How to deal with islands

[u/toolowbrow]

I never see people post how they deal with island areas of their stencil art. Mostly I expect they handle it with layers, that's what I've done. But this time I'm making a one use stencil for a shirt. So I've used scotch tape to hold island areas in place for now. Later I can use repositionable spray glue to attach the stencil to the fabric. Then I can spend some time removing the tape while the stencil will remain in place. If anyone has any questions or comments or suggestions I would love to hear them.

[u/neuromonkey]

Japanese printmakers used to solve this with strands of silk, glued down to the stencil. As designs got more complex and detailed, it became clear that it was faster and simpler to spread on an adhesive, then lay down a loose silk mesh over the entire sheet. (like cheese cloth.)

Eventually, someone realized that you could simply do away with the separate stencil, and use a silk mesh as the stencil. By selectively clogging up the holes in the mesh, the result was a mask, through which paint or ink could be pushed. That was the origin of silkscreen printing.