DH Templates

What material is used to make airbrush templates and are there pre-cut templates available?

I'm in the research stage of my future airbrush venture. I watched an airbrush artist paint 3 different designs using templates, but I didn't ask what the templates are made of. I noticed he used the spray mount adhesive to keep the template on the shirt while he painted and I was impressed about how easily and how quickly he produced some beautiful artwork.

Public Comments

1. you can make stecils out just about anything the best thing to use is thin sheets of plastic you can get them at walmart in the sewing section or at your local hobby store hope it works out for ya
2. I've seen templates (stencils) made from everything from copy paper, manilla file folders, mylar (draftsmans materials), acetate (artists supply, look for the thicker variety - bonus, it's easy to cut - just score and snap), frisket & masking tape. Automotive airbrushers even use transfer tape (something the vinyl sign industry uses). With T-shirt art, you're shooting at a higher PSI (like 60) which is going to cause thinner materials to flutter like mad. To cut your own, I'd go with acetate, just for the ease of cutting. Look for "tri-acetate" if you can find it. Art-tool makes a variety of pre-cut stencils and the designs are increasing by the minute. Check out Airbrush Action magazine. Kent Lind and Terry Hill do how-to's in it.