I've recently (finally) found a stencil online that I want to use on a door I crackled. I downloaded it fine. But now I need to enlarge it so I can transfer it to mylar and cut it out.

(FWIW: I have an Apple iBook, which I love and an HP printer, which I hate. But that's another story).

I've never enlarged a pattern of any kind that wouldn't normally fit on either a regular 8X10 or legal-size paper. I can raise the percentage of the image, but when I print it out, the pattern goes off the paper.

I know this isn't rocket science, and I'm pretty computer literate. This, however, has me stumped. Can anyone more experienced w/this offer some advice. I need the stencil to be at least 20X15. Do I have to do it in sections? And if so, how?

Thanks.

Linda,

You can print it out as large as possible on letter-size paper, cut it in half and take it to a store that does copies, like Kinkos, Staples, etc and use their copier to enlarge it and print each half to 11x17 paper.

Alternately, you can email it to me and I can use our large-format printer to print it to the size you need (up to 24" x 36") and I can mail it back. How soon do you need it?

Wayne

Wayne, you are a sweetheart. For the information and for the offer. After I mentioned to DH your response to me about the large-format printer, he told me that they have just such a printer at his company in NYC for their designers to print out textile-print designs. Who knew?

I really appreciate your offer to do it. I'd, of course, pay you all the S&H and whatever the cost of the materials. But since DH can do it for me, I think I'll prevail upon him.

Question though: If I were to cut it in half as you suggested and print up each side (blown up to a full 8-1/2 X 11 paper and do the same to the other half, couldn't I then piece the two larger halves together and make a template from that? Just curious. If that would work, I might just want to try it as an experiment. Otherwise...I've just created another "honey-do-job".

Thank you again, Wayne.

My printer has an option that says "print as a multi-page poster" and then you can choose how large you want the image to be. Then you just tape it together at the registration marks and transfer to your mylar. I have a Dell printer, but I think my old HP had something similar.

Oh, yeah, I did forget the final step: piece the two enlargements together!

If your printer can do what topofthehill's can, then that may be easier and save a trip to the copy place in town. You may have to print it to 4 sheets and piece them together.

The problem with enlarging templates is that the lines thicken proportionately. It was sometimes a problem I had with stained glass templates.

(And you're very welcome.)

Wayne

I don't think my HP has that option. Personally, the only option I wish it had was to get up and walk out the door! Did I say I hated it?

Thank you Top and Wayne (again) for the input. After talking it over some more w/DH, he volunteered (willingly ) to take it into work and enlarge it there on the company's printer.

Then comes the really hard part: cutting the intricate details of the stencil into mylar. I need me a new Xacto knife, a steady hand and a good dose of patience. I've done plenty of stenciling before, but never cut my own template. Let you know how it comes out. If I'm successful, maybe I'll post a pic of the finished stenciled door.

P.S. Just double checked and my HP does have that option. But I'd be concerned about taping the pieces together and using it as an overlay to cut the stencil. Where some tape may lie, might be right in the middle of a some cut outs. So....I'm sticking w/DH and one continuous copy.

Actually, you can easily cut through the tape on the pieced-together stencil. Just make sure you have ENOUGH tape remaining on the page as you cut to hold the papers together. I do this all the time with large pattern pieces when I sew floor-length gowns or full, gathered robes. Tape the pages together on BOTH sides of the paper, and you won't have any slippage.

OR... if you could bear the environmental damage, you could spray some aerosol temporary adhesive onto the pages and lay the mylar over that. The paper won't shift over/under the mylar (I use transparent for stencil-making). The paper peels off the mylar very easily, and the residual tackiness on the back of the stencil means you can slap it on a flat surface (e.g. door) and not worry about taping it down as you use it, either. There isn't enough adhesive left on the mylar at this point to transfer to the door.

I don't use aerosols, however. I'm not sure if spray-adhesive comes in a spritz - there'd be a lot of nozzle-gumming, I imagine.

If you knew any teachers, you could borrow an overhead projector, make an overhead transparancy and project that onto the door.

That's always a neat trick.

I'm just silly enough to say... have you ever enlarged without copiers? Like I did in the old days when they had a layout on a little square in the back of a magazine? The pattern was depicted in a graph and they suggested that you enlarge your graph to make the size you want. Then slowly, artfully free hand the pattern in each little box in the graph to your super sized graph. I've done this a number of times actually.

About the mylar thing... I would literally tack or staple the mylar fabric down onto something like posterboard so it would stay put. lay out the pattern, pin to the mylar and cut. Just some ole dress cutting and craft cutting tricks I've used.

Can you still get carbon copying paper? You could trace your pattern onto the back of the mylar using carbon copy paper, then cut out around the edges.

How about using an overhead projector to get the image unto the door. You can just put it onto that clear stuff and shine it on. I have a projector going spare,but the shipping would kill you.Maybe somone closer could lend you one.
Mavis

Print out a copy of what you want to enlarge place a peice of paper of the apropriate size on a wall and hang the subject with a bright light behind it. Trace the size you need.

gardenz,

Just curious, did you get this figured out? If not, open your document and go into the print dialog box and look for 'tile' or 'tiling' anywhere. Anything?

Oh, wow! You guys are great for keeping up w/this and offering help. (Like, I should be surprised at that? Naw.)

DH worked it out for me. He has a humongous copier-thingy at his place of business where they have to enlarge designs and such for production purposes. He took my 11X8 stencil and blew it up to the size I needed. What with the kitchen demo and remodeling coming right on the heels of that, however, I haven't gotten a chance to use the enlarged stencil yet. It's going on the bottom half of a old paneled door that I 'crackled'. The crackling came out really great. In my humble opinion.

As soon as things quiet down here a bit, I'll get to it. Although, the few spare moments I do have now are devoted to the garden. I'm thinking that stencil won't get stenciled till, oh, sometime round this Thanksgiving. Hahahaa!

Very cool!