It all depends on the type of paint finishes you are working with. Ideally, we recommend flat wall paint and flat stencil paint just because flat paints are very porous and dry immediately allowing for no paint bleed. Even eggshell works very well, drying almost immediately.

The higher in sheen you go, the longer you will have to wait. I recommend having a large fan on while you stencil to speed up the drying process. There is no definite time on how long you will have to wait, but it should not be longer than a minute per section. This of course is for if you are using something like a high gloss or metallic paint that is very runny.

Thank you,

Erika

oh, ok, thanks. a minute per section would be great, since the stencil i am interested in is more of a "total coverage" one than one that has big blank areas in it, which seem like they would affix the stencil easily for each change, if you know what i'm saying. the total coverage ones will need to be have a lot of overlap...

It will definitely take less than a minute for each repeat to dry! Just be mindful that the bleeding can be happen if you move too quickly. Especially with a stencil with larger openings because there is more room to add paint. Be sure to offload your roller so it is close to dry to the touch. You can always add paint, but you can't take it away. I have added a video that I think may help you! In this video, the paints used are flat finish, so you can see how quickly the stencil can be picked up and immediately moved.

thank you, so helpful!