Cutting your own stencils

I have made a few on my own, but would like to add some tribal stencils to my small collection for the adults. Anyone have any advice on cutting stencils? How to easily do so? I'm in the dark ages here, LOL. I have so far used a dremmel tool....which was quite the experiment, yikes, but I usually just use the good old standby exacto blade. Any hints, tips, ect? What material do you use to cut your stencils out of? I recently ordered some 7 mil from istencils.com.

If you're making stencils by hand, I recommend a stencil cutting tool similar to this one.

http://www.stencilease.com/db/display.asp?input=1992&mkwid=sROnvwLen&pcrid=44299579339&pkw=&pmt=&pdv=c&gclid=CjwKEAjw9dWuBRDFs9mHv-C9_FkSJADo58iMk6vxeS89nFMrjrq87l5FjZMVDWIySTJwHBYR9Pyb5RoC0VXw_wcB

There's many kinds on the market, mine is really old and I don't know what brand it is. If you have money to invest though, the silhouette cameo has been worth the purchase to save on so much time.

Hey!! That's a Heck of a good idea! Thanks a bunch, I really appreciate you taking time to post that link.

you want 7.5mil from stencilease.com
For me i design it all on computer and use a plotter. Having a ton of photoshop skill is an asset with this method.

I have that stencil cutter. It's just a wood burner with some ultra fine tips. Great for craft stencils, but no so much for face painting because it melts the plastic and leaves raised sharp and pointy edges that feel like broke glass on the face. Not fun. :/

I second exactly what Forest Fairy said. I have made stencils before and the wood burner is not ideal. It makes very unclean edges. The exacto knife takes longer, but it comes out way cleaner.