Each year, the Girl Scouts join the Cub Scouts for their Pinewood Derby. Between three children, we've made at least one car each year for over 10 years!
Dakota is the last one still involved in Pinewood Derby. The boys could make one for the "fun run" of adults, siblings, or Boy Scouts, but they elect not to.
This year, Dakota wanted to make a mermaid pinewood derby car. She'd gotten some mermaid leggings for Christmas, and they inspired her car.
She wasn't sure she would be able to paint it, so I offered to make her a stencil to use to paint the mermaid scales.
Mermaid Scale Free SVG File
Since I was die cutting for a car, I made it long and skinny. You can set it side by side to make a larger pattern.
How to Fill a Shape
You can also use this to fill in a shape or letters. Learn how to fill a silhouette shape with a design from Silhouette School.
In SCAL, place the pattern over the object you want to fill and choose Path then Intersection. This will fill the shape with the pattern.
How to Make a Stencil With a Circut or Silhouette
I have an older Cricut Explore and a Silhouette Cameo
. I have the Cricut in my craft room at home and my Silhouette in my office. Given a choice, I prefer my Silhouette.I use Sure Cuts a Lot for both machines. Yes, my Cricut is that old! The Silhouette software is clunky, and I think SCAL is easier to use.
To make the stencil, I just used cheap contact paper. It was a wood grain design that I picked up really cheap just to make stencils with.
You can use adhesive vinyl to make stencils. I make them often, so I use the contact paper since it's cheaper. You can also use stencil film to make stencils.
Use the vinyl setting and do a test cut. I did not test cut and actually cut through the back so the scales came out. That was fine for this project, but keep that in mind.
Once it's cut, weed it and use transfer tape to attach it to the surface.
My daughter already had the base coat on her car, so the contact paper didn't want to stick well. It slid on the bottom, but so it got a little fuzzy.
I suggested using a Sharpie to outline the scales to make them show up better. She ended up only outlining a few, and I think it turned out amazing.
When you're using contact paper as a stencil, I recommend peeling it off before the paint fully dries. If the paint dries, it can take off some of the dried paint from the under coat.
Mermaid Pinewood Derby Car
For the car, Dakota painted the car blue and then used the stencil and mixed several colors and sponged them on as mermaid scales.
My husband usually drills into the back of the car and adds lead for weight. He was sick, we added 2 ounce tapered weights.
Our pinewood derby race has awards for speed and design, and she was going for design.
Apparently, the car didn't get the memo. Not only did she win the Girl Scout race, but she also won the overall race between the Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the fun run. Her little mermaid car even beat the adults!
This free mermaid scale SVG file is for personal use only. Please share my URL and not the file.
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