STENCILS. A stencil is a thin metal plate or a fibrous or waxed sheet of paper bearing wording or a design formed by cutting through the plate or the chemical coating or waxed sur face of a paper sheet, or by embossing the wording upon' a thin metal plate. The stencil is used to reproduce quickly characters, designs or wording by rubbing or pressing through the cut portions specially prepared stencil ink or stencil paste, or, in the case of embossed sten cils, striking the paper against an inked ribbon covering the raised letters.
Stencils have been in use for several cen turies as a means of marking characters upon certain objects. Formerly they were exten sively used in making ornamental designs for stamping wood, cloth and paper material or imi tating natural pictorial work upon friezes, panels and pottery. The Japanese for hundreds of years have practised the art of stencil mak ing, while the Egyptians and Romans were well versed in it also. It is claimed that the Japanese learned the craft from the Chinese, who, perhaps, can be credited as being one of the first originators. These early stencils were probably not made of metal but of some tough fabric, paper or wood. The metal stencils used so extensively to-day in commercial trades have been developed from the pictorial stencils only within the past 50 years or so. We have definite knowledge that during our Civil War stencil cutting was practised in America, the stencils being used for marking packing boxes and other shipments, and were cut in metal in about the same manner as stencil cutters cut them now. From that time there has been a huge de mand for commercial stencils, as they can be made quickly, economically, and pleasing to the eye. They can be made very small or extremely large, their size being governed only by the di mensions of the metal sheet or the object upon which they are to be imprinted. Any lettering, brand, trademark or other design can be made into stencil form and as such can be reproduced upon any suitable object by placing it against this object and brushing in the letters or design with stencil paste. Being cut from sheet metal,
stencils naturally are durable and conveniently handled. The most artistic stencils are those that are laid out by an experienced stencil cut ter who is talented in making good designs. This man will sketch out his lettering or design on a piece of sheet brass, copper or zinc, with a pencil, and then cut out the perfected design with special stencil chisels. Thirty or 40 chisels of various curves and sizes and straight chisels from one-thirty-second to one and one-quarter inch wide are used for this purpose, the cutter placing the sheet metal upon a block of lignum vitae and chipping out the metal in the design, leaving occasional strips of metal, known as ties or stays, so that the design or letters will hold together. Ordinarily, lettering from one quarter inch to one and one-half inches is usually cut with stencil dies. These stencil dies are steel punches, each bearing a letter of the alphabet or one of the numerals, and, when driven into the sheet metal with a blow of a hammer, will cut out the selected letter or figure. By using a series of these stencil dies, words can be quickly cut into the metal in let ters of various heights if desired. The stencil can then be flattened by burnishing it or going over it with a special instrument called a and then smoothing it with the mallet on the stencil block. Stencils for commercial use are frequently made by a special type of machine which cuts letters out of oil board or paste board. Such stencils are less durable than metal and necessarily bear only the one style of lettering. Stencils for transferring patterns, as in embroidery, are usually made upon heavy paper, the lines of the design being indicated by small holes pierced through the paper. For wall decorations, either the cut or the perforated stencils are used, the design being cut by hand with sharp knives of various shapes in thin metal, lead foil, tin foil, or prepared paper held against a piece of plate glass.