'A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to repeatedly and rapidly produce the same letters or design. The design produced with a stencil is also called a stencil. The context in which stencil is used makes clear which meaning is intended. Although aerosol or painting stencils can be made for one-time use, typically they are made to be reusable. To be reusable, they must remain intact after a design is produced and the stencil is removed from the work surface. With some designs, this is done by connecting stencil islands (sections of material that are inside cut-out "holes" in the stencil) to other parts of the stencil with bridges (narrow sections of material that are not cut out).'
 
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was first introduced to stencils in the year 1988 by a friend of the family, who had spent part of his childhood in france, where stenciling had it's first little heyday back then. 1988 was also the year PUBLIC ENEMY released their album "IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK" which apart from excellent music also provided the perfect template for one of the first stencils I ever cut.
If you want to make your first stencil, I suggest you get a hold of the PUBLIC ENEMY logo and make it your first project. It's practically layed out for being cut into a single layer stencil and perfect to make yourself familiar with the basics.

www.the-young.net

Back then to create your template you had three choices: either draw your own design onto a piece of card (cereal boxes are perfect for starters), trace the design of your desire onto a thin piece of paper and stick that on a piece of card (I was lucky enough to get my hands on throwaway x-ray pics occasionally), or go to your trusted copy shop, get your design photocopied and again glue that onto a piece of card. The benefit of the latter option was, that you could have the design enlarged, even if the quality poor in most cases.
 
I started off with one of them plastic knives with a break-off blade and cut some very simple single-layers to begin with, then I gradually worked my way up to equally simple multi-layers. If for instance I made a character, I would cut one stencil for black outlines and details and another to add some color to the pants, shirt, hair, whatever... Very basic stuff! Once the cutting was done I would be off to the DIY store to get whatever sticky and smelly paint I could get. You weren't exactly spoilt for choice back then, especially not living in a small town like Minden, Germany. For about three or four years I was hooked on stencilling and would spray onto just about anything I could get my hands on (walls, clothing, cars, furniture, you name it...), then suddenly I lost interest and didn't touch a knife again...

...until 2002, yet under improved conditions and with better tools

I pretty much started where I stopped, taking my designs to the copy shop, having them enlarged and working with whatever result I would get. As my work is primarily based on photo montages, I quickly made myself familiar with basic image editing techniques and learned to use and love the computer as a tool. The steps of prep work I will do on the computer are as follows:
Creating the montage, tweaking contrasts and brightness, subtracting or adding grain (I prefer to add grain these days), color seperation (I mostly limit myself to 5 tones). I will then determine in which order I want my colors to be applied. As I choose to use only one stencil per color and my stencils are rather detailed, i usually have to cut a lot of bridges to keep them together. I try to figure out what order will result in the least amount of bridges visible in the final piece. Once I have figured that out I will print out the 'raw' layer templates,'raw' meaning that these templates do not include the mentioned numerous bridges. The placement of those is determined whilst cutting and is probably the most time-consuming part of my work.

The prints on regular paper I glue onto card (ca. 300g/m). I currently have a stash of faulty throwaway prints from a printing service I'm cutting on. I recently discovered MOLOTOW™ STREETWISE GLUE as the ideal tool to apply the paper to the card, as it doesn't soak and wrinkle the sheets and is great value for money.

I cut with a scalpell with replaceable blades I got given to me years ago and a modelling/craft knife when things get really small. A cutting mat is essential, as it not only protects your precious furniture, but also makes your blades last longer.

Once the cutting is done, the painting begins... After trying all sorts of paints and having all kinds of problems with various brands, I quickly made MOLOTOW™ PREMIUM my product of choice for the following reasons: MOLOTOW™ supplies an excellent color palette, the paints do COVER ALL and they do work in ALL SEASONS. MOLOTOW™ PREMIUM dries fast, meaning you can apply your colors after very short waiting time without your stencil getting stuck to the previously applied coat of paint. Also, you don't want your stencils to stick to eachother when stored away, do you? Besides all that, I have not experienced PREMIUM paints cracking after drying, which I can't say about other brands... . I currently limit myself to using the following shades of grey: LIGHT GREY, MIDDLE GREY, DARK GREY, BLACK GREY, BLACK GREY DARK. Occasionally I will use SIGNAL WHITE for extra highlights and DEEP BLACK for extra shading.
 
I never cared much about caps, to tell the truth. I was always quite happy with the COVERS ALL Skinny that used to be the standard on the PREMIUM cans and I wasn't too happy when they were suddenly replaced with the SUPER-SOFT caps.
After a while of testing the SUPER-SOFTs however, I found out they were brilliant for creating fades and extra tones. For indoor work I now use only the SUPER-SOFT caps, for outdoor work I carry a stash of COVERS ALL Skinnys, because I find them better to use when it gets a little windy. They are more 'on the spot' and deliver just the right amount of extra pressure to press the stencil against the wall, thus preventing too much underspray.

For working outdoors I carry various types of sticky tape with me to attach the stencils to the wall. Different walls need different tape... . Also, I will use a bit of wire to press delicate parts of the stencils against the wall whilst spraying.
When working indoors and 'horizontally' I keep the stencils fixed to whatever surface I'm spraying on with a selection of bolts screws and chains of all shapes and sizes. A lot of fellow artists will use adhesives to do that, but I've not made the best of experiences with that... .

AMAZING GREYS from theYOUNG on Vimeo.