We hope that these Tips and Tricks will be helpful to you.
From NWDA September 2011 Newsletter (originally from Rebecca Baer's newsletter)
Transferring a large or complex tracing: It is easy to keep your place on a large or complex pattern if you tape a sheet of waxed paper over the pattern to be traced before beginning to transfer. Your stylus will crease the waxed paper creating white lines where the design has already been transferred. No need to risk shifting the pattern to peek beneath.
Transferring onto convex curves: To wrap your traced pattern onto a convex surface like a sphere or a concave surface such as a bowl, try tracing the pattern onto plastic wrap with a sharpie marker. Then, use a small square of transfer paper to move around beneath each segment of the pattern.
FriXion Pen by Pilot ~ Use this when you have to trace on your patterns and need to reuse the tracing! If you ever get frustrated by retracing over your line drawing, you miss a spot because you cant tell if you have done it before, this pen disappears with heat! Trace your line drawing.. hit the tracing with a blow dryer and watch your ink vanish! Then it is ready for your next tracing .. clean as a whistle. You can find this pen at Office Supply stores, Amazon, and Fabric stores. Usually retails from $2.00 to $3.00
Not sure what colors Shade and Highlight? Check out this chart from DecoArt Americana!
Tips from Holly:
1. White paint/white palette? To get white paint to show against your white palette (example, when you're side loading your brush) slip a piece of dark graphite paper under the sheet of palette paper. (Or any dark paper would do.) This lets you see the consistency of your paint, the loading of your brush, etc. ... works pretty slick!
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2. Cross-hatching - If you're like me and you start on one corner or edge, the lines of my cross-hatch are catty-wampus and uneven by the time I'm to the other side! Try starting with a basic "X" pattern through the center of your design. Then you can follow the parallels of those lines a little easier than free-handing. (If it is a window, create a 'X' down the middle of your window then parallel those lines.)
Tip from Rose:
Did your paint get all over everything? Can't get that dried paint off your stencil? Try Motsenbocker's Lift Off - Latex Based Paint Remover. This product works great for removing old paint ... cleans it off your stencils too. This product is available from Amazon, Home Depot, Loews, Ace Hardware.
Motsenbocker's also makes an Acrylic paint remover.