The next part of the Zonai banner was a graphic on the silk panel. The silk was recycled from my grandmother’s swing jacket. It has a beautiful blue/green shimmer, but the jacket doesn’t fit anyone in the family anymore. I used a section for this cosplay banner, and I plan on parting out the rest of the silk for other long-term projects.

For the graphic, I replicated the design in Adobe Illustrator, then cut a card stock stencil using my laser cutter.

I did a test of the stencil before applying it to the silk, then “bounced” the acrylic paint onto the surface of the fabric.

The method did not work as well as I hoped, and left a rough edge that I didn’t care for.

I went over the stenciled image with a paint brush and more acrylic paint to clean up the edges.

I was able to fix the graphic, and I would still use a stencil if doing a similar project, but would make sure I was using a stiff stencil brush and I would thin the paint before pouncing it on.