Arts & Crafts Stencilling

This book is a wonderful piece of instruction and source of pattern! Lots of detailed how-to information and a wealth of stylish forms, with suggestions of how to combine them to create your own individual designs for large as well as small projects. A really excellent source.

As the information on the book flap says, this book was first published in 1910 for the professional decorator. "Today, Sutherland's time-proven methods give do-it-yourselfers a thorough education and an excellent background in the art of stencilling for ornamental detail." All that is accurate, I think. The book does a great job of explaining how to think about stencilling a room or window, and the author also has a good sense of humor. There are lots and LOTS of symbols and figures, though many of them are fairly small so you'll have to blow them up with a photocopier. How helpful is it? While I appreciate the overview, and it helped me understand the process, our tools have (thankfully) improved since 1910! I'm probably going to read another book on basic stenciling before I start decorating my living room -- but I probably will be satisfied with a library book. (There are some black-and-white line drawings in Sutherland's book, but no how-to color photos.) I think this one will be the one I'll turn to, over time, for actually _doing_ the work rather than learning the basic skills. The author was clearly involved in the Arts & Crafts movement, so this is as authentic as you can get. The patterns and motifs are absolutely lovely (assuming you like Arts & Crafts, bungalow, and Mission style as much as I do), and there are plenty of "Oh cool, I hadn't thought of that!" suggestions, such as for ceiling treatments, that make me glad I bought this book.