I am doing a 3 tier cake and with a particular symbol stenciled on the sides of each tier. I made a stencil, and the symbol is 5" long. I'm trying to figure out how to space the stencil on the 3 tiers (6", 8" 10"). Should I make each tier have only full symbols, with even spacing between, even though that would mean there would be different sized spaces b/n the pattern on each tier? or, should I stencil them with no spaces, and have a partial pattern at the end? any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Picture of said stencil or pattern? I don't know if I can answer that without seeing it.

i keep trying to post the pic but i'm getting an error. I think i don't know how to make it small enough... can i post a link?
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-2550046-koru-decorations.php

I guess it depends on which size tier you are using, whether they look good right up next to each other, or spaced. I think it fully depends on that.

Thanks for the response, Jamie. I'm doing 6" 8" 10" round tiers. So, for example, on the 6" tier, I measured the circumference of 19", so I could do the 5" stencil 3 full times, with about an inch in between. But on the 8" tier, it's 26", so I could do 5 full stencils but they would be only about 1/5 of an inch apart. I'm worried that will look weird to have different sized spaces on each tier, but on the flip side, I don't know how to handle doing a partial stencil on each tier if I space them evenly.

Remember once a c ake is iced the circumference will be different Even if you were using all the same size cakes it can vary.
I would put the design evenly spaced on each tier.
If a partial design is needed be sure it is in the back!

The last time I did a stenciled cake, I just spaced them however looked best per tier, but I used more than one pattern. Perhaps do the whole straight pattern on the 6", then center the pattern on the 8" also, but add some dots or just the tips of the pattern on the outside. For the 10 inch, use the centered pattern again, but add the half sides from the corner pattern (if you made that), or use two of the whole pattern side by side, if you wish.

It's a great pattern! I'm sure it will look great no matter what!

Could you consider reducing the size of the stencil proportionately to the size of the cake tier??? Is that possible???

I like your idea, poohsmama . It shouldn't be too difficult to play around with the enlarge/reduce buttons on a photocopier at your corner Kinko's or your neighborhood office supply store. That way, there can be the same number of stencils on each tier with the same amount (relatively speaking) of space between them and no worrying about doing half designs in the back.