Early American Stencils Views

General Goods

The earliest recorded date of a stencil used in America was 1778 in a home in New England. Many stencil artisans at that time originated from England and the German Palatinate and they brought their own cultural sensibilities to the designs they painted. They were professional journeymen/itinerants who traveled from town to town, singly or in pairs, to seek work in exchange for room and board or a small wage. The artisan carried with him a supply of stencils cut from thick paper, dry pigments, a short brush or two, a few measuring tools, a builder's cord, and a piece of chalk. The patron would supply sour milk as the medium in which to mix the pigments. These journeymen shared their designs as different stencil styles painted in the same house have been found in individual houses in New England. Colors used in early American stenciling were strong as homes were often quite dark.

Furniture makers in America had also made use of stencils. Few early Americans could afford gilded, carved, and brass-mounted furniture imported from Europe. Cabinet makers discovered a method that simulated European designs; they rubbed multi-colored bronze powders through a stencil onto a tacky varnished surface. They were able to shade the powders around the edges of the stencil and thus to achieve depth and tone, add dimension, and soften the image of the design. This was a practical application of stencils which produced many elegant designs.

You might be wondering how we are able to identify the walls stenciled by Moses Eaton, Jr. No written records have ever been uncovered linking various stenciled walls to him. However, the fld"discovery rd" of his stencil kit in the 1930srs"s has helped us to identify the walls that he most likely stenciled. During the years when Janet Waring was researching her book Early American Stencils on Walls and Furniture, she became friends with the descendents of Mary Richardson, Eaton Jr.ars"s daughter. On one of her annual trips to visit the Richardson family, she was presented with the stencil kit as found in the attic of the Harrisville home. The old wooden box that was Eaton rs"s stencil kit, contained 78 stencils (40 complete designs), 8 large worn brushes, and a few blocks of wood with carved designs that were used as fabric stamps.