Stencil done - whew!

I just finished my stencil, using the Anna's garden pattern.  I printed it out on 9 normal letter-sized pages, taped those together behind transparency film that was taped together with a couple layers of packing tape.  I used a little bit of glue-stick to keep the layers from shifting.  I cut out 3 panels with an exacto knife and then decided that I was done with that for good!  Particularly since I'd like to make at least two other stencils - Magdalena and Facets. 

So - Jeanne and I took off after her swim class today and went to Michael's - picked up a nice wood burning tool and some of the spray adhesive that I'll need later on.  Okay, we also picked up a few other things, since it was really fun to go through Michael's with a 7-year-old! 

I got a slightly higher-level woodburner - not the $19 one but the $39 level - so that I'd have an adjustable temperature control and a bunch of tips.  It does cut through the transparency film like butter!  I'm all done now - a little bit of a headache from the fumes, though.  Next I'll pull it out and test it on some knits with my new badger airbrush.  This is where I'll see if the stencil is too rough, does it adhere to the fabric okay or does it result in too much bleed-through on the sides, etc.  With the ones I did in England, I applied all the paint (just watered down acrylic) with a damp sponge.  This time I'll be using the airbrush and actual textile medium.  Hopefully the paint won't all wash out like my last version did!