Art Encyclopedia - Stencil Graphics

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Stencil Graphics
The essence of stencil these stencil graphics is that colour is applied to a surface through shaped holes in stiff material.

The most flexible, and an increasingly used stencil method, is silkscreen where silk stretched tightly over a frame will allow inks to go through it. The image is then made by blocking out in various ways those areas in the silk through which colour must not pass. The treated screen is then placed on paper and ink is pulled with a squeegee over the whole screen surface. The unblocked areas allow colour through onto the paper creating an image.

With variations in the fineness of the silk mesh, in the inks from opacity to transparency, and in the subtlety of the methods of blocking out the unwanted areas, a vast range of effects may be obtained. Using more than one screen each with its different colour, registration of shape is relatively easy.

In addition, such screen prints require no special expensive equipment. This, and the fact that the technique easily produces fine, flat undifferentiated areas of colour, has made it increasingly popular with contemporary artists. The silkscreen print also does not deteriorate with successive prints and very large editions of identical prints can be easily produced.