Wall Stencil ~ Second Attempt

Grrr... I can't seem to get this right.  Remember the contact paper stencil I tried to use in my guest bath?  And remember how I failed miserably?  I had all intentions of making a folder stencil like Brooke from All Things Thrifty, but then I started thinking about how long it would take to measure out where to place each stencil, trace it, then paint it over and over again.  It seemed like too much work, so I gave up on that idea.

After seeing how wonderfully the Frog Tape worked in my office, I started thinking about how I could use it to stencil.  I created a Moroccan inspired shape that was the width of the Frog Tape that I thought would be easy to cut out and put together.  Here's my template:

I traced it on my tape and started cutting.  After I'd cut out a few I decided to try it out.  Sorry I didn't take pictures of the tracing and cutting.  I figured I'd document the steps when I cut out more, but since the project didn't work, that didn't happen. 

I stuck a couple of my Frog Tape stencils on the wall and pressed down really hard to make sure there was a good bond:

It didn't work very well.  I'd had to reposition the tape too many times to try to get it lined up evenly and now it'd lost some of it's stickiness.  Plus, it still wasn't perfectly even.  For some reason, even with the tape not adhering to the wall and the shape not lined up, I decided to keep going. 

I painted over my stencil with the original paint color (no picture) then waited for it to mostly dry before painting over it again with two coats of the second color (no picture of that either).  By now the tape was not looking too good.  I'd handled it a ton, then painted it three times when it was barely stuck to the wall in the first place. 

I waited impatiently for the paint to dry, still sure that it would look amazing, but when I peeled off the tape I had this:

Sorry!  I didn't realize the photo quality
was so bad until after I'd repainted.

 It needed a lot of touch-up, but I still thought it might work.  Then Handy came home and pointed out how uneven the shape was:
 

I don't know why I hadn't noticed it.  I guess it was my stubborn desire for this idea to work.  Handy said it would have bothered him every time he saw it, and so, in the end, Handy scrapped the project.

I think my Frog Tape stencil idea totally could work, so here are some tips to make your attempt successful where mine failed:
          * Choose a smoother surface ~ in this case, even Frog Tape was no match for my heavily
             textured walls, but it you have an orange peel texture (or none at all) I'm sure it would
             work great 

          * Create a template that is easier to apply ~ the Frog Tape may have been able to hold on had
             I not repositioned it 15 times before finally deciding it was good enough

          * Use similar paint colors ~ because of the difference between my two paint colors I had to use
             two coats of my second paint, putting more stress on the tape

          * Have patience ~ I didn't let the paint completely dry between coats because I was so excited
             to see my idea come to fruition.  If I'd let the tape dry after reapplying the original color, it
            might have formed a seal and given me crisper lines


So my second attempt at creating a painted wallpaper effect was a bust as well.  But don't worry, I haven't given up yet.  I've got yet another idea in the works, and I think this one might be a winner.

I'm linking up to:

Home Stories A to Z

Wall Stencil Fail

Update: Giveaway Over

Everyone seems to have these adorable wall stencils in their houses.

Seven Thirty Three --- A Creative Blog

Vintage Revivals

I know these two were created using Cutting Edge Stencils, but I don't have a stencil, and I had this grand idea to stencil the wall in the guest bath.  I'd been tooling around with the idea for a couple of days, trying to figure out the pattern I'd want to use.  Picking an image and getting it to the right size was an ordeal in itself (we don't have our PC setup and the laptop doesn't have many programs on it), but I won't go in to it because no one wants to hear about my technology issues.  

Once I had the image the proper size I needed to make the actual stencil.  I'd seen people use contact paper to make stencils before, and I just so happened to have some contact paper handy.  What I didn't consider is that contact paper stencils are more of a one time use stencil.  Because they're so flexible your image doesn't really hold it's shape.  Which means my image wouldn't have been exactly the same each time.

I also have really textured walls, which can be a major problem when it comes to stenciling.  I'd decided to use the stencil to trace the image on the wall and then I'd come back through and paint within the lines.  It'll be a little more tedious, but it's not that big of an area that I'm working with.  But I couldn't find a pencil to trace the pattern.  Instead I found chalk. 


Yeah, I used pink chalk, that's what pros do

It doesn't give you as smooth of a line to follow.  At this point I realized my plan wasn't going to work.  But I quickly painted my image just so you could see how bad it turned out. 

Then I washed it off.  I'm going to stop by the store to pick up some folders so I can use Brooke from All Things Thrifty's stencil technique.  I'll show you how I made my unsuccessful stencil tomorrow (technically the stencil was successful, it was my application of it that was unsuccessful), but until then head over to Seven Thirty Three --- A Creative Blog.  Kim's having a Cutting Edge Stencils giveaway that you definitely don't want to miss.