Brass Stencil JNL takes its place amongst the many retro stencil fonts designed by Jeff Levine, and was inspired by a set of vintage brass stencils spotted for sale in an online auction.

An antique barrel lid stencil spotted in an online auction for a company once located in Guttenberg, NJ provided the hand-cut sans serif lettering which inspired Old Brass Stencil JNL; available in both regular and oblique versions.

Up until the advent of modern packing and shipping methods, the common way to mark merchandise or other items to be transported was through the use of a brass stencil. These marking devices were hand stamped (or punched) using metal dies that were struck against sheets of brass to create the letters, numbers and other symbols [unlike the steel rule die cutting method used for manufacturing paper stencils]. One such example of an antique marking stencil had letters and numbers approximately one quarter of an inch in height, and Stamped Brass Stencil JNL recreates the design complete with the unusual variations of character shapes and widths.

The Brass Family has a lineage that extends into English history. About five hundred years ago a devout, but anonymous Englishman gave glory to the God he worshipped by designing the capital letters and decorations of these two fonts. Originally recorded in The History Of Mediaeval Alphabets And Devices by Henry Shaw (London 1853), they are described by Alexander Nesbitt in his Decorative Alphabets And Initials (Mineola, NY 1959) as “Initials and stop ornaments from brasses in Westminster Abbey.” I wish I could say I remember seeing them when I was there, but that was forty-two years ago and all I remember was seeing the tomb of Edward the Confessor. One definition of “stop” as a noun is a point of punctuation. I have heard people from the British Isles speak of a “full stop” when referring to a period. Some may remember a 19th century form of communication called a telegram being read aloud in an old movie, with the use of the word “stop” to indicate the end of a sentence or fragment. A full dozen of these stop ornaments are provided. They occupy positions 060, 062, 094, 123, 125, 126, 135, 137, 167, 172, 177 & 190. The Brass Family consists of two fonts: Brass and Brass Too. Both fonts have an identical upper case and ornaments, but paired with different lower cases. Although the typefaces from which the lower cases were drawn are both of modern design, both are interpretations of the textura style of blackletter in use in England when the upper case and ornaments were fashioned for the Abbey. Brass is paired with Morris Gothic, which matches the color of the upper case quite well. Brass Too is paired with Wedding Regular, which is distinctly lighter than the upper case. I find it very interesting how each connects differently. The resulting fonts are unusual and most useful for evoking an historic atmosphere.

Brass Rail JNL is a novelty font, with its name derived from two key components of the source material. It was modeled from examples of vintage small letters stamped out of brass with "rails" above and below each character to fit within a slot. The most likely use of these letters would have been for either decorative initials or small merchandising signs (similar examples of both have been seen in the past). From these few examples comes a typeface with numerals, punctuation and an extended character set.

Brosse is a family of slabserif faces which emphasise clarity and geometric cleanliness of line, in a 'Brave New World' sprit that harks back to the 1930s and possibly also to postwar rebuilding in the 1950s. Its clear legibility makes it ideal for poster work and titles, as well as for signage of any kind. Eight faces are offered, regular and italic, bold and bold italic, as well as a condensed face and a bold weight thereof. There are also two decorative forms- outline and embossed faces. All faces include a large character set and extensive Opentype features. A Demonstrater version of the regular face is also offered free of charge-this is fully licensed but has a signnificantly reduced character set.

Narrow Stencil JNL is based on a set of 12 inch tall letter and number stencils, generally used for marking and identification.

Inspired by an old retail stencil lettering guide, Stenciled Message JNL is a bold Roman serif typeface available in both regular and oblique versions.

Inspiration for font design takes on many shapes and forms. It can be vintage source material, visualized concepts or simply suggestions made by others. In an email conversation with Kevin Redekop (the Principal Designer for FabArts Creative Fabricators in Canada) who had purchased a number of Jeff Levine Fonts, a sample sketch of a desired stencil font was provided. This set the wheels into motion for the drawing and production of Saskatoon Stencil JNL.

In the 1943 Three Stooges comedy short “Higher than a Kite”, Curly reaches into a box with the label “hand grenades” painted on its side and pulls out one of the devices. The bold, squared stencil hand lettering on that prop inspired Stencil Label JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Railyard Stencil JNL is a stencil variant of Decal JNL that was set aside for a long time in a forgotten work folder. It's broad strokes and sharp serifs emulate the vintage look of old railway cars and other earlier forms of transportation.

An image spotted on the internet of a brass shipping stencil for the Royal Quality Brand (for the John H. Fitch Company of Youngstown, Ohio – a coffee and spice merchant). The lettering style for “Royal Quality” was a hand-cut, condensed, slightly flared sans serif with various character flourishes, giving the letters a stylish, somewhat regal look. Expanding on this idea, a full character set was developed and redrawn digitally as Royal Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Lumberyard Stencil JNL was inspired by the image of an antique brass stencil that was probably used for marking various wood products by a lumber company. It's available in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencil Package JNL has its design roots in the brand name hand-lettered on the paper sleeves for the short-lived Stencil-It line of lettering guides produced in 1955 as a direct competitor to Stenso Lettering Guides. Formed by Bernie Aronson [a relative of the Libauers who owned the Stenso Lettering Company and who once worked for them] along with a financial partner (noted artist) Sidney Levyne, the company was soon put out of existence by a court action. It re-emerged in 1956 as the E-Z Letter Stencil Company and existed until the 1990s. Stencil Package JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An unsold 1973 TV pilot for the series “Catch 22” (based on Joseph Heller’s 1961 book and the subsequent 1970 movie) had its title hand lettered in an extra bold stencil type style. Heller coined the phrase as a satire on absurd military rules and bureaucracy. Although the show’s title provided only five characters to work with, there was enough inspiration there to create the military styled Enlisted Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. According to Wikipedia: “A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations.”

Stencil Punch JNL is modeled from lettering examples made by a Diagraph stencil cutting machine. Diagraph was the first company to make the stencil punch machines used in industry and by the military. Thanks to Neal Haynes for his kindness and assistance in providing me with sample cuts direct from the company's machine testing department.

A vintage British lettering stencil was the inspiration for Sandwell Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. This pleasant and condensed stencil font was originally a semi-stencil – many of the characters were made as solid letters ,while the others had a traditional stencil treatment. For the digital version, the stencil treatment was applied to previously solid characters to create a consistency in the overall design.

A vintage brass stencil for an individual or company named ‘Rodrigues’ was spotted in an online auction. The hand punched, condensed Roman lettering inspired the digital typeface Nameplate Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Dollar Tree Stores imports a number of items from China, and many times these are limited-run products only available until the existing supplies run out. One such item was a sans serif stencil lettering guide with rounded ends that takes on the look of 1980s-influenced techno lettering. This is now available as Import Stencil JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

In 1962, the late Robert Libauer of the Stenso Lettering Company (of Baltimore, MD) revised two of his popular stencil lettering guides to offers users two choices: “traditional” stencil letters and numbers and "solid" letters for tracing and coloring. Solid Stencil JNL was modeled from one of those lettering guides, and contains all of the character anomalies found within that vintage stencil.

The inspiration for Brattleboro Stencil JNL was found within a reproduction of a sales catalog for stencil punch dies manufactured by S.M. Spencer & Co. (originally of Brattleboro, VT), circa 1868. Basically a sans serif letter, the font's unusual feature is its "split tail" design where the letters take on a bit of a "Western" look in appearance.

With electronics taking over virtually every aspect of manufacturing, packaging and shipping, it's almost difficult to envision a time when wooden crates were marked for identification by using brass stencils. Many of these stencils were hand-cut or manufactured with special punches that perforated the brass sheets with pre-formed letters and numbers. One such stencil was the design model for Marking Stencil JNL.

Shipping stencils cut on an antique machine with its somewhat crude slab serif type design inspired Container Stencil JNL, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Spur Stencil JNL gets its inspiration from the single word "stencils" lettered on a vintage package of Glass Wax Christmas stencils.

The brand marking on a vintage wooden shipping case for bottles of Mission Naturally Good Orange Soda inspired Beverage Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. Mission was a popular soda in California from about 1929 through 1970.

The sheet music for the 1917 song "Wake Up Virginia (and Prepare for Your Wedding Day)" features a hand lettered title in a sans serif Art Nouveau design with stencil influences. This was the inspiration for Nouveau Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Franklin Stencil JNL is based on the classic and perennial workhorse design of Franklin Gothic Condensed and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Probably one of the most unusual applications of a stencil took place in 1964 when Union Carbide [then-owner of the still-new line of "Glad" brand plastic wrap and storage bags] sponsored a $100,000 contest to match up a stencil of their logo in order to win a prize. The magazine ad told of how one thousand lucky participants would win $100 by simply taking a die-cut stencil of the brand name to the store and overlaying it on the logo printed on the food wrap box to see if it aligned perfectly. The hand-lettered title proclaiming "match the stencil and win" was done in a casual sans design and reflected the cheerfulness of many typestyles found in ads during the late 50s and early 60s.

A disc jockey-only promotional sleeve for a 1964 [45 rpm] release of “Close to Me” and “Let Them Talk” by Dan Penn featured the song titles printed in a stencil typeface on the record sleeve. Closely resembling a stencil version of Franklin Gothic but with its own unique characteristics, this design has been reinterpreted as Turntable Stencil JNL and is available in both regular and oblique versions. For trivia buffs, Dan Penn is a singer-songwriter-record producer, often collaborating with Dewey Lindon “Spooner” Oldham; both closely associated with the late Rick Hall’s Fame recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In 1964, Hall started the Fame record label, and for a time it was distributed by Vee-Jay Records of Chicago, the first major Black-owned record label in the United States. Penn’s release was only the second for the new label; Fame 6402.

The poster for a 1947 film entitled “The Unfaithful” was hand lettered in an extra-bold spurred serif design emulating a stencil typeface. This served as the working model for Matinee Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

For well over a century, stencil machines allowed manufacturers, shippers and even the military to quickly mark and identify objects. Mechanical Stencil JNL was created from examples from one of these machines.

Dean Martin starred in four movies as Matt Helm, the titular character in a series of spy novels by Donald Hamilton. Martin’s version of the government counter-agent followed his TV persona – a fun-loving ladies man who (in this case) just happened to be a spy. The movie poster for 1966’s “The Silencers” has its title hand lettered in an extra bold sans serif stencil style. This is now available as Spy Stencil JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

A hand lettered emulation of a Roman stencil type face on the cover of the folio for the Stenso School Set was the basis for Eutaw Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. The Stenso School Set (circa 1940-41) was comprised of three stencils – two lettering guides and a map of the [then] 48 United States. Developed and patented by Baltimore school teacher Ruth Libauer Hormats, her stencils were the first to offer a system for accurate letter spacing and ease of use. “Eutaw” (as part of the font’s name) is taken from Eutaw Place, the street where Ruth and her husband lived at the time of Stenso’s inception. To the Cherokee, the name means “Creek Indian”.

Titling Stencil JNL is an extra bold stencil treatment of R. Hunter Middleton’s ‘Karnak’ (produced in 1936 for Ludlow) and is a companion font to both Bookkeeping JNL and Bookkeeper JNL (a lightweight version of the type design). Middleton based his ‘Karnak’ family of typefaces on the geometric slab-serif ‘Memphis’, which was designed in 1929 by Dr. Rudolf Wolf and released originally by the Stempel Type Foundry of Germany. According to Wikipedia, ‘Karnak’ was named after the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt, in reference to the fact that early slab serifs were often called “Egyptians” as an exoticism by nineteenth-century type founders.” Titling Stencil JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Roman-style stencil fonts have been around for much longer than most people realize - from the interlocking brass stencils of the 1880s to the laser-cut plastic stencils of today. A 1 inch Roman lettering guide [die-cut from oil board with spacing holes for correct alignment] made by the now-defunct Zipatone Corporation in the 1970s was a clone of an existing design of another company; but with variations in certain character shapes. This then became the working model for Classroom Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Modeled after some antique stencil cutting tools spotted in an online auction, Stencil Cutter JNL portrays the look of hand tooled lettering. The rounded-end characters have their own personality and this eccentricity provides a warmth and charm from times past. Stencil Cutter JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Vintage French tin stencils with various phrases were the model for Paris Stencil JNL. The type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.