HOW TO: Make your own Kanji masks

BusaWhipped

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OK. Lots of pics to go along with the primer here. This post is a step by step instruction for creating masks for painting a Kanji on just about anything. No more searching for decals. I needed a positive mask, but you can create a negative mask using the same process.

First, print out a Kanji on your printer. The image I used is attached here.

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Next, tape it to the back of something clear. I use a sheet of plexiglass, but glass works just as well if not better. A sliding glass door works great, but isn't as convienent as having something you can carry around.

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Work from one side across to the other overlaping the tape a little. Make sure your tape is all going the same direction to form a sheet.

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Get some light shining through from behind. Easy to hold it up to a window during the day. If you are taping directly to the sliding glass door, you pretty much need to do this during the day. The light will project the image through the tape.

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Carefully cut the mask following the lines. To cut a positive mask, cut out the 3 masks that form the Kanji as I will show below. To cut a negative mask, cut out the 3 holes that will leave a single mask. If your very careful, you can cut a positive and negative mask at the same time.

Cutting the bottom mask.

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Cutting the center mask. This one is a little tricky because of the center section that needs to be removed. Probably would be easier with a razor blade.

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When you are done, your masks will look like this. Since the glue is protected by the Wax Paper, you can store them for later use if you want to cut a few.

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and stick them onto whatever your painting. In this case, masking the bare can so it becomes the Kanji after the can is painted

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