Stencil key set

The stencil key set , “sheet of paperboard or metal cut out, to color with a brush, the drawing having the contour of the cutting out”, appears in the Larousse in 1874. This Technique of impression (or technical pictorial) makes it possible to reproduce characters or reasons over various supports, several times and in a all the more precise way as the cutting of the openwork parts is made properly. It is used since centuries and this, at very varied ends (decorative, educational, industrial, Art istic, advertizing, descriptive, of protest or even by convenience). Very frequently, one has recourse to this technique to form letters.

The use of the technique of the stencil key set in our company is current and can pass unperceived. Its use apart from the circle of the “ art of the rue ” preserves itself somewhat, although swept by the Sérigraphie, in other times, and today by the new forms of reproduction via data processing. One finds certain public markings like “ PAYANT ” with the foot of a parking space, crossings for pedestrians or of the “ defense to post law of 1901 ”.

History

One can give as origin of the stencil key set the technique which the ancestors of the men used to decorate the caves with the image of their hand, into blowing a Pigment to emphasize some only contours.

This technique was used in Typographie as of the XVIIe century, in particular for the impression of liturgical texts (the large size of the books of chorus was not compatible with the mobile characters used since Johannes Gutenberg). The application was done manually using a brush, thanks to stencil key sets generally produced in an alloy of Laiton and Zinc.

The stencil key set as a Art

It is possible to say that the discipline appeared in a regular way with Paris, to the beginning of the year 1980, and various former and posterior periods in other cities and country. The continuity of action of street and the multiplication of the supports of conservation of images, via photography, then involve a kind of follow-up of the “ traces urbaines ” at least for Paris.

Are born several names then from the stencil key set. Blek the rat is often indicated like starting point of the Parisian movement at the beginning of 1980, but Marie Rouffet in 1982 known as to have seen some before with the Canada.

It is named graffiti with the stencil key set , urban stencil key set or stencil key set of street , historically associated with the free Figuration.

The pochoirists are often painters of street, using a matrix of paperboard or metal, to reproduce drawings on the walls, or any other plane surface. With the beginning of the year 1980, Paris sees appearing a whole host of stars being expressed on the walls. This movement of the urban graffiti knows today artists recognized by the official circuits and a community much broader individuals being expressed for reasons as varied as there exist colors.

The large pochoirists of the Années 1980 count to Blek the rat, Mix Mix, Miss.Tic, Marie Rouffet, Jerome Mesnager, Epsylon Point, Paul Etherno, Herve Morlay (known as VR), Jef Aérosol, Surface Activates, Midnight Heroes, the Nuklé-Art, the Rire at Insane the, the Potaches ladlers, then the Années 1990 see appearing Nemo, the Juggler, Hao, Zao, the collective Splix (Pixal Parazite, Spliff-Trigger), Laszlo, Sorcière, Mosko,…

Technique

The use of the technique of the stencil key set can cut out in 2 great stages:

cutting , including/understanding:
*Le choice of the reason to reproduce
*Le choice of the material
*La cutting itself
the application, including/understanding:
*Le choice of the support
*Le choice of the type of color
*L' application itself

Choice of the reason

The image intended to be reproduced can be drawn or recovered (photo, magazine, posts…). According to the material in which the stencil key set will be made, a choice must be made between the use of a copy to copy the image, or direct cutting according to the master of the photocopied or drawn image.

Choice of material

The stencil key set must be cut out in a rather rigid material if one wants to re-use it several times, but the choice is very broad:

Paper thick, directly printable (highest grammage in general is of 220g). It will be this paper which will become the matrix;
paperboard thick and tender, if the technique of the drawing is used;
photocopy on basic paper that one scotche or sticks on a plate of paperboard;
plate of Rhodoïd;
plastic or Acetate;
sheeting metal;
Wood.

Cutting

For manual cutting, one can use a Couteau with retractable blade with the finest possible blade, a scalpel, a Scie to jig-saw, or scissors. Machines can be programmed to cut out reasons in metal, wood or very rigid plastic.

Texts and letters in the stencil key set

In a traditional police force there are 2 types of letters: the open letters (E.C.I. MR. NR S Z…) and closed letters (O P Q R HAS…). Some can be open or closed, according to whether they are in capital letters or tiny: R and R, G and G…

Examples of police force stencil key set:

the points of reserve of the interior forms are already laid down, in this case in fact the interiors will be cut out and thus painted.
opposite example, here in fact outsides are cut out and thus painted. Contours of the letters will be colorisés and will make the letters readable.

This principle of external interior/also applies to the interpretation of a portrait, or any other form.

Shades and volumes

An image generally consists of a whole of lines which composes the form of the subject. With these lines can be added shades, sets of tonalities who place the subject in a space, with the manner of a pseudo 3D, on a plane surface.

In its basic concept, the cutting of a form stencil key set consists in retranslating an image only one color. It is thus simpler to interpret images made up of flat tints of 1 or 2 colors.

The portrait

The more one human body has volumes, the more the parts to be cut out are easy to find. It is thus necessary to be pressed on the muscular elements and the framework. The drawings of STRIP CARTOONS to the mode Conan or Rahan offer muscular forms marked thus simple to cut out.

A head rests on the same constraints. Thus, a smooth face without distinguishing mark will be harder to interpret, or rather to recognize.

The central element of reflection of a portrait must relate to the characteristics which make the face, the distinguishing marks: ears, nose, stops, chin, face, cheeks, eyes, teeth… Certaines parts can be difficult from their smoothness, eyes, interior of ears… and can thus require an enlarging.

The setting color

It is possible to use the 2 parts of the stencil key set, the cut out part, and the contour of the cut out part, in order to obtain 2 distinct effects.

Aerosol S: fast of execution, fast drying. The bomb aerosol is the technique most used for the urban stencil key set. The bombs of acrylic Peinture which do not burn the plastic, polytérenes and others are more expensive. Nevertheless, this medium is harmful enough for the environment and the user (Cirrhose S), from where the use attends masks.
Propulsion without aerosol: brushes with teeth, pigments puffed up…
Éponge: with painting with the acrylic resin, by tapotement.
Brush: there exist brushes especially designed for this use (dishes and with hard hairs established in round). A roller or a brush can also be used, coated painting or of Craie.
Pen: a pen or a pencil can be used for simply following contours of the reason.

See too

Technical pictorial
Graffiti
Street art
David Gestetner

External bond

: Remote region councils and easy ways for the cutting of a stencil key set

Sources

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