I'm a little bit obsessed with stencilling at the moment. I remember it from the eighties - along with rag rolling and feather painting (yikes!) and although I wouldn't want to use it on every wall in my house, I quite like a stencilled table or greetings card. (That includes anything from William Morris to Banksy.)
I haven't invested in a hot knife (yet) - I enjoy wrestling with a sharp swivel Blade too much at the moment. It's cheap (I bought mine with a set of spare blades from Hobbycraft for £4.50); it's portable, and I don't need an electricity supply. What is required is:
· the design to be cut
· a mylar sheet (or something similar-like a laminating pouch). A thickness of 190 microns thick is easy enough to cut with a knife, but sturdy enough for repeated use
· a Cutting mat
· a sharp craft knife
· tape or low tack spray to fix the template beneath the mylar sheet. I use a stick 'n' spray repositionable adhesive now, but something like washi tape is just as good. If you are using a laminating pouch, you can print or draw your design on paper; laminate it and then cut it out.
I started off with a fixed, scalpel-type blade.
It took me quite a while to cut this pattern because it required many tight turns in many small areas. I cut lightly, repeating the process approximately three times around the section to be removed, so that I could retain easy control of the blade. I thought this would be safer than applying any kind of force whilst I cut, and it was.
I finished cutting the stencil and applied colour. I think the inner section works; the middle ring is partly successful, but the outer ring is a bit of a wash-out. The method for drawing this pattern is here, on the Wet Canvas forum (scroll down the page when you get there)
I found a swivel knife, by chance, on a trip to Hobbycraft. The brand is 'X-cut', comes with a couple of replacement blades and costs £4.50 (a pack of 5 replacement blades costs £2.00). The knife has a narrow round metal barrel, so it's quite sturdy and should suit most hand sizes. Changing the blade is straightforward, but there's no cap to cover the blade when it's not in use, so don't leave your knife lying around.
You can see from the partly cut stencil here, the blade has neatly cut some very small circles. There are some smaller, finer, details which were also cut with relative ease.
There are plenty of free-for-personal-use stencils available on the internet, & they're great for practising your cutting skills without having to create a design or make any other commitment until you've decided whether or not stencil cutting is for you. Look at www.stencilwarehouse.com or www.all-about-stencils.com (read their terms & conditions for usage), or just browse for free stencils.
