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Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up

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Hey Silhouette and Cricut wood sign makers, are you having problems with your vinyl stencil peeling up the paint on your wooden sign? You know the struggle: you’ve cut your wood, sanded your wood, painted the background, applied your vinyl stencil, stenciled the sign, and you when you pull off the stencil little bits of the painted background come up, too! Today, I’m sharing a tip to help you prevent this.

How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up

When you pull up your vinyl stencil, pull it up against the grain of the wood. That’s it, it’s just that simple!

Let’s look at some pictures to demonstrate.

I’ve got my sign stenciled and I am ready to remove the vinyl stencil. (By the way, I prefer to use Oramask 813 stencil film.)

Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com

On the left side, I have pulled off the Oramask 813 stencil in the direction of the wood grain. Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.comYou’ll see that several slivers of wood have pulled off onto with the stencil. I’ve circled them in the photo below.Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com
Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com

On the other side of the sign, I’ve pulled off the Oramask 813 against the wood grain. Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com

From the photos, you can see that the stencil didn’t pull up the wood slivers. Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com
Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com

That’s it! One simple tip to prevent your vinyl stencil from pulling up the painted background when you remove it.

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Handmade Wood Signs: How to Prevent Your Vinyl Stencil from Peeling Your Paint Up - Silhouette Portrait or Cameo and Cricut Explore or Maker - by cuttingforbusiness.com

LYNNE GARDINER

Thursday 31st of October 2019

How long do you let your painted wood sign dry before applying the vinyl stencil? I tried 2 days and it still peeled up. Thank you for the good tip too!

Christine, Cutting for Business

Monday 4th of November 2019

No, I immediately remove the stencil while the paint is wet.

Jay

Friday 1st of March 2019

Will this work for cotton netting or lace.

Christine, Cutting for Business

Wednesday 3rd of July 2019

I'm sorry, I haven't worked with either of those materials, but you could certainly try it!

Savannah

Sunday 4th of March 2018

Ahhh I'm so glad I found this post!! I have been making signs for over a year and run into this periodically. I'm about to have my first class and have been racking my brain to prevent it. Thanks so much for all of your amazing tips!

Christine

Tuesday 6th of March 2018

Happy to share!

Christina in SW FL

Monday 11th of December 2017

Wow, who knew? You did! :) Thanks for the tip! :) I was expecting you to say to press teh stencil against my slacks to reduce some of the stickiness before pressing it on the wood. :)

Anna Violette

Monday 1st of January 2018

Pulling up against the grain. Didn't work for me. I think its more of a "the paint needs to be very very dry" kind of a thing,

Christine

Wednesday 13th of December 2017

Happy to share!

Julie Q

Monday 11th of December 2017

That's a great tip but it seems to address pulling up wood...not the painted letters. Will this also prevent losing some of your painted letter to the stencil? Thanks!

Christine

Monday 11th of December 2017

Hello! To prevent your stencil from pulling up your painted letters, remove the stencil while the paint is wet. (Immediately after painting.)