No one knows exactly when or how it started. Some say the
Egyptians first used stencils for decorating mummy cases way back
around 2500 B.C., yet others contend it was the Chinese as early as
3000 B.C.
The difficulty in proving any of this lies in the fact that
there are no leftover stencils; the materials used were probably
perishable things like leaves or skins. Not until the Chinese
invented paper around 105 A.D. was there any substantial substance
that could keep the stencils from perishing.
The idea that stencils originally were made on leaves comes from
anthropologists. They discovered that Fiji Island natives adopted
shapes from the holes bored into bamboo and banana leaves by insect
larvae and used them as forms or stencils for decorating their
clothing.
In western China's Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, scientists
found items dating from 1000 to 500 A.D. One was a piece of silk
with a Buddha outlined in stencil form. The pattern was outlined by
thousands of tiny pinpricks. Charcoal was poured through the tiny
holes, and then the entire form was colored in by hand.
In China, the original stencils were restricted to religious
subjects; later, more secular subjects began to grow in popularity.
Though silk was the material of choice, stenciling also became
popular on cotton garments.
The art of stenciling achieved its greatest degree of refinement
in Japan, which might be attributed to the Japanese propensity for
detail. Japanese subjects were taken from nature such as flowers,
birds and dragons.
When stenciling techniques reached Italy, they were used not as
decoration but as teaching aids for children to learn letters. In
the Middle Ages, France began to use stenciling for home
decoration.
The first wall coverings were flocked papers. Flocking was
achieved by patterning the paper with a stencil; while the pattern
was still wet, bits of shredded wool were brushed onto the paper.
These papers were only 12-by-16 inches and were often used
individually or in small decorative clusters.
In England and Germany, stenciling appeared in the mid-18th
century on floors and furniture as well as walls, papers and other
textiles.
