STENCILS AND STENCILLING
DIRECT APPLICATION OF COLORS
=History.=—During the last few years a great deal of attention has
been paid to the manufacture and use of stencils for decorating
textiles, not only by craft workers of different kinds, but also by
art teachers in private and public schools.
The art is not a modern one, even in this country, for I have seen
and worked with a series of very interesting stencils cut in brass,
which were owned in Philadelphia by the famous old physician, Dr.
Benjamin Rush, over a hundred years ago, and were used in his family
for marking linen, as well as for decorating homespuns and paper.
The real home of the art, however, is Japan, where, for over three
hundred years, stencils have been in common use, largely replacing
the wood blocks used in other countries, for decorating the common
cotton goods, towels, head coverings, and the like of the lower
classes, and also for ornamenting, where embroidery was not desired,
the beautiful silks and satins of the wealthy.
Ever since Japan has been opened to the world travelers have been
telling wonderful stories of the great skill of the natives in this
beautiful art. According to some writers, as soon as a child is born
it is given a nickname, and with it, as a sort of totem, a design—a
flower, for instance, for a girl—a tree or an animal for a boy—and
the like. This design, worked out carefully, after due criticism from
all the family elders, is drawn on brown paper and then carefully
cut out with a sharp knife by some member or friend of the family.
And this stencil is then sent to the local dyer to be used in dyeing
the infant’s clothes. This same design, or a modification of it,
is attached to the person through life, as his or her own private
pattern, and whenever new clothes are needed they are dyed after this
same pattern.
=Japanese Stencils.=—_Paper._—It is a common fact that the very
first thing noticeable about Japanese stencils, whether brought
from some dyehouse in the interior, or whether made more or less
mechanically, for the American market, to be sold to students or
craftsmen, is the quality of the paper. It is thin, hardly heavier
than ordinary writing paper, but exceedingly tough and strong, and
cuts very easily, without tearing. It can occasionally be obtained
from importers in sheets, and even better qualities can be secured,
from among a mass of old stencils, by finding some which have been
only partially cut or used up, and carefully cutting out from them
the unused portions where these are large enough for the purpose.
[Illustration: FIG. 13—JAPANESE STENCIL KNIFE]
[Illustration: FIG. 14—JAPANESE STENCIL BRUSHES]
_Knives._—In cutting stencil designs our American practice is to use
a sharp penknife, or a Sloyd knife, or, as happens occasionally with
some of my friends with amiable professional husbands, a surgeon’s
scalpel. None of these, however, compare for neatness, accuracy, and
ease and comfort of manipulation, with the very simple but extremely
effective little Japanese knives shown in Fig. 13. The knife blade,
of very highly tempered steel, is two or three inches long and fits
between two flattened plates of wood, tied together tightly at the
bottom but springing apart a little toward the top, as a handle. This
little spring of the handle is most satisfactory. And as the blade,
which is triangular and sharply pointed, is worn away gradually by
the constant grinding and sharpening it must receive, the steel can
be pushed forward from between the two halves of the handle, until
the proper length is reached.
_Cutting._—The Japanese draw their designs on paper with India ink,
and then, with incredible swiftness and accuracy, the lines are cut,
by pushing the knife blade, held with the back downwards, away from
the workman, and through the paper which is placed flat on a piece of
wood or small tray, with depressions in it half an inch or so deep,
to avoid the danger and bother of running the knife point into the
wood.
=American Practice.=—Our way differs somewhat. The design is usually
drawn on a separate piece of white paper, and filled in—in black—with
India ink. This is then placed underneath the stencil paper which,
especially if it has been oiled or paraffined, is translucent enough
to show the pattern through, so that the outline can be drawn with
a sharp pencil. The outline can also be made by tracing the design
down on the stencil paper with the help of a piece of carbon copying
paper. This is laid between the design and the stencil paper and then
the outline of the design is carefully traced with a sharp-pointed
pencil. From these outlines it is easy, with a sharp stencil knife,
to cut out the design, although it is customary with us to cut toward
the body with the point of the knife down, upon a piece of blotting
paper or soft wood so as not to dull it too rapidly.
_Ties and Stops._—When stencilling is taught in America great pains
are taken to show how the pattern must be planned and cut out, so as
to have plenty of “ties” or “stops” in the right places, so as to
hold the stencil together. For instance, in making a stencil of a
large capital O, the student should be warned that, if the paper was
cut all the way around, it would leave a big hole; for the central
piece, which would form the centre of the finished letter, would drop
out, and could not be kept in place. Accordingly, the stencil would
have to be cut carefully, leaving at least two “bridges” or little
“tie pieces” of paper, one probably at the top, and the other at
the bottom of the O, these being the narrowest points, which would
hold the centre in place, and thus complete the figure. Indeed, if
these little “steps” or “bridges” of paper should be left out, or
become torn or broken, the stencil would be useless. But a situation
like this has little or no terror for the Japanese, at any rate when
working for their home trade. Their stencils cut for the American
market while always interesting, and often charming, are cut, as
ours are, from one piece of paper, with stops in the exposed places.
But the stencils that have been used, or cut for use, over there,
show a very different state of affairs. All of the large, handsome
ones, and a large proportion of the smaller, less artistic, and less
valuable ones are made, with almost inconceivable skill and patience,
in duplicate. And the two parts are afterwards pasted together with
absolute accuracy, but with a layer of fine hair, supposedly human
hair, between them. These hairs, laid irregularly but evenly, make a
sort of network which ties together all portions of the stencil, no
matter how disconnected with the rest, or, as we would say, “in the
air,” it might be.
So, too, they are in the habit of sewing in, with the finest of hair
or of single threads of fine silk, loose pieces or broken pieces, and
thus holding them in shape.
It is interesting to study some of them closely and see how neatly
this tying is done and how little the time of these unknown workmen
must be valued at. For apart from the large picture stencils which,
of course, would be worth taking a great deal of pains with, some of
the simplest and most ordinary of their native stencils are not only
cut but tied in, with extraordinary skill. One of these, valued here
at but a few cents, consisted of a background of small figures in
shape and size very much like a capital O of the type of this page.
The stencil measures some eighteen by ten inches, and there must be
between fifteen hundred and two thousand of these O figures on it.
Some few of these are now imperfect, but with the exception of a
dozen or two, every single one of all these has had the centre cut
out, and then sewed into place again, from the sides, so as to be in
the exact centre, without a single “stop” or “tie” on the whole paper.
_Brushes._—With stencils so very delicately made, it is evident that
our crude American style of rubbing in the color, with heavy hands
and stiff bristle brushes, would not be much of a success! About one
good rub with a brush like that, and every hair in sight would be
torn and broken, and what was a minute before a work of art would be
a torn mass of brown paper.
Whether any of our American craftsmen have light enough hands to
use, successfully, a fine Japanese stencil is doubtful. Personally,
I could no more stencil six inches with any of them without ruining
it or making a mess of the cloth than I could in a year cut, without
tearing, six square inches of any one of a score of cheap and
ordinary Japanese stencils which I own, either presented to me or
sold at a very low price, as being really too insignificant in value
to amount to anything.
But at any rate, the Japanese do not use a stiff bristle brush. Their
brushes, in general, are of two sorts, as shown in Fig. 14. One is a
sort of pad, often quite large, five or six inches in diameter, made
of rabbit’s fur, tightly bound together with cord or wire, and with
a bundle of small sticks spreading out to enclose the pad, and drawn
together and tied above, at the upper end, in a sort of pyramid.
[Illustration: FIG. 15—JAPANESE STENCIL, SHOWING HOLES PUNCHED BY
HAND TOOL]
[Illustration: FIG. 16—JAPANESE STENCIL, EXACT SIZE, SHOWING USE OF
STOPS]
[Illustration: FIG. 17—JAPANESE STENCIL, EXACT SIZE, SHOWING USE OF
SEWING INSTEAD OF STOPS]
The other variety is a true brush, of a more ordinary shape, like
a flat paint brush, but also made of the very softest and finest,
most velvety hairs imaginable, laid extremely close together, and
compressed tightly between the two halves of the handle. These can
be obtained occasionally from the dealers at reasonable prices, and
are delightful to work with. Only, being meant for the soft, light
touches of their native workmen, they do not last long when rubbed
down on the cloth as is our practise. Their life is considerably
increased by pouring some molten beeswax into the back of both goods
and brushes with a batik pot, or Tjanting, which prevents the fine
hairs from pulling out until the brush is all worn to pieces.
_The Care of Stencils._—A word may here be said about taking care of
stencils, after they have been cut or purchased. They should always
be used on one side, and carefully wiped off with a damp cloth,
directly after using. They should always be kept flat, never folded.
And, when using them, it must always be remembered that the ties or
bridges are the weak spots, and that breaking or tearing them, as a
rule, will spoil the stencil. It is, of course, possible to mend them
by sewing, or sometimes by patching with tape. But this is always
troublesome, and with well paraffined stencils is rarely satisfactory.
_The Different Methods of Using Stencils._—In this country, so far
as can be ascertained, the common way in which stencils have been
used is by brushing through them, on to the cloth, oil paints thinned
with turpentine or gasoline. As previously explained, in the chapter
on feather dyeing, this is not very satisfactory. For when paint is
sufficiently thick to adhere well to the cloth, it is apt to look
stiff and shiny. And when it is applied so thin that the structure
of the cloth shows through, it is, as a rule, not fast to washing
or even to rubbing. Various varnishes are on the market which help
considerably to make the paint fast, but even then the results are
not nearly so durable as when the proper dyestuffs are used.
The Japanese practice is exclusively with dyes, and they have worked
out processes which are perfectly satisfactory, so that their simple,
cheap, stencilled towels can stand washing indefinitely without loss
of color. And by the use of modern dyestuffs there is no insuperable
obstacle to our doing just as well as they.
The use of stencils gives an excellent opportunity to illustrate the
three general methods of coloring fabrics, which, as mentioned in the
last chapter, consist of:
Direct application of color.
Resist, and
Discharge.
The last two of these will be reserved for the next chapter.
[Illustration: FIG. 18—JAPANESE STENCILS, EXACT SIZE, SHOWING USE OF
BOTH STOPS AND NET]
=Direct Application of Color.=—In this intricate work it will
generally be found almost a necessity to apply colors through a
stencil in the form of a paste, for when the coloring liquid is thin
it is very apt to run under the edges of the paper and spoil the
design. It is best to thicken it with a little “gum dragon,” a
carefully prepared paste of gum tragacanth, to which the coloring
matter, and any reagents that are needed, can be added. The nature of
the reagents and the class of dyestuffs used depends, of course, upon
the kind of material to be stencilled.
=(a) Leather.=—While not very often used, students interested in
leather work will find a carefully designed and neatly cut stencil a
most useful medium for obtaining interesting and beautiful effects.
The leather, whether bark- or alum-tanned, should be carefully
dampened, and then stencilled with a paste containing Basic colors
dissolved with a drop of acetic acid. On drying, the leather should
be finished as usual. The Acid colors are not nearly so satisfactory
for stencilling, although, as already mentioned, they are often
advantageous for dyeing, rather than staining, leather fast colors.
=(b) Silk.=—Silk may easily be stencilled provided the pattern is not
expected to be fast to washing.
1. _Acid Colors._—These dyes, mixed with a few drops of formic or
acetic acid, will color it well, but to make the dyestuff penetrate
it is advisable to steam the goods. This can be done with a teakettle
provided with a wing tip for the spout, made of tin, or by heating a
flatiron or iron plate very hot, and pressing the stencilled goods
back down against it, with a damp cloth in between. The hot steam
thus produced, passing through the goods, melts the paste and drives
the color down into the fibres and sets it there, so that, later,
the stencilled goods will stand light rinsing in lukewarm soap and
water without running.
2. _Salt Colors._—Faster results can be obtained, on silk, with
a paste containing salt dyes, with a drop or two of acetic acid,
provided the silk is thoroughly steamed afterwards.
3. _Basic Colors._—Basic dyes may be used on silk as on wool,
leather, or any other animal fibres for direct application, the
dyestuff dissolved with a drop of acetic acid, being added to the
paste, and then brushed in and, preferably, lightly steamed to sink
the paste down into the fibres. These dyes, however, with but few
exceptions, are not fast to light, and applied in this way are not
fast, either, to washing. By adding some reagents to the paste,
however, a Basic stencil paste can be formed which gives colors on
silk which will stand active scrubbing excellently.
The Basic Stencil Paste is prepared by mixing with the paste a
solution containing the Basic color, dissolved in acetic acid, and
also containing a considerable quantity of tannic acid. As long as
there is free acetic acid present in this mixture the color remains
in solution, but directly the acid is driven off, an insoluble
compound remains, formed by the combination of the tannic acid with
the color base. This happens on steaming, and the insolubility of the
product is still further increased by passing it through a weak bath
or wetting it with a weak solution (half a teaspoonful to the quart)
of tartar emetic.
Accordingly, to use this stencil paste on silk or, indeed, on cotton,
the slightly dampened goods are stencilled with the paste, thinned
if desired with water and a little acetic acid. Then directly they
are dry enough so as not to run they are well steamed, then the gum
rinsed off with a little warm water, and the goods moistened with the
tartar emetic. After this they can be washed with soap with little or
no danger of running.
=(c) Wool.=—Wool is rarely stencilled, although stencil patterns
can be produced very well on it by using acid colors with a little
oxalate of ammonia (about the same amount as the dyestuff),
dissolved in a drop or two of water, and thickened with a little
gum tragacanth. When this paste is applied with a brush, and then
dried, the result is not fast at all, merely a distinct stain; but
if steamed at once the oxalate of ammonia decomposes, leaving oxalic
acid, which, combining with the color and melting down with it in the
fibres, makes the dyestuff adhere quite firmly.
=(d) Cotton and Linen.=—It is much more difficult to stencil
satisfactorily on vegetable goods, such as cotton and linen, than
on the animal fibres above mentioned, because they are expected to
stand very much more severe treatment. The fastness to washing needed
for a handsome silk scarf is far less than for a cotton shirtwaist,
or linen table-cover, and unless the results on the latter are at
least as fast as the average calico print, the result is considered a
failure.
There are three classes of dyes which can be used in this connection,
the Basic dyes, the Sulphur dyes, and the Indigo or Vat dyes. The
Basic stencil pastes have just been described, in connection with
silk stencilling, and when carefully used they will give very fair
results on cotton, and even on linen, provided it is free from
dressing, and is not too coarse and thick. It is hardly worth while
trying to fasten Basic dyes, by hand stencilling, upon such materials
as heavy, coarse Russian crash, for instance, such as friends and
students have frequently brought in to experiment with. But for
light, thin materials, and especially for mercerized goods, poplins
and the like, it is possible, with a little practice, to get effects
that are fast to ordinary washing.
On the other hand, this method of stencilling has certain
disadvantages. It is rather complicated, needing the use of a fixing
bath of tartar emetic, a very active poison, by the way, although
more uncomfortable than actually dangerous when taken by mistake
in one dose, because of the severe vomiting it produces almost
immediately. And then, too, the results at best are not really fast
to light, and in the case of light pinks and yellows are distinctly
fugitive.
_Vat Color Stencil Pastes._—Many experiments have been made in our
laboratory to work out a satisfactory stencil paste, so that Indigo
and other Vat dyes could be applied, simply and easily, with no more
difficulty than the usual one of brushing the paste in carefully, and
then steaming as soon as possible. In these stencil pastes the Indigo
and the other Vat dyes are reduced with the aid of caustic alkali and
hydrosulphite before being mixed with the paste, and some special
precautions are taken to prevent, as far as possible, the oxidation
of the dyestuff before it gets well into the fibre. But, as the
ordinary hydrosulphite is apt to decompose on standing, especially
when it is wet, it is always best, just before using, to mix well
with the paste a little fresh reducing agent, dissolved in a drop of
hot water. The reducing agent that should be used for this purpose
is not the ordinary hydrosulphite of soda, used for vat dyeing, but
a compound of sodium hydrosulphite, “Stencil Salt,” which has the
property of keeping better than the other, and also of not acting as
a reducing agent until it is heated. This, then, is stirred into the
Vat color stencil paste, just before using, and then, when the goods
are steamed, the heat and moisture combined will enable it to reduce
the color, which will be carried into the fibres in a reduced and
dissolved condition. After steaming well for five minutes the color
should be developed by a bath in hot soapsuds, after which the goods
should be rinsed and dried. With care this process will give very
satisfactory results, perfectly fast to both light and washing, after
the first loose color has been washed off.
The indigo stencil paste, as prepared, will keep well reduced for
quite a long time, and it is frequently quite unnecessary to add any
fresh reducing agent to it. If, when taken from the tube or bottle,
it looks yellow or yellowish green, it can be applied at once to the
cloth, and, if steamed just as soon as possible, it will generally
penetrate quite satisfactorily. With the other colors of the series,
however, it is hard to tell by the color whether they are reduced or
not, and hence the fresh reducing agent, Stencil Salt, should always
be added to them. The cloth for stencilling with these pastes,
as with the Basic pastes, should not be too thick or heavy, and
must be washed quite free from dressing, or the result will not be
satisfactory. It should also be slightly dampened, if only by holding
over boiling water for a moment or two, so as to help the color to
penetrate.
_Sulphur Stencil Paste._—We have also found very satisfactory results
from pastes made with one of the Sulphur colors, dissolved in a
little sodium sulphide and sodium carbonate, and stiffened with a
little gum. The presence of a reducing agent helps to keep the color
reduced; and, when quickly applied and rapidly steamed, the colors
will sink into the fibre and adhere firmly.
The chief drawback with these pastes is the lack of a good red.
=Black Stencil Paste.=—So far as can be learned, the Japanese use for
their stencilling an Indigo paste made on the same general principles
as the one just described. Besides this, which is a very favorite
color of theirs, they use a red and also a very full black dye, both
of which are fast to washing and to light.
What the composition of these last pastes may be it is hard to tell.
In our laboratory we have made careful experiments on the subject
of stencilling black, and have worked out a method that we consider
satisfactory by the use of a modification of the well-known Aniline
Black process.
[Illustration: FIG. 19—LARGE AND HANDSOME JAPANESE STENCIL, SHOWING
USE OF NET]
_Aniline Black._—It was noticed, early in the history of dyestuffs,
that if aniline was mixed with strong oxidizing agents, and carefully
heated, it would undergo a series of color changes resulting,
finally, in black. This color, so-called “Aniline Black,” was at
one time manufactured and used for a black pigment; but it was soon
recognized that its real value would only be developed when it
could be formed, in the fibre itself, by the oxidation of aniline
or some compound of aniline upon the fibres. After many years of
experimenting this problem was solved, and for fifteen or twenty
years the blacks most used on cotton and linen by the calico
printers, as well as by the dyers, have been one or another of the
forms of Aniline Black.
The principle on which these processes are based is as follows: The
aniline, usually in the form of aniline salt (aniline hydrochloride),
is mixed with an oxidizing agent like chlorate of soda, and also
with a small amount of a third substance which, on steaming, acts
as a carrier of oxygen between the aniline and the chlorate. This
substance, often called a catalytic agent, because at the end of the
operation it remains unchanged, although it has accomplished a large
amount of work, may be one of a number of compounds as, for instance,
a salt of the metal vanadium, prussiate of potash, a salt of copper,
etc., each one having special advantages and disadvantages of its own.
Now, almost any printing paste properly composed so as to give a
good clear Aniline Black on steaming, (the formulæ can be obtained
from any good book on calico printing, or from any competent dyeing
chemist), will generally work fairly well as a stencil paste—as
long as it is fresh. But even when kept from the air as far as
possible, in a tight tube, it decomposes on standing and becomes very
unsatisfactory. Besides this, there is always a difficulty with these
regular pastes on account of the irregular and uncertain steaming
process that can be used by the average craftsman. In a calico print
works, the temperature of the steam chest, the proportion of steam
in it, and the length of passage of the cloth through it, are all
accurately determined, and kept at the exact points necessary for the
best results with any given formula. But with irregular steaming,
unless very great care is taken with the formula, there is always a
danger of “tendering” and burning the fibre, if too much oxidizing
agent is present, or of not developing a full black, but a dark green
color, if the oxidizing agent is not active enough.
We have, after a great deal of experimenting, worked out a formula
which, with reasonable care in steaming, will give a good full black,
absolutely fast to light and washing, upon cotton, linen, and silk,
without any tendering of the cloth. And, by dividing up the component
parts into two separate pastes, which are kept in separate tubes or
bottles, and are mixed together only when about to be used, we have
gone far to solve the important problem of keeping.
The use of this Black stencil paste is very simple. It comes in two
tubes or bottles marked A and B.
When the cloth, free from dressing and slightly dampened, is all
ready, equal amounts are taken from each of the two tubes, and mixed
together in a watch-glass or small glass or porcelain dish with, if
necessary, a drop of water to soften them if they have dried up at
all. This mixed paste is then brushed on to, and into, the cloth,
and, as soon as dry, is steamed as before described. The black color
will develop almost immediately, and, after a few minutes’ steaming,
will be found fast to hard washing as well as to light.