Customer Reviews

2,286 Traditional Stencil Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has many beautiful stencil designs and is a good resource book for the professional stenciler. The designs are all copy right free. The only complaint I have is that some of the designs are printed very small and it can be quite difficult to enlarge it to the right size. Also some of the designs can be a little difficult for a beginner to cut themselves.This book is more suited for a professional or someone very experience in cutting their own stencils.

2289 Traditional Stencil Designs is the reprinting of two catalogues (circa 1918 & 1920) from "Excelsior" Fresco Stencils. It is a rich resource of ornamental motifs providing an invaluable record of American decorative tastes during the first quarter of the 20th Century. Restoration and Renovation enthusiasts will find some of the anonymous English and American inspired designs representative of the Aesthetic Movement and Early Arts and Crafts Movement useful for their projects. Lyrical and expressive motifs abound, along with French inspired friezes, Neo Classical laurel wreaths, architectural elements, festoons, medallions, rosettes, drops, cartouches, damask designs, and classic acanthus, egg and dart, and anthemion variations. The professional will delight in using document colorways to great affect. Subtle elegance of tone on tone designs produced from the 1880's to the turn of the century by Wm. Morris' original wood blocks are there for the masterly to emulate. These stencil designs are not for the faint of heart. They are small and do not have instructions. Many suites of companion designs offering wall, ceiling, and frieze groupings abound, but only for the practiced eye to locate. There are no arrows pointing the way. This book may be utilized to it's best advantage by professional artists, designers, and experienced stencilers who possess both a projector and a knowledge of document design. However, one needn't be a Renzo Mongiardino to produce a satisfying result. I was slow to warm to the book due to what I feel are a good many "dated" and clumsy designs that no wizard could dazzle. If only 25% of 2286 designs are of use to me, I'm content. I now own two copies. One for the projector, and one for the resource library. The cover art typifies the best of the book's content. It is not a fluke or teaser cover. Those finding this style of motif to their liking, will also enjoy the book's content.

This book is chock full of great Victorian design. It has cartouches (ornamental borders), patterns, single filligree elements, and the best part is that they are all royalty free. You will need to scan the elements and clean them up a bit, but this book is a fantastic resource for the "flourish" trend that is going on in graphic design right now.

Highly recommended.

I know that people have been complaining about how some of the stencils are too small and become unclear when blown up. They have a few other issues, too.
Here's the thing: the book has over 2,000 great stencils that are perfectly legible. I'm an illustrator, woodworker, and paper crafter. I am simply delighted at the various choices of stencil. Plus, the book is very inspiring in terms of providing a jumping off point to make up my own. I simply love it.

2289 Traditional Stencil Designs is the reprinting of two catalogues (circa 1918 & 1920) from "Excelsior" Fresco Stencils. It is a rich resource of ornamental motifs providing an invaluable record of American decorative tastes during the first quarter of the 20th Century.

Restoration and Renovation enthusiasts will find some of the anonymous English and American inspired designs representative of the Aesthetic Movement and Early Arts and Crafts Movement useful for their projects. Lyrical and expressive motifs abound, along with French inspired friezes, Neo Classical laurel wreaths, architectural elements, festoons, medallions, rosettes, drops, cartouches, damask designs, and classic acanthus, egg and dart, and anthemion variations. The professional will delight in using document colorways to great affect. Subtle elegance of tone on tone designs produced from the 1880's to the turn of the century by Wm. Morris' original wood blocks are there for the masterly to emulate.

These stencil designs are not for the faint of heart. They are small and do not have instructions. Many suites of companion designs offering wall, ceiling, and frieze groupings abound, but only for the practiced eye to locate. There are no arrows pointing the way. This book may be utilized to it's best advantage by professional artists, designers, and experienced stencilers who possess both a projector and a knowledge of document design. However, one needn't be a Renzo Mongiardino to produce a satisfying result. I was slow to warm to the book due to what I feel are a good many "dated" and clumsy designs that no wizard could dazzle. If only 25% of 2286 designs are of use to me, I'm content. I now own two copies. One for the projector, and one for the resource library. The cover art typifies the best of the book's content. It is not a fluke or teaser cover. Those finding this style of motif to their liking, will also enjoy the book's content.

If you are a craftperson, do not buy this book, though pictoral, it is more historical and you need a magnifying glass to see some of the stencils.

This is a wonderful resource for design ideas! I use elements of these stencils as patterns for guitar inlays. The copyright info on the inside cover is generous allowing use of the patterns, "free and without special permission." in certain circumstances.

I use these stencils as layouts for gun engraving. While many designs are too small and lack enough detail to be able to reproduce (about 30%) most are of good quality and detail. It's a great value for the price and I strongly recommend it as an indispensible aid for all engravers, wood carvers, and stencil makers.

This is a wonderful (and very large) collection of ornate stencil designs which I've used mostly in desktop publishing. It really is an amazing resource, but to get the full use out of these designs you'll need to scan them. If you want to resize the images after they've been scanned without getting jagged edges it's best to trace them and turn them from bitmaps into vectors (freeware vector software such as Inkscape is ideal for this).

This book is a super resource for a digitizer crammed with designs that are copyright free and so beautiful to work with.
I found that it is difficult to choose which design to use first, many look like old William Morris work and will look stunning in patchwork.2,286 Traditional Stencil Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive)