31 Days of Paint #25 Stencils: Anchor Towels

Thank you for coming back to my 31 Days of Paint Series. If you want to see it from the beginning, just click HERE.

I’ve been stenciling a lot of things lately, mostly due to the fact that I got 2 new books of stencils: Ed Roth’s Stencil 101 and Stencil 201. Each book came with 25 reusable stencils and I can’t stop stenciling things! These stencils are more than just “ducks on the wall” they are modern and fresh.



I stenciled these towels for my master bath. I redecorated this room for the One Room Challenge. The entire time I was decorating, I was looking for a pop of red to go with my nautical theme. Here’s how I did it:



First I washed and dried 2 flour sack towels. I wrapped the area I wanted to stencil around a piece of card board tightly and taped it in place with blue painters tape.



I used Elmer’s Craft Bond on the back of the stencil because I didn’t want it to slip. I highly recommend using some type of spray adhesive on the back of your stencil. I bought both this, the flour sack towels and the paint at Walmart.



I used Tulip brand fabric paint in a matte finish and a stencil brush. If you don’t have fabric paint use a textile medium in your paint to keep the paint soft and pliable. See why HERE.

I used both pouncing and circle motions to paint the stencil then removed it and set aside to dry while I did the second towel. I didn’t have to reapply the spray adhesive, it was still quite tacky. I heat set both towels by ironing the back side of the stencil with no steam.



I am so happy with the way it turned out. I really like the detail of this stencil. If you would like to see Ed Roth’s video using this stencil on a t-shirt click HERE. He explains it all in detail and makes the process look very easy. And it really is.



I cannot wait to try the other 49 stencils! I prefer the Mylar stencils in 201 to the paper ones in the 101 book. Both books offer such fresh and exciting designs. I ordered them after I saw a video Ed Roth (@stencil1) had posted on Twitter. They were $16.95 each on Amazon. Compared to the single stencil packages I have purchased for $6 to $10 lately, these are a great value and come with a book filled with ideas and techniques.

Happy Painting!