Stencil Fonts

[jdaw1]

Split from Summer offline in The Netherlands - 9 July 2010 by DRT.

A number of posts by jdaw1 and DRT did not survive the incompetent Administration of this topic. Oops.

What I really want is that which should be called VintagePortStencil. We see it sometimes on bottles: please send me examples. Or maybe DRT should separate the Stencil font ranting into a separate thread, to which pictures could be posted.

Meanwhile, the nicely-named TPF U13 is just too modern, though the same can be said of CargoCrate. Both Stencil and Army have too much ornament: top of the ‘7’ in particular really doesn’t work.

[DRT]

What I really want is that which should be called VintagePortStencil. We see it sometimes on bottles: please send me examples. Or maybe DRT should separate the Stencil font ranting into a separate thread, to which pictures could be posted.

Meanwhile, the nicely-named TPF U13 is just too modern.

It could be our modern twist on a traditional theme?

Worth noting that the page linked to in my previous post is also appropriately coloured.

[Chris Doty]

FWIW, I don't care for #13. Looks like signs you'd see at a disued Italian army base (::someone says 'Italian army?' and everyone laughs heartily::)

[jdaw1]

Disagree. The logo of the Italian Army is indeed modern, but very oblique:


And signs seem to use type that is much more classical:

[jdaw1]

VintagePortStencil should perhaps resemble

or either of

which, alas, are slightly out of focus.

Other examples please.

[jdaw1]

Note for type designers the characters needed are:

• ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ;
• abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz;
• 0123456789;
• áñçé (as in Cá (Cálem), Mñ (Quinta do Mañuela), Pç (Poças), Cç (Morgadio da Calçada), Ré (Réccua));
• + (as in Pt+);
• & (as in Silva & Cosens, Marks & Spencer);
• ? (as in unknown).

(List subject to modification, depending on comments below.)

[jdaw1]

Request posted at typophile.com/node/71771.

[JacobH]

If we can get some better pictures, I’m sure I could knock something together, especially the very limited character set for the Fonseca tasting. For the purposes of placemats, do we really need minuscules; I’ve never seen those on a stencilled bottle?

[jdaw1]

do we really need minuscules; I’ve never seen those on a stencilled bottle?

• MG = M. Gonzalez
  Mg = Morgan
• CC = Cockburn Quinta dos Canais
  Cç = Morgadio da Calçada
• Gb = Gilbert
  GB = González Byass
• Mn = Quinta Vale da Mina
  Mñ = Quinta do Mañuela
• Pc = Quinta da Peca
  Pç = Poças
• Ro = Rocha
  RO = Royal Oporto
• RR = Robertson Quinta do Roncão
  Rr = Quinta de Roriz
• Rv = Quinta da Revolta
  RV = Robertson Rebello Valente
• Vl = Quinta do Vallado
  VL = Quinta de Valle Longo

Yes, for the likes of ‟Pç77”.

[uncle tom]

Have a look at the back of the current Bonhams catalogue, with its stencil of 'SOLERA 1842'

I'm afraid i've never climbed the learning curve to put photos on here, but this is a classic gentle stencil that is rather appealing..

Tom

[jdaw1]

The cuts in the ‘A’ (meaning the non-cuts in the metal) are good and thick. Not sure the ‘L’ needed to be cut so thick, but there it is. Solid imposing paint-can-get-through-this throughout.

[JacobH]

The cuts in the ‘A’ (meaning the non-cuts in the metal) are good and thick. Not sure the ‘L’ needed to be cut so thick, but there it is. Solid imposing paint-can-get-through-this throughout.

I’ve just wasted a couple of hours, though I fear much more (in addition to much more talent) is required. (Yes, most of the non-traced characters are completely rubbish and it all needs smoothing but I thought it might be fun to put it up now)...

[jdaw1]

• The ‘0’ is insufficiently symmetrical;
• I don’t like the ‘1’;
• ‘2’ OK;
• the ‘3’ is a mess, as you say;
• ‘4’ OK, except for the top of the lower piece;
• the curve of the ‘5’ needs to go further round (clockwise);
• the ‘6’ less messier than the ‘3’ but still a mess;
• ‘7’ looks Arabic;
• ‘8’ insufficiently symmetrical;
• ‘9’ not shown.

[JacobH]

• The ‘0’ is insufficiently symmetrical;
• I don’t like the ‘1’;
• ‘2’ OK;
• the ‘3’ is a mess, as you say;
• ‘4’ OK, except for the top of the lower piece;
• the curve of the ‘5’ needs to go further round (clockwise);
• the ‘6’ less messier than the ‘3’ but still a mess;
• ‘7’ looks Arabic;
• ‘8’ insufficiently symmetrical;
• ‘9’ not shown.

Yes, indeed, and more-so. At some stage I’ll redo the lot. These sorts of exercises always remind me why I much prefer using type than designing it...It’s quite an interesting style though; the letters have obviously been drawn onto the template with a brush and then cut out which gives a combination of fluidity and rigidity.

(Though I would note that the 8 is strikingly asymmetrical; I think a symptom of being drawn with 4 separate brush strokes).

[JacobH]

I think I might be getting a bit closer to the eventual goal, though there's still much work to do. I haven't looked at spacing yet which is why some letters look too close or far apart.

[jdaw1]

JacobH: you have emails. And need to tackle A→Z and a→z and áñçé+&?.

[JacobH]

I've made some progress on the Solera 1842 typeface. A new sample is now online and below. Any thoughts would be welcome. I've so far only worked on the characters: ACEHILORST and 0123456789.

example.png (16.57 KiB) Viewed 6914 times