FIG. 7—A NURSERY
Simple figures are easily stencilled on fabrics, papers, or walls, and the beginner will be wise in using the small, clearly defined figures; then, as proficiency is acquired, the more intricate and ornate patterns and designs may be employed. Every young craftsman should cut his own stencil-plates from fibre or oil-board. It should be about the thickness of two ordinary calling-cards, and stiff enough to hold its shape. The design is drawn directly on the material, or on a piece of brown paper, and then transferred to the board. With a sharp knife-blade the outline is carefully cut, taking care to leave the bridges which are necessary to hold the parts together. This is clearly shown in Fig. 8, which is a small stencil for a fleur-de-lis. In Fig. 9 A the effect is shown after the pigment has been applied to the fabric or wall. If the ornament had been printed or stamped, however, it would have been made without any breaks, or as shown in Fig 9 B.
Fresco colors should be employed for stencilling on walls, but on fabrics aniline colors or diluted oil-paints may be used to good advantage. When preparing colors for fabrics, the tube oil-paints, or body colors ground in oil, should be employed. They should be thinned with benzine, and placed in the bottom of a dish or saucer, so that the stencil-brush will take up the colors at the tip ends of the bristles. Fresco colors for walls should be used thick, or about the consistency of rich cream, while those of oil or aniline need not be thicker than milk. Regular stencil-brushes must be used for this work. Such brushes may be had at any paint store, and will appear as shown in Fig. 10. Stencil-brushes are round, something like a shaving-brush, but the bristles are stiffer and are stubbed or cut square at the ends.
Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Fig. 10. Fig. 11. Fig. 12. Fig. 13.
When cutting your stencils, keep turning the oil-board so that you always make the cut towards you. Lay the material on a smooth piece of close-grained wood, or a sheet of zinc, and hold your knife with the blade in a vertical position, and not to one side or the other. Do not make bevelled cuts. Straight ones are necessary or there will be smeared edges.