Print a Tattoo Stencil in Multiple Sizes on One Sheet

“A bit smaller” is the most common size request in a consultation and the hardest to act on, because nobody can see 10 percent in their head. Printing the design at several sizes on one sheet turns the argument into a choice: four paper copies, held against the skin, one picked. This page covers how the multi-size sheet works, what it does to line weight, and the workflow from consultation to the final single print.

Four sizes on one sheet: how the layout works

The useful version of this sheet is built from one true size, not from four guesses. You set the largest size you would accept, and the smaller copies are fixed percentages of it, so every copy is measurable and the one the client picks converts straight back into a number you can type.

In InkLine you switch on MULTI-SIZE on the print screen and set the size of the 100 percent copy the same way as for any print: type its width or height in centimeters or inches, or use the pinch and the slider. Blank margins around the art are trimmed first, so the number is the size of the lines themselves. The app then draws four copies at 100, 95, 88 and 80 percent in a 2 × 2 block, in reading order: 100 percent top left, 95 top right, 88 bottom left, 80 bottom right. Each sits centered in an equal cell sized for the largest copy, with a 6 mm gap around it, so the smaller ones have more white space around them.

Two practical details trip people up. The copies are not labeled on the sheet, so write the percentage beside each before you cut. And switching multi-size on or off resets the size to that mode’s default, which fills the page, so type your size after you flip the switch, not before.

The sheet goes out the same two ways as any other print: AirPrint to a printer, or a PDF at the chosen paper size. It carries the 5 cm check ruler like every sheet does. Measure it before you trust any of the four sizes.

Why 5 to 20 percent matters more on some placements

A 20 percent spread sounds small. On skin it is not, and how much it matters depends on where the design goes.

On the forearm, the gap between the largest and smallest copy is 2.8 cm of length. That is the difference between a panel that stops short of the elbow crease and one that runs into it, or between a design that reads from across the room and one that needs a second look. On the inner forearm the deciding factor is usually where the top and bottom edges land relative to the wrist and the elbow, and a paper copy shows that in seconds. The forearm stencil page covers typical sizes and where the arm starts to taper.

On the wrist, the same percentages are only a few millimeters, but the space is tighter too. A 5 mm change can decide whether a design clears the wrist bone or sits on top of it, and whether it wraps past the side of the arm where a watch strap rubs. Small pieces also run into a second limit: at 4 cm, fine detail and tight gaps start to close up once the lines spread in healed skin. If the 80 percent copy already looks crowded on paper, the design needs simplifying, not shrinking. On a wrist, size the piece for the detail it has to carry, then check the footprint.

The workflow at the consultation

The sheet is a sizing tool. It works best when it is treated like one: cheap paper, quick decisions, and a separate final print.

1. Set the 100 percent copy to the largest size you would accept, not the size you expect. The other three can only go smaller, so the ceiling has to be on the sheet.
2. Print on plain paper. Copier paper is fine for sizing and saves transfer sheets for the one print that matters.
3. Measure the check ruler. If it does not read 5 cm, something rescaled the job and all four copies are off by the same percentage. Fix the print settings and print again.
4. Mark each copy with its percentage, then cut them out with a few millimeters of paper around the lines.
5. Hold each against the placement with the client standing or sitting in the position they will be seen in most, not lying on the bed. A forearm copy looks different with the arm hanging than with it resting palm up. Keep the paper dry and treat the cut copies as single use.
6. Let the client point, and check it from a few steps back in a mirror. A size that looks right at arm’s length can look small from across a room.
7. Reprint the chosen size on its own. Work out the new size from the percentage (a 14 cm design at 88 percent is 12.3 cm), turn multi-size off, type the size, set the line weight, and print on transfer paper.

If the client keeps hovering between the two smallest copies, that is a sign the real answer is below 80 percent. Print a new sheet with the 100 percent copy set lower rather than guessing past the bottom of the range. The situation page on a client who changes size covers the rest of that conversation, including what to do when a size change means redrawing rather than rescaling.

Line weight: why the final print is a separate step

This is the part that is easy to miss. Every copy on a multi-size sheet is the same stencil scaled, so the lines scale too. If the typical line is 0.5 mm on the 100 percent copy, it is about 0.44 mm at 88 percent and 0.4 mm at 80 percent. That is fine for judging size, since the client is looking at the outline and the footprint, not at stroke width. It is not what the final stencil should look like.

InkLine has a LINES setting on the print screen with As drawn, Fine (0.3 mm), Medium (0.4 mm) and Bold (0.5 mm). The presets redraw the stencil for its print size so the typical line comes out at that width wherever you print it. Because that redraw is worked out for one size, it applies to single-size prints only. With multi-size on, the menu is unavailable and the app shows a note that the copies keep their lines as drawn.

So the order is fixed: size first on the multi-size sheet, then line weight on the single print. Doing it the other way round, choosing a weight and then expecting it to hold across four scaled copies, does not work in this layout. The home printing guide covers choosing a line weight and checking the final sheet before it goes near skin.

When four copies outgrow one page

The 2 × 2 block is roughly twice the width and twice the height of the 100 percent copy, plus the gaps, so it outgrows a page sooner than a single print does. On a portrait A4 sheet the 100 percent copy can be no more than about 9.4 cm wide and 13.3 cm tall before the block needs a second sheet; on portrait US Letter, about 9.6 × 12.4 cm.

Past that, the block is laid out like any other oversized print. With AUTO on, InkLine adds sheets until it fits, up to 3 × 3, with the same 15 mm overlap strips, registration marks, cut lines and sheet labels as the multi-page tiler. The 7 × 14 cm forearm panel above runs to two sheets on A4 or US Letter and fits on a single A3 or Tabloid sheet. If you type a size bigger than the 3 × 3 grid can hold, the app brings it back to the largest that fits and tells you so.

For a sizing sheet, tiling is usually the wrong trade. Taping two sheets together to compare four copies wastes time a consultation does not have. If the design is large enough to tile in multi-size, print one trial at your preferred size and one at 85 to 90 percent as separate single prints, or move to A3 or Tabloid if your printer takes it.

Honest limits

• The copies are fixed at 100, 95, 88 and 80 percent. There is no larger-than-100 copy and no custom percentage; to test a bigger size, raise the 100 percent copy.
• No labels on the sheet. You mark the percentages yourself.
• Lines stay as drawn on every copy. The line-weight presets work on single-size prints only.
• Paper is flat and skin is not. A copy held against a curved forearm shows the footprint well and the wrap less well. The on-skin preview in the app is an AI-generated image on a generic body part, not a measurement of your client’s arm.
• It does not replace a thermal stencil printer for shop-volume work; it prints through standard AirPrint printers or to PDF.

On pricing, the app is a free download. The manual stencil workflow, including print layout and export, is free up to an allowance on how many images you carry through it and needs a subscription past that; AI generation uses credits.