Complete Stenciling Handbook by Sandra Buckingham

From the Publisher

Praise for the hardcover edition:

"The ultimate reference for stenciling."

- Booklist

With the simple stencil -- a template that lets you easily create a painted shape on a surface and allows you to repeat the exact pattern wherever and as often as you wish -- you can transform and beautify just about any surface from boxes to walls to floors.

The Complete Stenciling Handbook is a compendium of the latest techniques, tools, equipment and materials. The book presents innovative methods and products that have taken stenciling from a rustic craft to a breathtaking art form. The book features a wide range of step-by-step projects illustrated with color photographs.

Buckingham comprehensively covers the materials needed for successful stenciling projects and explains the qualities of a variety of media such as the differences between latex and oil paints. Clear, easy-to-read text simplifies the often confusing world of materials such as additives, matting agents, glazes, stains, thinners, finish coats and more. The book also includes instructions about when and how to use applicators such as brushes, rollers, sponges and airbrushes.

Creative topics with step-by-step instructions cover:

• Shading and paint effects


• Traditional borders and all-over patterns


• Freeform stenciling and projection stenciling


• Imitation textiles


• Architectural elements, fake marquetry


• Floor treatments, glass and ceramic tiles


• Lettering and stenciling on fabric and paper.

The Complete Stenciling Handbook is the best and mostcomprehensive guide for crafters from beginner to advanced.

New Orleans Times-Picayune - Judy Walker

This is a "wow" craft book. Buckingham gives beginners clear directions for basics and proceeds to subtle tricks.

Library Journal

Stencilers who have mastered techniques in beginners' books such as Rebecca Carter's Stenciling for the First Time will be ready to tackle the more advanced exercises here. Buckingham (Stencil It!) provides a sourcebook of methods and materials for stenciling on walls, ceramics, leather, or textiles. Unusual techniques include damask (simulated fabric), impasto (built-up design), and faux moldings. There are step-by-step instructions for techniques but no separate projects. The excellent color illustrations throughout make this a basic source for the craft. Highly recommended for all types of crafts collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

• Table of Contents
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

Introduction to Chapter 1: Before You Start

In its most basic form, a stencil is a very simple tool: a template that allows a precise shape to be easily painted on a surface and the exact pattern to be repeated wherever and as often as you wish. Templates made of tin, leather, paper and other materials have long been used by people all over the world to create painted decoration. For hundreds of years, the methods employed by stencilers changed very little -- one would apply a small amount of paint through the opening in a template, stipple it out evenly, lift the template and move on.

Twentieth-century technology changed many things, and sooner or later, it was bound to affect even the humbler crafts, such as decorative painting. True, painters still climb ladders, dip their brushes into cans of paint and wipe stained hands on their overalls, but they have a dizzying array of specialty materials and tools from which to choose. It doesn't matter that few of these products were developed specifically for stenciling; like most creative people, stencilers are always on the lookout for new ideas to adapt to their own uses.

Although this project began as an updated revision of my book Stencilling: A Harrowsmith Guide, I soon realized that the whole field of stenciling has changed so much that a mere revision wasn't going to be enough. So I decided, instead, to start from scratch and adopt more of a textbook approach to the subject. This would allow me to include not just the nitty-gritty of how to use a stencil but also enough information on materials and related issues to make this a useful reference book and sourcebook. I have triedto organize the subject matter so that both beginner and expert can find what they need without having to sift through sections which may not be relevant to them at the time.

The Complete Stenciling Handbook is not the place to look for creative inspiration in the form of finished rooms and projects. Rather, it is meant to be a source of methods that can be applied wherever inspiration leads. There are bound to be some new materials I have overlooked and some traditional methods I have missed, and for that, I apologize. The range of topics here was already large enough that by the time I started working on the final chapters, I had trouble remembering what I had covered in the initial ones. We finally had to draw that line in the sand and finish the book.

For all the topics touched on that are not directly concerned with stenciling itself, my comments are necessarily abbreviated and should be considered more of a nudge in the right direction than a comprehensive treatment. For more information on these topics, please see Further Reading.

If you find this chapter hard to wade through, skim over it, picking out whatever information you need for the time being, and jump right into the good stuff by grabbing your paints and trying out some of the methods described in subsequent chapters. Just remember that the information is here whenever you need it as a reference.