Street Stencil

So after hours of hard work creating the stencil in Illustrator so it would work on the Laser Cutter at school, I finally finished the street stencil for the project. I originally tried to do the street stencil with a thin mylar plastic but the Laser Cutter melted and warped the plastic in a way that ruined the design. I then used chip board which turned out amazingly well. The downside is when I went to test it, my chalk mixture obviously didn't work and it almost ruined the stencil. The next step would be to try a thin sheet of acrylic for the stencil but I have run out of time and finances. For now I'm going to have to leave it up to future research. This experience has shown me that creating stencils are difficult and costly. I got a quote from a company that specialized in creating stencils (http://www.stencilsonline.com/) and the estimate ranged from $100 to $200 for my stencil, way to expensive for up and coming bands to pay for one show. I also tried to cut the stencil myself with a razor blade and I found it impossible to do. Even the simplest parts of the design were extremely difficult to cut. Without access to a Laser Cutter like the one I have at school, the street stencil doesn't currently appear to be a viable way for up and coming bands to promote their show. Though my research shows that there are others who are doing it very successfully. Here are some photos of my stencil and experiment.