Bugs Life Journal Stencil

This Bugs Life Journal Stencil is filled with Dragonflies and Butterflies, accompanied by Beetles, Birds, Bat, a sweet LadyBird, a cheeky slug and a cute snail among the flowers and foliage. It’s a whole gathering of critters for you to include in your journals, helping you get those artistic flourishes. See further down for Mylar thickness details.
Journaling stencils are Designed just smaller than an A5 Journal in height, the 195mm x 122mm Page Stencils and the 195mm x 43mm Bookmark Stencils are made to slide perfectly into Stationery, Organisers, notebooks, or Filofaxes. I spent a long time trying different thicknesses of Mylar before settling on 190 microns, which gave good strength but with useful flexibility. My stencil also doubles as a Bookmark in my journals too. If you want to understand more about how the thickness feels read on.
About MYLAR®
Mylar® is food-grade safe and solvent-proof. Mylar® can be reused, when cleaned carefully, meaning it isn’t a single-use item. Although Mylar gets used as a generic term for stencils, I only use genuine Mylar® sheets so I can trust the quality of the product for cutting its lasting use. Plus, when you do want to dispose of your stencil (and I hope not for a long time) Mylar® brand, DuraLar TM sheets can be recycled.
What is a Micron? A micron is a unit of measure in the metric system. It equals one millionth of a meter and one-thousandth of a millimetre. It is a shortened word for micrometre. The standard thickness for most Mylar Journal Stencils is 190micron which equals 0.19mm which might not mean much to you or me when using them. So here is a rough comparison guide. 80gsm is the average printer paper we use daily, 100gsm is roughly 125micron which is average letterhead paper. 160gsm paper is roughly 190micron which is between heavyweight paper and thinner card (it’s the sort of card that will go through a printer tray without needing to flat feed through). 300gsm is roughly about 350micron which is a standard card thickness, (like a birthday card), but being Mylar still has a little flexibility. Although Mylar micron is a global standard (to within manufacture tolerance), gsm (grams per square meter) thickness of paper/card can vary a little from country to country and even wood stock to wood stock so as I’ve mentioned these are rough comparisons.
So why is 190micron standard for Journal Stencils? This grade of Mylar is strong and sturdy but has enough flexibility to curve when getting to the centre of a bound journal, or round something that is curved. It is thick enough to last but thin enough to be stamped through or even airbrushed. This thickness allows finer details to be cut that are still durable. Thicker grade stencils are less flexible; they come with the restriction that finer details in intricate stencils cannot be cut due to their thickness, they also won’t curve into the bound edge of a journal as easily and cannot be used to curve around items. Thinner grade stencils are often used in arts and crafts for use in wall or furniture stencilling but won’t stand to be reused as often as a thicker stencil, they also can’t hold too many fine details compared to the standard 190micron as the thinner support struts can tear easier.
I have spent time on the design trying to get as many little details as I can, that would work; this was so you didn’t end up with blobby stencils with no defined shape. I can’t recommend specific pens as there are many out there that will work perfectly with the stencil but do suggest fine-line pens and pencils. If you look through the product photos, you will see where I have used fine-line pens to demonstrate the stencils in journals. Plus, if you want to use paints or ink pads the Mylar can be wiped clean so there is no reason that these cannot be used. I hope this helps.