Personalize your Luggage with Stencils

Customize your luggage with paint and stencils and you’ll never need to worry about airport baggage mix-ups again!

Stenciled suitcases also make great gifts for kids. They’ll love taking these one-of-a-kind bags on sleepovers and trips to Grandma’s. Think about the child’s interests when selecting a painting theme for a kid’s bag. If you need some ideas, try the Themes for Kids’ Rooms section of our Stencil Directory.

Stencils pictured available from Nature’s Vignettes

Some tips to get you started

• The fronts of the bags shown easily laid flat once unzipped. If yours won’t do the same, you’ll need to find a way to stuff your suitcase and get a good flat surface underneath the area you want to paint.
• When painting on a dark background, use white paint or gesso as a base for all of your overlays. Be careful to offload well so your paint doesn’t seep under your stencil. If you do see a bit of a white halo after you’re finished, try touching it up with a Sharpie (permanent marker).

How-To Links

Visit the links below for more ideas and instructions on creating stenciled suitcases.

A great use of lettering done by Nancy Schnell, of FairyDust Creations for Jacobs High School in Algonquin, IL. The school fight song was stenciled onto the wall in the gymnasium.

Nancy (right) had the help of Christi Fish (left) and were lucky enough to also have the use of a motorized lift! This was a school gift from the previous year’s graduating class.

The stencils were cut by Hugh Hoeger of “Say What?”

This lettering, also done by Nancy Schnell, was done for Aspire Children’s Services, a private, not for profit agency serving the developmental, residential and vocational needs of adults with developmental disabilities. Children birth to three with disabilities, delays and at-risk conditions and their families are supported through Aspire Children’s Services. Participants come from over 50 Chicago area communities.

Here we can see the lobby (with tree and lettering). This lettering was projected onto the wall and hand painted.

Because this hallway was so long and narrow, it was difficult to get a good picture. Treatment rooms, evaluation rooms, and more are off of this hallway. Each room down this hallway was “donated”, and thus remembered at each doorway. Since this building serves the children, a storybook theme was chose. Each ‘donor’ is honored on a storybook at the entrance to a treatment room. Nancy cut stencils for the words on each book from her computer.

The next post on Lettering will explore the different options and sources for custom lettered stencils.

Stenciling quotes, phrases, names, monograms, etc. never seems to go out of style. Year after year I always find myself fitting in a fair amount of this type of work. I thought I’d spend this week showing some great examples of lettering that stencilers/decorative artists have created for their clients.

These stencils were cut and designed by Rowena Fengel of Bella! Bella! Rowena uses words, sayings and maxims in most of the clients homes and all of the Parade Homes she works in Texas & Northern California.

by Nancy Henning

Supply List

Basic Instructions

1. Clean the candle surface with household rubbing alcohol on a paper towel to remove oils. Allow to dry.
2. Position stencil on candle using stencil adhesive, blue tape, rubber bands, or a combination of all to hold it in place.
3. Mix equal parts candle painting medium and acrylic paint in a shallow container. Lightly dab your stencil brush into the mix, and offload any excess paint onto a paper towel. You’ll want to use a dry brush technique to keep paint from seeping under your stencil.
4. Stencil the design lightly, using a tapping, or stippling, motion, and let dry. It will usually take 2 or more additional coats of paint to get adequate coverage. Only the first coat of paint needs to be mixed with the candle painting medium, to prevent the paint from crawling.
5. Let dry, and enjoy your creation.

Alternate Finish Method

Candles may also be finished by dipping into melted beeswax, which gives a beautiful, soft finish to the candle. The beeswax I use is a light ivory color, usually bleached. It may be purchased on the internet, but is rather expensive, so not advisable unless you plan on doing a lot of candles.

Tips

• Stencils may be hand cut using mylar or freezer paper. Draw design and cut out using an X-Acto knife.
• In the case of multiple overlays, do not use adhesive or tape to hold the stencil in place. It will pull off the layer of paint underneath it when removed. Rubber bands and fingers work best in this situation.
• If you make a mistake that can not be corrected, you may start over by cleaning the paint off the candle with rubbing alcohol.

Sources & Resources

Candle Painting projects from DecoArt

Supplies

• Beeswax - Southeast Texas Honey Company
• DecoArt Paint Adhesion Medium 2 oz- CreateForLess.com

Here is a stencil method I had completely forgotten about until I began doing a little research. Lo and behold, there is a wealth of information about Freezer Paper Stenciling on the web! Whether you stencil professionally or just want to give it a try at home, this is a very simple and inexpensive way to stencil.

I readily admit, I have not used this method in a very long time, so I will defer to some of the other sites that show this art and give clear “how to” instructions:

“Unwind, Sit, Relax and Knit A Bit” gives a very clear step-by-step guide to stenciling with freezer paper stencils on “onesies”. Too cute! These would make a great gift.

The Craftser Blog has some very helpful tips about stenciling on fabric and using freezer paper for your stencils.

Over at Dabbled, you will find the cutest and very clever idea for stenciling on training pants, using freezer paper stencils! A great step-by-step tutorial is found here too.

Jean over at The Artful Parent shows off her freezer paper stenciled creations. She was inspired by reading Amanda’s post at Soule Mama, which features her adorable stenciled items.

Every post that I read had one common thread. They all were amazed at how easy this type of stenciling was. Take a look at their creative designs for inspiration and and some easy to follow instructions. I was quite inspired myself and think I just might have to incorporate this method somewhere in an upcoming job!