cheap plastic sheets for street art stencil.?

Question

Any cheap alternatives to the plastic stencil sheets?

Answer 1

I used to work for a highway striping company. For quick large scale stencils we used 2-4 MIL 4' X 8' Coroplast sheets. You can find them at good sign supply companies or just a simple sign shop. Usually between $10 to $18 per sheet depending on your locale. Here's a tip for you...Ask them first if they have any damaged Coroplast sheets as sometimes they do. For stencil work you don't need new stencil material usually unless there's a bunch of holes in it. If they do, try to talk them down and if they won't budge just start leaving. Believe me, they would like to get rid of it. Another tip, don't go over anything above 4 MIL in thickness as it is kind of tough to cut. I usually use either an exacto-knife or a utility knife and a THICK straight edge so you don't cut yourself. I found it easiest to cut directly on a clean concrete surface and have a surplus of blades handy. IMPORTANT NOTE It's easier to cut through Coroplast with multiple light cuts then trying to cut through it with one deep cut and your blades will last longer. A jigsaw tends to melt the plastic and makes a mushy cut doing small circles but my personal favorite was an exacto-knife. Be patient...go slow and usually you will go through a lot of blades if you have a lot of detail. It would be good to have someone hold down the stencil for you when you start doing the actual spray painting if there is a wind. Coroplast likes to become airborne in even a light wind.



Oh, one more tip...Coroplast is like a cardboard box in it design, so to make your street stencil fold up nicely you can cut through one layer of the plastic two feet down from one end, then flip it over go two feet down and cut through one layer, flip it over again measure two more feet and cut through the top layer again. Now the stencil should fold in on itself, then fold again the other direction and repeat until you have just a 2' X 4' package to carry with you. If you accidentally cut through it completely use Gorilla Tape and it works like a hinge also

Hope this helped.

Answer 2

Plastic Stencil Sheets

Answer 3

Masonite is too thick to work with. If you're doing street art, you still kind of want to be able to draw like you can with an exacto. Plastic sheeting is good if you want to be able to reuse a stencil. It also rolls up. But cheap poster board works just as well, except that it can fold, which you don't want. You can always go back and cut the plastic stencil from the poster.



If you're dead set on the plastic, but can only find 8.5x11, just use clear scotch tape to match the edges. Just make sure the cut outs don't sever the whole seam.



Poster board will tear, so let paint dry before you lay them down, and lift them off the painting surface before they dry

Answer 4

Make a stencil of a powerpoint with plugs I have one and it looks really cool

Answer 5

A couple ideas of the top of my head

-Masonite is super cheap, light and durable composite wood (if you're still going to use a jigsaw to cut the shape)

-really viscous acrylic paint (make sure to put vaseline coated shapes in where you want your spray paint to go through

-card stock + knives

Answer 6

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