Article: TRACING STENCILS' SKETCHY HISTORY.(AT HOME)

Byline: ROSEMARY FRIEDMANN Scripps Howard

The history of stenciling, you might say, is a bit sketchy. It seems no one knows exactly when or how stenciling was started. But there is speculation.

Some say it was the Egyptians who first used stencils for decorating mummy cases round 2500 B.C.; others contend it was the Chinese as early as 3000 B.C.

The difficulty in proving any of this is that there are no leftover stencils to be found because 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.

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