloth and a purple cloth.

How do I use Custom Made Stencils on dark fabrics?

Mix the colors of the dough! You must specify the color that milky white uses, usually white. Mix child with medium dough (follow manufacturer’s directions for a ratio of colored dough to the medium dough). Your Custom Made Stencils color.

Steps to clean Custom Made Stencils:

Step 1: Stabilize the substance

Cover the surface and secure the cloth with painter’s tape. Make sure the fabric structure is oriented so that the finished graphic is oriented correctly. If you’re using stretch fabric, try the freezer paper trick again before loading the paper.

Step 2: Use replaceable spray glue.

If you need clear results, it is important to use an adhesive (replaceable) spray when applying the Custom Made Stencils to the fabric. The fabric has some elasticity and can move and slide during dyeing.

Step 3: Paint

The fabric absorbs the color and must be layered. Apply a thin layer on top of the first layer and let it dry for a few minutes. This seals the surface and minimizes color staining on the back of the fabric.

How to clean and store Custom Made Stencils templates?

With care, a high-quality Mylar stencil will last a long time, but proper cleaning and maintenance of the Custom Plastic Stencils between uses are important. Any paint left on the edges will degrade the quality of the stencil artwork, and if the stencil is stored improperly, the intricate parts of the stencil may bend or warp and not lie flat.

Don’t worry if the paint dries on the stencil before you wash it off. Acrylic is forgiving when dried on Mylar and can be removed by soaking and lightly brushing.

●      Easy cleaning of the mold:

Run the stencil under warm water and scrub gently with a dish brush. Pay particular attention to the color on the edge of the graph.

●      Deep cleaning of the mold:

Sometimes cleaning the stencil can take a bit of effort to remove the paint. The trick is to pre-wet the shape with a commercially available water-based paint remover or uses one of the cleaning recipes in the guide to Custom Plastic Stencils markers.

●      Oil-Based color:

Oil-based paints are more durable than acrylic paints, making them a good choice for high-traffic areas. Oil paint dries slower and smells crazy, but is more resistant to scratches and chipping.