Making Vinyl Stencils for Pottery Out of Kid Art
There’s something magical about a child’s early artwork — the wild colors, the wobbly lines, the unexpected creativity.
Parents and caregivers find all sorts of meaningful ways to preserve these early masterpieces: turning them into photo books, custom jewelry, framed displays, or even tattoos and wearables like socks and t-shirts.
But here’s another creative and lasting option you might not have considered: transforming your child’s drawings into vinyl stencils to use on pottery.
This is the original sketch my then 4 year-old made.
I loved it so much, I wanted to put it on a plate. Naturally.
This is the plate I made with a stencil I printed on a Cricut of her original drawing.
It makes me so happy! And to think this could maybe be in a museum in 2000 years…
Materials Needed
A Vinyl cutter (e.g. Cricut)
Cricuts are available at Michaels (on sale for $199), Amazon (on sale for $199), and Blick ($299), to name a few locations! You can also get a Cricut Joy for a slightly more budget option!
Stencil Vinyl
I recommend stencil vinyl (available here on Amazon or Blick). Stencil vinyl is washable and reusable. If you are using a Cricut Joy, you can find stencil film here.
Ceramic piece (bisque-fired or leather-hard clay)
Underglazes, slips, or glazes
For underglazes, check out this set from Mayco and this set from Speedball as good starter sets for mid-fire clay and glazes.
To learn more about the best consistency of slip for the vinyl resist technique on leather-hard clay, read this post about slip trailing.
Tweezers or a needle tool
Personally, I use a pin tool, simple tweezers, and my fingers for all my sticker removal. You can purchase a Cricut Basic Tool Set (Amazon or Blick) or a Mosaic Tool Kit (which can come in handy for weeding stencils, peeling them off pieces, and cleaning any potential underglaze bleeds).
Making the Vinyl Sticker
Step 1:
Take a picture of the artwork and adjust the image so that it is black and white and has a high contrast so that the artwork is black, and the background is all white.
You will want the contrast to more easily remove the background in the Cricut Design Space.
Step 2:
In Design Space, start a new project and upload your black and white image file.
If you have automatic background removal (a paid service), use that.
If not, remove the background with the color tolerance selection tool.
You can zoom in to get the smaller areas if desired.
Step 3:
Once the background is removed, hit “apply” and select “single layer.” Hit “next.”
Steps 4, 5, & 6:
Name your file, then hit “upload.”
You can size the image to your desired specifications, then print!
To learn more about cutting vinyl stickers on a Cricut, check out this Youtube video on How To Make Vinyl Stickers with Cricut and this blog post from Happy Scraps.
Once printed, prepare your sticker by weeding it with a needle tool or weeding tool (aka removing the unwanted pieces of vinyl from your design).
Applying the Vinyl Sticker & Decorating
There are multiple methods for decorating with vinyl, including using underglazes, slips, and/or glazes. For step by step instructions on each method, CLICK HERE.
Closing thoughts!
Making your own vinyl stickers is a fun, hands-on way to bring a child’s art to life in clay — and create long-lasting keepsakes that are both functional and personal.
Did you do this project on your pottery? Share your pictures on Instagram @meeshpottery!
