Tattoo Stencil Glossary

The vocabulary around stencils is small but inconsistent between studios. Here is what the words mean in practice.

Materials

• Thermal stencil paper — paper with a heat-sensitive transfer layer, used with a stencil printer.
• Hectograph paper — pressure-transfer paper, cheaper and messier.
• Stencil gel / stencil stick — the tacky medium that lets toner or graphite release onto skin.
• Transfer layer — the purple or blue coating that carries the design.

Process

• Mirror / flip — reversing the design horizontally, because stencils are applied face-down.
• Burnish — rubbing the back of the paper so the transfer layer releases.
• Threshold — converting greys to pure black and white so lines are printable.
• Line weight — how thick each line is; scales with the size of the piece.
• Wrap — the plastic film some artists apply over a stencil before starting.

Design terms

• Outline — the outer contour of the design.
• Negative space — the skin left untouched inside the design.
• Stencil-ready — a file with solid lines, white gaps, and no grey.
• Detail level — how much texture survives conversion from a photo.

Common abbreviations