DOI issue:
No. 205 (April, 1910)
DOI article:Bone, Herbert A.: Pictorial stencilling: some experiments and results
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20969#0223
Pictorial Stencilling
FIG. 10—LIGHTS WASHED OUT AFTER TINTING
All that remains is to oil and varnish the stencils,
like the silhouettes. Thin paper is strengthened
by painting, which also serves to define the colour
scheme.
To counteract the hard precision of stencil, I
rely partly on handling, partly on material.
Shadows should not be brought to a hard edge
all round, but softened towards the light by gentle
beating, and still more, by brushing the tint over
them before they are dry. For full definition the
action is rather that of lightly scrubbing up to the
edge, the brush in either case held upright, and
fairly dry. Larger tints are lightly and freely laid
with a soft brush, sometimes
twirled as it travels over the
surface; beating with the trun-
cated end requires a sturdier
tool. All brushes need occa-
sional trimming with scissors,
to equalize the bristles. For
material, not too fine a web ; a
stout unbleached household
linen gives better results than
a better stuff; for the slight
irregularities and nap raised by
the brush suggest texture and
atmosphere.
In subsequent attempts to
stencil other than decorative
subjects I was baffled by the
difficulty of freely representing
isolated lights without opaque
colour, until it struck me to
utilise the natural antago-
nism of oil and water, and
protect them from the
action of oil-colour by
something soluble in
water. Through a stencil
(cut in tinted paper with
white beneath to show
them up), the lights were
brushed with photo-
graphic mounting paste,
thinned with water and
sparingly applied. Re-
moving the stencil, sur-
rounding tints were then
worked freely over all,
and a wet sponge easily
dissolving the paste with-
out affecting the oil colour
left them quite clear, and
when dry ready to receive
their tints through the same plate. The process
answers perfectly on paper (handmade “Not”),
strained as for water-colour; on unprimed linen
the discoloured paste is not so easily washed out.
Cold water must be used, as warm brings the size
out of the paper and with it the colour. The
prints of the Italian lake-boat and the crocodile
(Figs, g, io, and n), could not have been other-
wise produced with full capacity for variation of
effect. This method is equally available for con-
trasting isolated tints, however antagonistic to
their environment, and for varying composition or
chiaroscuro, any tint-space being practically con-
FIG. IOtZ—PLAN OF TINT SHUTTERS WITH ATTACHMENTS, AS EMPLOYED FOR
THE CROCODILE STENCIL
199
FIG. 10—LIGHTS WASHED OUT AFTER TINTING
All that remains is to oil and varnish the stencils,
like the silhouettes. Thin paper is strengthened
by painting, which also serves to define the colour
scheme.
To counteract the hard precision of stencil, I
rely partly on handling, partly on material.
Shadows should not be brought to a hard edge
all round, but softened towards the light by gentle
beating, and still more, by brushing the tint over
them before they are dry. For full definition the
action is rather that of lightly scrubbing up to the
edge, the brush in either case held upright, and
fairly dry. Larger tints are lightly and freely laid
with a soft brush, sometimes
twirled as it travels over the
surface; beating with the trun-
cated end requires a sturdier
tool. All brushes need occa-
sional trimming with scissors,
to equalize the bristles. For
material, not too fine a web ; a
stout unbleached household
linen gives better results than
a better stuff; for the slight
irregularities and nap raised by
the brush suggest texture and
atmosphere.
In subsequent attempts to
stencil other than decorative
subjects I was baffled by the
difficulty of freely representing
isolated lights without opaque
colour, until it struck me to
utilise the natural antago-
nism of oil and water, and
protect them from the
action of oil-colour by
something soluble in
water. Through a stencil
(cut in tinted paper with
white beneath to show
them up), the lights were
brushed with photo-
graphic mounting paste,
thinned with water and
sparingly applied. Re-
moving the stencil, sur-
rounding tints were then
worked freely over all,
and a wet sponge easily
dissolving the paste with-
out affecting the oil colour
left them quite clear, and
when dry ready to receive
their tints through the same plate. The process
answers perfectly on paper (handmade “Not”),
strained as for water-colour; on unprimed linen
the discoloured paste is not so easily washed out.
Cold water must be used, as warm brings the size
out of the paper and with it the colour. The
prints of the Italian lake-boat and the crocodile
(Figs, g, io, and n), could not have been other-
wise produced with full capacity for variation of
effect. This method is equally available for con-
trasting isolated tints, however antagonistic to
their environment, and for varying composition or
chiaroscuro, any tint-space being practically con-
FIG. IOtZ—PLAN OF TINT SHUTTERS WITH ATTACHMENTS, AS EMPLOYED FOR
THE CROCODILE STENCIL
199