Stencil

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Parts of a stencil PartsOfStencil.png
Parts of a stencil
Stenciled warning sign in Singapore Quadrilingual danger sign - Singapore (gabbe).jpg
Stenciled warning sign in Singapore
Stencilled Gaelic type Irish Coast Guard sign.jpg
Stencilled Gaelic type
Japanese Ise-katagami stencil for printing textiles Kata-gami- Bamboo Leaves - Google Art Project.jpg
Japanese Ise-katagami stencil for printing textiles

Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object. The holes allow the pigment to reach only some parts of the surface creating the design. The stencil is both the resulting image or pattern and the intermediate object; the context in which stencil is used makes clear which meaning is intended. In practice, the (object) stencil is usually a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, wood or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material.

Contents

The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to repeatedly and rapidly produce the same letters or design. Although aerosol or painting stencils can be made for one-time use, typically they are made with the intention of being reused. To be reusable, they must remain intact after a design is produced and the stencil is removed from the work surface. With some designs, this is done by connecting stencil islands (sections of material that are inside cut-out "holes" in the stencil) to other parts of the stencil with bridges (narrow sections of material that are not cut out).

Stencil technique in visual art is also referred to as pochoir. A related technique (which has found applicability in some surrealist compositions) is aerography, in which spray-painting is done around a three-dimensional object to create a negative of the object instead of a positive of a stencil design. This technique was used in cave paintings dating to 10,000 BC, where human hands were used in painting handprint outlines among paintings of animals and other objects. The artist sprayed pigment around his hand by using a hollow bone, blown by mouth to direct a stream of pigment.

Screen printing also uses a stencil process, as does mimeography. The masters from which mimeographed pages are printed are often called "stencils". Stencils can be made with one or many colour layers using different techniques, with most stencils designed to be applied as solid colours. During screen printing and mimeography, the images for stenciling are broken down into color layers. Multiple layers of stencils are used on the same surface to produce multi-colored images.

History

Prehistoric hand stencils, Cueva de las Manos in Argentina SantaCruz-CuevaManos-P2210651b.jpg
Prehistoric hand stencils, Cueva de las Manos in Argentina

Hand stencils, made by blowing pigment over a hand held against a wall, are found from over 35,000 years ago in Asia and Europe, and later prehistoric dates in other continents. [1] [2] After that stenciling has been used as a historic painting technique on all kinds of materials. Stencils may have been used to color cloth for a very long time; the technique probably reached its peak of sophistication in Katazome and other techniques used on silks for clothes during the Edo period in Japan. In Europe, from about 1450 they were commonly used to color old master prints printed in black and white, usually woodcuts. [3] This was especially the case with playing-cards, which continued to be colored by stencil long after most other subjects for prints were left in black and white. [4] Stencils were used for mass publications, as the type did not have to be hand-written.

Book illustration

Stencils were popular as a method of book illustration, and for that purpose, the technique was at its height of popularity in France during the 1920s when André Marty, Jean Saudé and many other studios in Paris specialized in the technique. Low wages contributed to the popularity of the highly labor-intensive process. [5] When stencils are used in this way they are often called "pochoir". In the pochoir process, a print with the outlines of the design was produced, and a series of stencils were used through which areas of color were applied by hand to the page. To produce detail, a collotype could be produced which the colors were then stenciled over. [6] Pochoir was frequently used to create prints of intense color and is most often associated with Art Nouveau and Art Deco design. [7] [8]

Aerosol stencils

"Happy 1984" -- Stencil graffiti found on the Berlin Wall in 2005. The object depicted is a DualShock video game controller. Feliz 1984.JPG
"Happy 1984" — Stencil graffiti found on the Berlin Wall in 2005. The object depicted is a DualShock video game controller.
Stencil used for identification (drum case at The Allman Brothers Museum) Butch Trucks case.jpg
Stencil used for identification (drum case at The Allman Brothers Museum)

Aerosol stencils have many practical applications and the stencil concept is used frequently in industrial, commercial, artistic, residential and recreational settings, as well as by the military, government and infrastructure management. A template is used to create an outline of the image. Stencils templates can be made from any material which will hold its form, ranging from plain paper, cardboard, plastic sheets, metals, and wood.

Official use

Stencils are frequently used by official organizations, including the military, utility companies, and governments, to quickly and clearly label objects, vehicles, and locations. Stencils for an official application can be customized, or purchased as individual letters, numbers, and symbols. This allows the user to arrange words, phrases and other labels from one set of templates, unique to the item being labeled. When objects are labeled using a single template alphabet, it makes it easier to identify their affiliation or source.

Stencil graffiti

Stencils have also become popular for graffiti, since stencil art using spray-paint can be produced quickly and easily. These qualities are important for graffiti artists where graffiti is illegal or quasi-legal, depending on the city and stenciling surface. The extensive lettering possible with stencils makes it especially attractive to political artists. For example, the anarcho-punk band Crass used stencils of anti-war, anarchist, feminist and anti-consumerist messages in a long-term graffiti campaign around the London Underground system and on advertising billboards. There has been a semi-recent trend in making multi-layered stencils with different shades of grey for each layer creating a more detailed stenciled image. [9] Also well known for their use of stencil art are Blek le Rat, Epsylon, Marie Rouffet, Nuklé-art, Kim Prisu, Miss Tic and Jef aerosol from France, British artist Banksy, New York artist, world traveling artist Tavar Zawacki f.k.a. 'ABOVE', Shepard Fairey's OBEY, and Pirate & Acid from Hollywood, California.

Home stenciling

A common tradition for stencils is in home decorating and arts & crafts. Home decor stencils are an important part of the DIY (Do It Yourself) industry. There are prefabricated stencil templates available for home decoration projects from hardware stores, arts & crafts stores and through the internet. Stencils are usually applied in the home with a paint or roller brush along wall borders and as trim. They can also be applied with a painted sponge for a textured effect.

Stencil templates can be purchased or constructed individually. Typically they are constructed of flexible plastics, including acetate, mylar, and vinyl. Stencils can be used as children's toys.

Military stenciling

Stencils have been used in the military across most nations for many years and continue to be used today. They are used to mark up equipment, vehicles, rations, signposts, helmets, etc. One use of military stencils was the application of playing card designs to USA Airborne helmets during World War Two as a method to identify regimental units.

Silk screening

Silk screening is a type of printing on paper or textiles, in which an ink is embedded in the cloth. The ink is controlled through the use of a stencil, which is placed directly over the paper or textile. This process can only handle one color of ink at a time. Therefore, multi-colored designs must be silk screened several times, with each interval taking time to dry.

Micro- and nanostencil

Stencils are also used in micro- and nanotechnology, as miniature shadow masks through which material can be deposited, etched or ions implanted onto a substrate. These stencils are usually made out of thin (100-500 nm) low-stress Silicon nitride (SiN) in which apertures are defined by various lithographic techniques (e. g. electron beam, photolithography).

Stencil lithography has unique advantages compared to other patterning techniques: it does not require spinning[ clarification needed ] of a uniform layer of resist (therefore patterns can be created on 3D topographies) and it does not involve any heat or chemical treatment of the substrate (like baking, developing and removing the resist). Thus it allows a wide range of substrates (e.g. flexible, surface-treated) and materials (e. g. organics) to be used.

Other stencil forms

Screen printing

A stencil technique is employed in screen printing which uses a tightly woven mesh screen coated in a thin layer of emulsion to reproduce the original image. As the stencil is attached to the screen, a contiguous template is not necessary.

Airbrushing

A stencil used in airbrushing called a frisket is pressed directly on the artwork. It can be used to control or contain overspray, create sharp or complex shapes, but is not designed to be used more than once.

Wall stencils

Wall stencils - to decorate walls and ceilings or create your own repeat for an overall modern wall pattern effect.

Rock art

One form of pictograph found in ancient and traditional rock paintings is created by the hand first being placed against the panel, with dry paint then being blown onto it through a tube, in a process that is akin to air-brush or spray-painting. The resulting image is a negative print of the hand, and is sometimes described as a "stencil" in Australian archaeology. [10]

Miniature rock art of the stencilled variety at a rock shelter known as Yilbilinji, in the Limmen National Park in the Northern Territory, is one of only three known examples of such art. Usually stencilled art is life-size, using body parts as the stencil, but the 17 images of designs of human figures, boomerangs, animals such as crabs and long-necked turtles, wavy lines and geometric shapes are very rare. Found in 2017 by archaeologists, the only other recorded examples are at Nielson's Creek in New South Wales and at Kisar Island in Indonesia. It is thought that the designs may have been created by stencils fashioned out of beeswax. [11] [12] [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithography</span> Printing technique

Lithography is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German author and actor Alois Senefelder and was initially used mostly for musical scores and maps. Lithography can be used to print text or images onto paper or other suitable material. A lithograph is something printed by lithography, but this term is only used for fine art prints and some other, mostly older, types of printed matter, not for those made by modern commercial lithography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mural</span> Piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a large permanent surface

A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil painting</span> Process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil

Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel or copper for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of the world. The advantages of oil for painting images include "greater flexibility, richer and denser color, the use of layers, and a wider range from light to dark". But the process is slower, especially when one layer of paint needs to be allowed to dry before another is applied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paint</span> Pigment applied over a surface that dries as a solid film

Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are either oil-based or water-based, and each has distinct characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pastel</span> Powdered-pigment-based art medium

A pastel is an art medium that consist of powdered pigment and a binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, or a pan of color, though other forms are possible. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screen printing</span> Printing technique

Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed. One colour is printed at a time, so several screens can be used to produce a multi-coloured image or design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printmaking</span> Process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper

Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique, rather than a photographic reproduction of a visual artwork which would be printed using an electronic machine ; however, there is some cross-over between traditional and digital printmaking, including risograph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airbrush</span> Small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media

An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint, but also ink, dye, and foundation. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spray paint</span> Paint stored in and administered by the use of pressurized containers

Spray paint is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. The propellant is what the container of pressurized gas is called. When the pressure holding the gas is released through the valve, the aerosol paint releases as a fine spray. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unlike many traditional rolled and brushed paints. Aerosol primer can be applied directly to bare metal and many plastics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carbon print</span> Photographic printing process

A carbon print is a photographic print with an image consisting of pigmented gelatin, rather than of silver or other metallic particles suspended in a uniform layer of gelatin, as in typical black-and-white prints, or of chromogenic dyes, as in typical photographic color prints.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stencil graffiti</span> Graffiti painted through a stencil

Stencil graffiti is a form of graffiti that makes use of stencils made out of paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.

Alexandre Orion is a Brazilian street artist, multimedia artist and Muralist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painting</span> Practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface

Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface. The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and airbrushes, may be used. One who produces paintings is called a painter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual arts</span> Art forms that create works that are primarily visual in nature

The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, comics, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines, such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts, also involve aspects of the visual arts, as well as arts of other types. Also included within the visual arts are the applied arts, such as industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, interior design, and decorative art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China painting</span> Art of painting on ceramics

China painting, or porcelain painting, is the decoration of glazed porcelain objects such as plates, bowls, vases or statues. The body of the object may be hard-paste porcelain, developed in China in the 7th or 8th century, or soft-paste porcelain, developed in 18th-century Europe. The broader term ceramic painting includes painted decoration on lead-glazed earthenware such as creamware or tin-glazed pottery such as maiolica or faience.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation and restoration of paintings</span> Preservation of heritage collections

The conservation and restoration of paintings is carried out by professional painting conservators. Paintings cover a wide range of various mediums, materials, and their supports. Painting types include fine art to decorative and functional objects spanning from acrylics, frescoes, and oil paint on various surfaces, egg tempera on panels and canvas, lacquer painting, water color and more. Knowing the materials of any given painting and its support allows for the proper restoration and conservation practices. All components of a painting will react to its environment differently, and impact the artwork as a whole. These material components along with collections care will determine the longevity of a painting. The first steps to conservation and restoration is preventive conservation followed by active restoration with the artist's intent in mind.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Platacis</span> American contemporary artist (born 1973)

Vanessa Platacis is an American contemporary artist, known for her large scale painting installations and her paintings and performance art. Platacis hand draws and cuts stencils that are used to paint directly onto walls using a variety of spray paint and graffiti techniques. Her work has been featured in galleries and private collections in Boston, Cambridge, Los Angeles, Miami, New Mexico, and France as well as the SCOPE Art Show in Basel, Switzerland. Currently, she lives and works on an island off the coast of Savannah, GA and teaches painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

References

  1. Ghosh, Pallab (8 October 2014). "Cave paintings change ideas about the origin of art". BBC News. BBC News. "The minimum age for (the outline of the hand) is 39,900 years old, which makes it the oldest hand stencil in the world," said Dr Aubert. "Next to it is, and this is one of the oldest figurative depictions in the world, if not the oldest one," he told BBC News. There are also paintings in the caves that are around 27,000 years old, which means that the inhabitants were painting for at least 13,000 years."
  2. Pike, A. W. G.; Hoffmann, D. L.; García-Diaz, M.; Pettitt, P. B.; Alcolea, J.; De Balbín, R.; González-Sainz, C.; de las Heras, C.; Lasheras, J. A.; Montes, R.; Zilhão, J. (15 June 2012). "U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain". Science. 336 (6087): 1409–1413. Bibcode:2012Sci...336.1409P. doi:10.1126/science.1219957. PMID   22700921. S2CID   7807664. Abstract: "... minimum ages of 40.8 thousand years for a red disk, 37.3 thousand years for a hand stencil, and 35.6 thousand years for a claviform-like symbol".
  3. Mayor, Hyatt A., Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, no. 51, 65, 80, ISBN   0691003262
  4. Mayor, Hyatt A., Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton, 1971, no. 15, ISBN   0691003262
  5. Jan Juffermans (2003). Kees van Dongen: The Graphic Work Lund Humphries Publishers, ISBN   0-85331-876-X
  6. David Pankow (1997). Tempting the palette. ISBN   1-933360-00-3
  7. The University of Cincinnati The Art of the Pochoir Book, University of Cincinnati
  8. Smithsonian Institution Vibrant Visions, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library
  9. Crass Discography (Christ's Reality Asylum) Archived 2006-09-12 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on November 11, 2007.
  10. Whitley, David S. (2005). Introduction to Rock Art Research. Walnut Creek, California: Left Coast Press. pp. 7–9. ISBN   978-1598740004.
  11. Zwartz, Henry (27 May 2020). "Indigenous rock art found in the NT one of just three such examples worldwide". ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  12. Flinders University (26 May 2020). "Miniature rock art expands horizons". Phys.org. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  13. "Archaeologists reveal rock art's big little secret". Flinders University (News). 27 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.