Stencil
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.
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.
History
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
Aerosol stencils
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
Home stenciling
A common tradition for stencils is in
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
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
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
Miniature rock art of the stencilled variety at a rock shelter known as Yilbilinji, in the
See also
- List of stencil artists
- Mimeograph
- Quarter marks
- ROSTA Windows
- Spirit duplicator
- Stencil graffiti
- Stencil (numerical analysis)
- Stencil printing
- Stencil (typeface)
- Street art
- Theorem Stencil
References
- ^ 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."
- 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".
- ISBN 0691003262
- ISBN 0691003262
- ISBN 0-85331-876-X
- ISBN 1-933360-00-3
- ^ The University of Cincinnati The Art of the Pochoir Book, University of Cincinnati
- ^ Smithsonian Institution Vibrant Visions, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Library
- ^ Crass Discography (Christ's Reality Asylum) Archived 2006-09-12 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on November 11, 2007.
- ISBN 978-1598740004.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Flinders University (26 May 2020). "Miniature rock art expands horizons". Phys.org. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- ^ "Archaeologists reveal rock art's big little secret". Flinders University (News). 27 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
External links
- Stencil Letters
- Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)
- Stencil Maker From Photo