BusiStencil

Step 1Load your design and set the threshold. Everything above it becomes material, everything below it gets cut away. Then set the width in millimetres; the height follows on its own so nothing gets squashed.

Step 2Now the thing every stencil breaks on. Cut out a letter O and the little ring in the middle is a loose island: nothing holds it, so it drops out and your O becomes a blob. The same happens with A, B, D, P, R and with almost any logo that has a closed shape. Every island gets a red outline, so you see them before you cut.

Step 3The tool lays the bridges itself. A wave runs out from the main shape through the cut-away area, remembering for every point where it came from, so it knows exactly which point of the main shape lies nearest each island. The bridge goes along the SHORTEST way, not through the middle and not at random, so it takes as little of your design as possible.

Step 4And then the warning that saves the job. Material thinner than about a millimetre tears when you lift the stencil out or when you paint it. A bridge should be at least a millimetre and a half, and on a stencil the size of a hand rather two to three; on floppy material more. The tool measures the thinnest spot and says so when it falls below your minimum.

Step 5The price works itself out while you design. You can change the rates yourself.

Step 6Download the print-ready PDF.

Step 7Pro members unlock the tool once through the shop. After that it works offline too.

Step 8Put your own prices and payment details in the shop, and share your shop link with customers.

Step 9Done, or something went wrong? Open the dashboard and start over with a clean sheet.