Tattoo stencil maker

§1How to make a tattoo stencil from a picture

1. Add an image: pick a file, drag it onto the tool or paste it from the clipboard. To try the tool first, use the sample, a color flash from the rose stencils.
2. Choose a mode, then adjust Detail, Line and Clean up until the lines look right. In Solid and Both there is also Dark.
3. Set the size, 1–10 in on the long side (centimeters work too). The tool shows which placements suit that size.
4. Download a PDF for Letter or A4, or a 300 dpi PNG, and print it.

The image is processed in your browser. It isn’t uploaded anywhere, and stencilfolio never sees or stores it.

§2Pictures that make a clean stencil

A line drawing on paper gives the cleanest stencil, whether you scan it or photograph the page in even light. A photo of a person or a pet works when the subject stands out from what’s behind it.

Two things the tool won’t fix:

• The background stays in. A busy one turns into stray marks, so crop the photo tight around the subject before adding it.
• Soft, dark photos with little contrast give few lines. A brighter shot helps more than any setting.

Even a clean result is a base. Expect a tattoo artist to rework parts of the line by hand.

Only convert pictures you have the rights to: your own photo or drawing, or someone else’s work with their permission. Another artist’s tattoo or a logo needs permission too.

§3Outline, Solid or Both

Detail sets how many small edges make it into the outline; lower it when a photo comes out noisy. Line sets how thick the lines are. Dark decides which tones turn black in Solid and Both, and Clean up removes small dots and specks.

§4Printing the stencil and getting it on skin

Print the PDF at 100% or “Actual size” with “Fit to page” off, then measure the 1 inch test square on the sheet. If it isn’t 1 inch, the printer scaled the page. A design bigger than one sheet is split across several.

Mirror is on by default, because a stencil goes onto skin face down and flips. If your printer software has its own mirror setting, turn on only one of the two.

The stencil transfers only from stencil paper that suits your printer:

• Thermal stencil printer: thermal stencil paper. The printer puts the design on the sheet with heat, not ink.
• Thermal copier: print the stencil on plain paper and run it through the copier with thermal stencil paper. Use a laser print if you can. Copiers pick up toner, and an inkjet print often comes out faint.
• Regular inkjet: inkjet stencil paper with the ink its maker specifies. Some of these systems want a printer used only for stencils.
• No stencil printer: print on plain paper and trace the lines by hand onto freehand (hectograph) transfer paper.

Putting the stencil on is the tattoo artist’s job. The skin is cleaned and shaved, a thin layer of stencil solution goes on, and the sheet is pressed down once without sliding, then peeled off. The stencil dries before tattooing starts.

§5Questions