Halloween Witch Moon Painted Plaque

Cut vinyl design recreates a classic image

of witch flying across the autumn moon.

Sized to fit on a wood plaque approx. 24.75" x 7.75",

a great addition to any Hallows' Eve decor.

Use the vinyl in the traditional way,

or prepare and paint as a stencil 

(this tutorial will show "reversed" stenciling).

VINYL CUTTING PREP:
1. The cut file for this design includes the full-width set up

to be cut "without mat" with most cutters.
If you prefer to use the cutting mat with the vinyl,
the design is also presented in halves with
moon and witch separated.
Each of these separated portions include
"cross-hair" registration addition size shapes
that can be used to line up measured-and-marked
guidelines on the plaque.

2. Cut vinyl for the process you have chosen.
You will need either the WHOLE design, plus separate
witch and moon,
-OR-
"HALL" left section, "WEEN" right section, plus
separate with or moon - including cross-hairs shapes.

3. Use conventional preparation procedures to
weed and transfer vinyl to transfer tape sheet sections.

REVERSE STENCILING PROCEDURE:
4. Paint the base coat using acrylic color that will be
"HALL" + witch + "WEEN" show-thru.

5. Optional: if desired, use sand paper to
rough up the letter and witch areas
for a rustic, vintage look for the final lettering.

6. Prepare for vinyl alignment:

A. With chalk pencil or equivalent, mark the center

side-to-side length of the plaque.

B. Use a scrap paper or card stock strip to measure

the top-to-bottom width of plaque. Mark width

with pencil line, then trim on line.

C. Fold strip in half to find center. Unfold.

D. Position width measure strip across plaque

with edge aligned to right of  previous 

side-to-side center mark.

E. Measure and cut a strip that represents

the top-to-bottom width of vinyl letters.

(For original size vinyl from cut file, this

measurement is 5.75".) Fold in half to find center,

then unfold.

F. Position vinyl width strip at edge of previous strip,

with center folds lined up.

G. Make a chalk mark at vinyl width strip end
positions, and a perpendicular mark along
strip edge. 

H. Complete the marks to be in the form of a +. 
This is the cross-hairs registration mark
that will help align similar guide marks cut with vinyl.

7. Employ standard vinyl transferring methods to

position "HALL" half vinyl on first half of plaque

using cross-hair marks made on plaque as guide, 

taking care that top and bottom letter edges  

are also parallel to plaque edges. 

Remove transfer tape sheeting.

8. Repeat the process for "WEEN" on second half.

9. Using similar cross-hair guide marks on witch

vinyl, position witch between two word halves.

Remove all cross-hair vinyl.

Here is the completed first layer of vinyl.

NOTE that the color of vinyl does not matter

since vinyl is acting as "resist" only, to prevent

paint colors from filling in word letters,

and will be removed for the finished plaque.

Burnish the vinyl edges in place to ensure minimal

edge leaking and remove bubble, etc.

10. As a means of sealing vinyl edges to prevent

the next paint color from leaking under,

paint over the plaque face with black again.

11. Estimate the area where the moon circle will

cover, then paint that area with an extra margin

all around with moon show-thru color.

Repeat for a second coat for the coverage you

want over the base black.

12. Repeat the measure procedures in step 6 to

re-mark the center cross-hair positions.

These will be used to position the moon vinyl circle.

13. Position and apply the moon vinyl. NOTE that
the widest part of the moon circle will fall
to the left of the centers marked by cross-hairs.
Remove carrier tape and cross hair vinyl.

14. Use the same moon paint color to paint over same

area to seal moon circle edges.

15. Paint over the entire plaque surface with the finish color.
Repeat for 1-2 coats to get the coverage over the black
that is desirable.

16. Using weeding tools, spatula, tweezers, etc., 
carefully remove the vinyl layers, lifting corners and pulling
away vinyl edges away until all is removed.
OPTIONAL: for a rustic look overall, run sandpaper
over painted surface until desired effect is achieved.

Here is the final plaque project.