Name Stencilling at Home

[RebelwithoutaCause]

I've always had my lames done at NACs but I was wondering what the best way would be to do this at home? What kind of paint/dye do I need? Any best practices?

[SJCFU#2]

Merg's book (Care and Feeding of All Things Fencing) has a section regarding how to do your own stenciling.

There have also been a number of threads related to stenciling over the years, some of which probably contain useful tips. Try using the search function.

[yearsofwisdom]

Or you could even look at the bottom of this page for related threads.

[brtech]

Of course, the best answer is "don't do that".

There are a lot of ways to go wrong, and when you do, you typically ruin the item. It costs $20 or so to get it done professionally. Why risk a much more expensive lame or knickers for $20?

Yes, you can patch a botched stencil job.

[GypsyScot]

Use Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint, it's conductive and it's what most if not all the vendors use.

[brtech]

Marx, the best in the business in my opinion, does not use that as far as I can tell. I believe they use a standard ink dye designed for airbrushing, and they apply it with just the right thinners and just the right density to get a good visual impression without destroying the conductivity.

If you watch them, they use an airbrush for sure, not a spray can.

Fencing Post uses a standard fabric ink on an ink jet printer (or maybe it's dye sub, but ISTM it's ink jet). I can't recall for sure, but I think it's thermal transfer.

[KD5MDK]

Success seems to vary widely for some jacket materials. I don't know if there's any one process that works for all of them.

[TBean]

I honestly believe the best answer is - don't do it yourself. There are a multitude of ways to go wrong which would end up being way more costly than having it done by Marx - even if you had to ship it to them.

[brtech]

Success seems to vary widely for some jacket materials. I don't know if there's any one process that works for all of them.

AFAIK, Marx has only one blue airbrush "paint". They don't seem to change the "paint" for any material difference, including knickers/jackets and lames. I'm pretty sure they use less spray on the lame then on the knicker/jacket material.

[Mergs]

AFAIK, Marx has only one blue airbrush "paint". They don't seem to change the "paint" for any material difference, including knickers/jackets and lames. I'm pretty sure they use less spray on the lame then on the knicker/jacket material.

Not sure as to whether or not it is a paint or fabric dye. I use Krylon spray paint.

BTW, if you are using MS Word or PowerPoint to do the stencil, 1pt of font size ~ .01", so 200pt font ~ 2.0"

[thekoby]

This is how I did my own stenciling:

Used Photoshop to pick a nice, large block font and set the rulers to display centimeters. Each letter is 9x9 (the section between the seams on my knickers were 9 cm and it fit well between the min. of 8 and the max of 10). I then set guides to each point that I needed; edge of the letters, centers of all the curves, and all the cutouts (like the inside of the O).

I then took the measurements and transfered them to a large sheet of poster board (some technical drawing experience would be needed for this part to make sure everything was square and evenly distributed). Using a very sharp hobby knife, I cut out the letters and the inner cut outs.

I set everything aside and used painters tape to outline where the name would go on my knickers and place a scrap piece of cardboard inside the leg to prevent paint from bleeding through. I used some spray adhesive, evenly coating the back side of the poster board and applied the board to the knickers, pressing firmly down. To prevent slipping, I tacked it down using T-tack pins. I set the cut outs using the same method and applied a light coating of Royal Blue Rustolium spray paint and let it dry completely, then added another light coat. Once that was completely dry, I removed everything and tossed the knickers in the washer to loosen up the paint. It worked beautifully and only cost me about $10 total and took roughly 5 hours (including letting the paint dry).

[Mergs]

Yeah, basically what I describe as the process for do-it-yourself stencilling.

[EldRick]

Actually, a pt (i.e. point) in the MS products is 1/72", not 1/100".

You can print it at any magnification that suits you, but a printers "point" is 1/72-and-a-fraction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_(typography)