A method of making a stencil, comprising making a stencil blank and subsequently making a final stencil from the stencil blank, said method comprising:
- I) making the stencil blank by:
- a) providing a support carrier having a smooth flat surface;
- b) pre-coating the smooth flat surface of the support carrier with a film of photosensitive emulsion for forming a pre-coated emulsion film having a smooth flat surface with no concavities mirroring the smooth flat surface of the support carrier, wherein said smooth flat surface of the pre-coated emulsion film functions both as a light-mask receiving surface during the subsequent use of the stencil blank for making a final stencil and as a primary surface of the final stencil to cling to a surface to be decorated due to the smooth surface without the need for adhesive;
- c) partly drying the pre-coated emulsion film to form a partly dried, pre-coated emulsion film;
- d) applying a stencil carrier to the partly dried, pre-coated emulsion film, said stencil carrier having openings sized to pass art media such as ink, paints, pastes and fillers;
- e) applying a primary coating of photosensitive emulsion to the stencil carrier so that it permeates the openings of the stencil carrier and bonds with the pre-coated emulsion film, said primary coating having an uncovered surface facing away from the support carrier, wherein said photosensitive emulsion used for the pre-coated emulsion film and the primary coating comprises a photopolymer emulsion, is soluble in water in its native state and is formulated to become insoluble to water when exposed to radiation within a spectrum of visible light during said subsequent use of the stencil blank, thereby becoming firm and fixed in the stencil carrier;
- f) drying the pre-coated emulsion film and the primary coating to form a dried photosensitive structure that remains photosensitive for subsequent generation of a user-defined mask during exposure of the dried photosensitive structure to a light source by an end user;
- g) removing the support carrier from the dried photosensitive structure to form a final stencil blank including the stencil carrier embedded in the dried photosensitive structure but not including the support carrier;
- and
- h) providing the final stencil blank in an unmasked, photosensitive form that is adapted to be fed through an ink-jet printer like a sheet of paper to generate the user-defined mask prior to exposure to the light source during the making of the final stencil by the end user,
- wherein said final stencil blank comprises a primary outer surface formed by said smooth flat surface of the pre-coated emulsion film from which the support carrier has been removed, and a secondary outer surface, opposite to the primary outer surface, formed by said uncovered surface of the primary coating;
- and
- II) making the final stencil from the final stencil blank by:
- i) creating a light mask over a selected portion of the final stencil blank on the primary outer surface thereof, wherein creating the light mask includes passing the final stencil blank through an ink-jet printer like a sheet of paper and forming said light mask by the ink of the ink jet printer on the primary outer surface of the final stencil blank, thereby forming a light-masked stencil blank;
- j) exposing the light-masked stencil blank to light, the exposure rendering unmasked portions of the photosensitive emulsion non-soluble in water, thereby creating a light-exposed stencil blank;
- k) developing the light-exposed stencil blank with water to dissolve and remove said selected portion of the photosensitive emulsion covered by the light mask to create the final stencil with the stencil carrier and the openings thereof being exposed within the selected portion;
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- l) drying the final stencil.