How to Make a Stencil: 10 Ways, From Paper to Cricut

To make a stencil, you need a design with bold shapes and bridges holding any enclosed bits in place, then you cut those shapes out of a thin, flat material like paper, card, mylar or vinyl. You can cut it by hand with a craft knife, on a cutting machine like a Cricut, or on a laser. Which way is best depends on what you're painting, how many times you'll use it and what you've already got in the house.

Below are ten ways to do it, from a two-minute paper stencil to a multi-layer spray stencil made from a photo. If you'd rather watch than read, there's a narrated video version that goes from photo to printed stencil.

Quick comparison

Times are rough and depend massively on how detailed your design is. A simple star is minutes. A portrait with lots of small shapes is an evening.

Before you cut: what makes a stencil work

Every method below fails the same way if the design isn't right, so this bit is worth two minutes.

Islands and bridges

An island is any part of a stencil that's completely surrounded by a cut. The middle of the letter O is the classic one. Cut it out and it falls away, and your O becomes a blob.

A bridge is a thin strip of material that connects the island back to the rest of the stencil. It's why stencil lettering has those little gaps in it. Every island needs at least one, and bigger ones need two or more. Place them where they follow the lines of the design and they barely show.

Layers

A one-colour stencil is a single sheet. For more colours, you cut one sheet per colour and paint them on top of each other, lightest first. Each sheet needs registration marks (small alignment marks in the same position on every sheet) so the layers land in the right place.

Keep it bold

Thin lines and tiny dots are hard to cut and paint bleeds into them. If you can't cut a shape cleanly with a knife, simplify it.

The 10 ways to make a stencil

1. Printed paper stencil

Materials: printer paper or thin card (around 160gsm), craft knife, cutting mat, masking tape.

Print your design, tape it to the cutting mat and cut out the shapes you want to paint. Change your blade often. A blunt blade tears paper instead of cutting it.

Best for: testing a design before you commit to a better material, and quick one-off jobs. Paper goes soggy with wet paint, so dab, don't brush.

2. Card or cereal-box stencil

Materials: 250 to 300gsm card or a flattened cereal box, craft knife, cutting mat.

Print or trace the design onto the card and cut it out. Card holds its shape better than paper and survives several uses with sponged paint. It's thicker, so cut in two or three lighter passes rather than one heavy one.

Best for: kids' crafts, cards, sponging onto paper and wood. Not great for spray paint, as it warps.

3. Freezer paper stencil

Materials: freezer paper (shiny on one side), craft knife, iron, fabric paint.

Cut the design out of freezer paper, lay it shiny side down on the fabric and iron it on (medium heat, no steam). The plastic coating sticks it to the fabric temporarily, so paint can't creep underneath. Paint, let it dry, peel it off.

Best for: T-shirts, tote bags and other fabric. It's single-use, but the edges are very sharp.

4. Painter's tape stencil

Materials: low-tack painter's tape, craft knife, a pencil.

Stick strips of tape down on the surface, draw the shape on top and cut it in place with a light touch, then peel away the parts you want to paint. Press every edge down firmly before painting.

Best for: walls, stripes, chevrons and simple geometric shapes on surfaces you can cut on without damaging them. Not for detailed designs.

5. Hand-cut mylar stencil

Materials: mylar sheet (7.5 to 10 mil, which is about 0.19 to 0.25mm thick), craft knife or a hot knife stencil cutter, glass or a cutting mat.

Mylar is the clear, flexible plastic most reusable stencils are made from. Tape your printed design under the sheet and cut through the mylar along the lines. With a craft knife, keep the blade upright and turn the sheet, not your wrist, on curves. A hot knife melts through instead of cutting and is much easier on curves, but use it on glass in a ventilated room.

Best for: stencils you'll use again and again, spray paint, walls and furniture. It wipes clean. There's a fuller comparison in stencil materials for beginners.

6. Adhesive vinyl stencil

Materials: adhesive or stencil vinyl, transfer tape, craft knife or cutting machine, weeding hook.

Cut the design into the vinyl, peel out (weed) the parts you want to paint, then use transfer tape to move the stencil onto your surface. Because it sticks down all over, paint can't creep under the edges.

Best for: glass, mugs, wooden signs and anywhere you want the crispest possible line. It's usually one use.

7. Cricut or Silhouette stencil

Materials: cutting machine, mat, mylar or vinyl, an SVG file of your design.

Upload your design, pick the material setting and the machine cuts it. It's quick and precise, but it cuts exactly what you give it, so the design has to be bridged first. I've written up the full process, with the exact Design Space settings, in how to make a stencil with a Cricut.

Best for: detailed designs, lettering, and making several copies of the same stencil.

8. Laser-cut stencil

Materials: laser cutter, mylar, card or thin wood, a vector file (SVG or DXF).

A laser cuts by burning or melting along the lines. It handles very fine detail and repeat batches fast. Settings vary a lot between machines and materials, so always run a small test cut first.

One safety rule that never bends: never laser cut PVC or any vinyl that contains chlorine. It gives off toxic chlorine gases that are dangerous to breathe and corrode the machine. If you don't know what a plastic is, don't put it in the laser. More in laser cut stencils.

Best for: batches, very detailed stencils, and anyone who already has access to a laser.

9. Screen printing stencil

Materials: mesh screen, photo emulsion (or vinyl or paper for simple designs), squeegee, screen printing ink.

Here the stencil lives on a mesh screen. The usual way is to coat the screen in light-sensitive emulsion, expose your design onto it, then wash out the unexposed parts so ink can pass through. For simple shapes, you can stick a cut vinyl or paper stencil to the screen instead.

Best for: printing the same design on lots of T-shirts or posters. Covered step by step in how to make a screen printing stencil.

10. Photo to multi-layer stencil

Materials: a photo, a phone or computer, a printer, and whichever cutting method above suits you.

This is the one for things you can't draw: a portrait, your dog, a car, a building. Upload the photo to a multi-layer stencil maker and it splits the image into 1 to 6 layers, one per paint colour or tone. It bridges islands automatically, adds registration marks so the layers line up, and lets you adjust the detail on each layer and draw extra bridges by hand. You can even test-spray it on a virtual wall to check it reads before you cut anything.

Then print it and cut it using whichever method above suits your material. The free account downloads PDF and PNG with up to 3 layers. More layers, SVG, DXF and Cricut files, and tiled printing across several sheets for wall-size stencils come with Pro or a one-off unlock for that project.

Best for: portraits, pets, photos, and anyone who wants a real multi-colour spray stencil without hand-tracing.

How to choose

• Using it once on fabric? Freezer paper.
• Using it once on glass or a sign? Vinyl.
• Going to use it lots, or spray painting? Mylar, hand-cut or machine-cut.
• Got a Cricut? Use it. It's the fastest way to a clean mylar stencil.
• Starting from a photo? Make the design digitally first, then cut it with whatever you've got.

Common mistakes

• No bridges. The single most common stencil fail. Check every enclosed shape.
• A blunt blade. Swap it before it tears. Blades are cheap, materials aren't.
• Too much detail. If it's fiddly to cut, it'll be fiddly to paint.
• Loading too much paint. Dab most of it off first. Wet paint bleeds under any stencil.
• Not holding the stencil down. Tape or spray adhesive. A lifting edge means a fuzzy line.

FAQ

What is the easiest way to make a stencil?

Print your design on thin card and cut it out with a craft knife. It takes less than an hour for a simple shape and needs nothing you can't buy at a stationery shop.

What material is best for making stencils?

Mylar for anything you'll reuse, especially with spray paint. Vinyl for crisp one-off jobs on smooth surfaces. Freezer paper for fabric. Card for quick crafts.

Can I make a stencil without a Cricut?

Yes. Every method above apart from 7 and 8 works with just a craft knife and a cutting mat. A machine is quicker, not required.

How do I turn a picture into a stencil?

Upload it to a stencil maker that separates it into layers and adds bridges, then print and cut it. Trying to trace a photo by hand usually loses either the likeness or the bridges.

If you've got a photo you want on a wall, a shirt or a canvas, upload it to Free Stencil Maker and see how it looks as a stencil before you pick up a knife.