STENCIL A REPEAT PATTERN WITH A SINGLE MOTIF

Hi, So today’s topic from Ideal Stencils is how to repeat a single motif stencil, such as our stags head stencil, across a wall area to achieve an all over wallpaper pattern effect. A stencil is a great decorating tool and it is a very cost effective way to transform a blank wall! Some of our stencils have registration marks cut into them or they are designed so that you can align them with previously painted areas, but this tutorial specifically covers how to stencil a single motif and repeat it over a wall area.

Thing you will need:
A spirit level, low tack masking tape, repositionable spray mount, light or water soluble pencil, a stencil, paint, stencil brush/dense foam roller, kitchen roll

STEP 1

We like to advise starting your first repeat in the top left hand corner of the wall. As this way you don’t have to stencil into the corners along the top or down the left side of the wall. You may want to start somewhere different on your wall depending on your space. Place your stencil in position either by using pieces of low tack tape or repositionable spray mount. Make sure that the stencil is level using your spirit level.

STEP 2

Next tear off eight strips of low tack masking tape and mark the corners of the stencil with crosses. We highly recommend using blue decorators tape as opposed to standard masking tape which is a lot more likely to to pull paint or plaster off your wall.

STEP 3

Next remove your stencil and move it over to the right aligning the stencils left corners with the masking tape crosses and then as before mark the stencils right corners with crosses.

STEP 4

Complete the top horizontal row of repeats and then in the same way map out a vertical row of repeats that go down the left hand side out your wall.

STEP 5

Then it is simply a case of mapping out the rest of the area in the same a way. When this is done you now have the frame work for your repeated pattern and is is simply a case of placing your stencil and painting the repeats.

2 different repeat stencil patterns you can achieve

I painted up some stag motifs to illustrate what the overall pattern would look like. Which can do done like below to create a linear stencilled pattern:

Or by missing out every other repeat you can create a ‘staggered’ stencilled pattern as below:

There are various other ways that you could go about this project. Some patterns can be created simply by placing each stencil repeat by eye, creating more free, random patterns which look great with floral design stencils. Some people like to grid up their wall space using a water soluble pencil or chalk but this is the way that we find the easiest.

Tips for painting your stencil

• When it comes to actually painting your stencils you can use standard emulsion wall paints, in some cases you may get away with using a few tester pots instead of a whole tub.
• You can use a stencil brush or a dense foam roller to paint your stencil. For large projects like this we would recommend using a roller as its a lot quicker.
• The stencil can be bent and taped into the corners where necessary, just tape of any areas you don’t want to get paint on. Use the stencil brush to paint in any areas you can get to with the roller.
• The number one rule of stencilling is DON’T USE TOO MUCH PAINT. As this will cause the paint to bleed under the stencil so always off load your brush onto some kitchen roll before painting.
• Only wash your stencil when the paint build up is effecting the results, you can get a lot of repeats out of one stencil before having to clean it.

I hope that this tutorial has been useful and you can use it as a guide to paint your own feature wall in your home. Great hand painted effects can be achieved with stencils. Use whatever paint colours you want and take pride in completing your own unique D.I.Y decorating project.

Have you ever painted a your own feature wall using stencils? If so tell us how it went and what kind of stencil you used.We would love to hear your story!

Visit us at Ideal Stencils
Follow us on Facebook
or send us an email – info@idealstencils.co.uk