First I found the image I wanted to use (I'm not skilled enough to generate my own); I pulled it into Photoshop and added some grid lines to it. Then I printed it out and commenced with the first step of the project: drawing a grid on my truck's hood and transfering the image from an 8" x 8" frame to a 57" x 36" frame.  I drew on the black hood with a black Sharpie and it worked pretty well.

The second step was to mask the lines I'd drawn with 3/4" masking tape.  Sure enough, I ran out of tape during this process. So I hopped on my bicycle and rode the three blocks to the nearest hardware store and bought some more. As it turns out, the stuff I bought (being new) was a lot better than the stuff I had been using- it stuck a lot better to the hot, black metal.  Part of this process was also covering the large areas that were not to be painted with newspaper. Since I used the City Pages for this purpose, several of the pages seen in the photos are ads for gay dating services.  Fortunately, those pages work just as well at keeping the spraypaint off the do-not-paint areas as the pages with articles about the Twin Cities' homeless population.

Thirdly, I started spraying white spraypaint on everything. I had bought the cheapest cannister I could find at Home Depot, and while its paint was fine, it caused my finger to hurt.  Somtime around the middle of the third coat, the paint ran out. So I hopped on my bicycle and rode the three blocks to the nearest hardware store and bought some more. As it turns out, the stuff I bought worked a lot better than the stuff I had been using.

Finally, while waiting for it to dry, I forgot all about my little project until Ursy asked me to come pick her up so we could go on a bicycle ride.  I had to remove the entire stencil which seemed to take just as long to removal as it did to build (which, of course, is not ture; but it still took a lot longer than I thought it would).

Ultimately, I'm pleased with the results. Up close you can see the various little errors that are unavoidable when building a stencil with masking tape, but at a distance of a few feet, it looks just as I expected it would.

I wonder if it'll all wash off in the first rain.

Comments:

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 8:15 AM from
Details....I find it funny that in your first picture..lower..two guys are kissing!!
haha what kind of newspapers you have where you live?
nice work otherwise

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