One of our best-selling in-store items is our spray-paint range. We stock Ironlak as well as MTN Australia brands, Ballarat has a rapidly growing street-art and graff scene and it's been wonderful meeting so many talented artists working in our town.
The paint range is high-pigment artists quality paint and comes in a fantastic range of shades in high and low-pressure cans and differing finishes, we also stock a range of caps for different spraying purposes. As well as for street-art painting the paint is fantastic for fun little DIY projects as it covers so well and comes in never-ending shades of awesome colours!
This weekend I fancied up our boring old black welcome mat, to inspire you to explore the magical world of spary-painting I have composed a little tutorial showing you some basic and effective stenciling techniques.
1. I like to keep it simple and use a word-processing program to select a font style and size.
2. Print your letters out and lay over the top a layer of transparent stencil paper. I like to use the acetate transparency paper you use in an over-head projector, it's cheap and it's see-though quality helps with 'registration' (lining up layers) in more complex projects. Also being shiny it doesn't get soggy like paper.
3. Using spray adhesive fix your letters in place, this stops them shifting and helps get a nice crisp line.
4. Always wear a mask when using spay paint, then shake the crap out of your can for way longer than you feel necessary. This mixes the pigment in well and stops you getting clogged cans. I used a 'NY Fat' cap which comes with the Ironlak cans and is designed for filling large areas. Spray on your drop-sheet or scrap of paper to get the can started, this helps eliminate getting yucky spatters or thin paint on your work. Spray an even layer of paint over your mat, it will be fairly absorbent so build up thin layers of paint to avoid runs and drips.
5. When dry, (on a nice day 10-15 mins should do the trick!) peel off your letters (and save for another project?), pop in the doorway and welcome your visitors with style!
