Stencil basics

Stencils predate every app and printer: a cut sheet, a gap, and pigment pushed through the gap. What has changed is how the sheet gets designed. These fundamentals explain the vocabulary and the physical rules that apply whether you are cutting mylar with a craft knife, running cardstock through a cutting machine, or tracing a printout onto a pumpkin. You will find a plain definition of a stencil and how it differs from a template or a transfer, why every enclosed shape needs a bridge or becomes an island that falls out, which materials hold up to paint, steam or repeated use, and how single-layer designs differ from multi-layer registration work. Read these first if you are new to stencils. They are also the pages the other categories link back to whenever a guide relies on a term such as bridge, island, registration mark or positive versus negative space.