How To Use Oramask 813
Posted by USCutter on Dec 28th 2022
Wood painted signs 101
A tutorial for beginners
Supplies For Painting Wooden Signs
- Oramask 813 Stencil
- USCutter Squeegee
- Weeding Pick
- Transfer Tape (TransferRite Ultra Clear 1310)
- Vinyl Cutter
- Wood Sign
- Acrylic Paint
- A variety pack of brushes
STEP 1
PREPARE YOUR AREA
We highly recommend wearing an apron or smock. Also make
sure to put something down on your work surface to protect
it. It is also helpful to have cups of water handy to start
soaking your brushes immediately after use.
Since we don’t need to cut/weed these individual
pieces, we will Unite them so they are one shape.
STEP 2
PREPARE YOUR DESIGN
Make or find a vector design.
• Combine any shapes/paths that overlap (this
is called Unite in the Pathfinder panel in Adobe
Illustrator, or Weld in Corel Draw).
Since we don’t need to cut/weed these individual
pieces, we will Unite them so they are one shape.
STEP 3
CUT YOUR DESIGN
- Cut your design on your USCutter Vinyl Cutter using the software that came with your equipment.
- Slow down your vinyl cutter for more intricate designs.
- Use a 60° blade for the best precision .
Since we don’t need to cut/weed these individual
pieces, we will Unite them so they are one shape.
STEP 4
WEED YOUR DESIGN
- Weed (remove vinyl) using your weeding pick, tweezers, or
any other tools you find helpful. - Anything you weed out, is where your paint will be -
so remove the parts that you want to be painted.
STEP 5
APPLY TRANSFER TAPE
- Cover your design in transfer tape. We were using a 6” roll,
so we overlapped the tape about a quarter of an inch to cover
the whole design. - Then squeegee, squeegee, and squeegee again
- It is really important to go over your design with a squeegee
a few times. This makes the transfer a lot easier. - Carefully/slowly peel back your transfer tape as it picks up
the stencil vinyl. When we were working on our signs, we
found that sometimes part of the design wasn’t coming up, so we would press the tape down a bit, squeegee that part down some more, and then start peeling again. - It’s important to peel back the tape as parallel as you can, as
opposed to lifting straight up, or at a 45° angle.
STEP 6
TRANSFER YOUR DESIGN
- Line up your design on your wood sign, making sure it’s
centered/placed exactly how you want it. Press the design
down with your hands and then squeegee, squeegee, and
more squeegee. This is important because it will keep paint from bleeding under your stencil. - Carefully/slowly peel back your transfer tape to make sure it
leaves all of your stencil on the sign. When we were working
on our signs, we found that sometimes part of the design
wasn’t being left on the sign, so we would press the tape
down a bit, squeegee that part down some more, and then start peeling again.
STEP 7
PAINT YOUR DESIGN
- Now that all the prep work is over, let’s get painting!
- Limit the amount of paint on your brush - it’s better to do
one coat and let it dry, then do a second coat. Too much paint
the first time, and it could bleed/run under your stencil. - We used an up and down dabbing motion with a sponge
brush for larger areas and a small paint brush for finer details,
which also helps with bleeding.
STEP 8
LET YOUR PAINT DRY
- Patience is a virtue, and waiting was the hardest part for us!
We were just so excited to see our designs! - We recommend waiting at least 30 minutes.
STEP 9
PEEL OFF YOUR STENCIL
- Peel off the large portions of the stencil material.
- Use a weeding pick for the small areas of stencil, but be
careful not to gouge into your wood.
ALL DONE!
Overall we were really happy with the way our signs turned out! We were pretty surprised with how easy it was too, even for a couple of crafting beginners.