What you’ll need

• A sheet of paper or acetate

• Something to draw with (pencil, or marker for acetate) 

• A knife or scissors

Tip: for beginners start with a single layer print, if you have screen printed before or feel confident you can try a multi-layer design.

Step 1

Draw your design onto the paper first or if you’re confident you can draw directly onto the acetate. Try to avoid drawing a design that includes fine lines and small details. Be aware of the positive and negative space. Positive space is what you will cut out and what will show up on the final print. Negative space is the area around your design that will form the stencil. In order for the stencil to stay together, all areas of negative space must connect.

Step 2

Using a knife or scissors, cut out the design. You’ll cut out the areas that you want the ink to come through on the print. If using a knife make sure that you’re cutting on a safe surface like a cutting board, mat, or piece of cardboard. 

Step 3

Once your stencil is finished, gather any cutout pieces of paper or acetate for recycling and you’re ready to start printing!