A lot of interesting variations in lettering style can be found in sets of antique tin or brass marking stencils. One such set was the model for Metalmark Stencil JNL, a bold sans with a chamfered look.

Casemark Stencil JNL is a bold sans serif design modeled after an image of a hand made antique shipping stencil used by the Bridgeport Brass Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencil Patterns JNL collects into one digital file a number of decorative stencil patterns from decades past. These charming illustrations were re-drawn by Jeff Levine using images of vintage oilboard stencils made over fifty years ago. While these are useful as stand-alone embellishments for any print projects, they can also be scaled and printed out onto card or acetate stock for hand-cutting as new stencil templates. A special note of thanks goes to fellow type designer and author, Leslie Cabarga. He supplied the bulk of the images used in designing this font file. There are left and right pointing hands on the parenthesis keys, and a decorative ampersand on its respective key.

Tanker Stencil JNL is a sans serif design based on a vintage hand-punched brass marking stencil for oil barrels.

A circa-1951 toy set called “Kusan Kavalcade of Letters” was comprised of molded plastic letters and numbers a child could play with, trace and arrange to learn their alphabet and numerals. Typographically, the design was all over the place – from sans serif characters to those with some spurred serifs and even some stenciled characters because of the nature of manufacture. As odd as this combination seems, it was novel enough to be turned into a digital typeface called Stencil Playthings JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Casual Stencil JNL was modeled from a set of stencils used for store display work that are reminiscent of brush style casual lettering made popular by sign painters and show card artists.

Based on an antique metal stencil plate used for identifying crates, bales or barrels, Stencil Piece JNL is one of the numerous stencil designs available through Jeff Levine Fonts. The type design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Hand-lettered stencil lettering on the movie poster for Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 dark comedy-thriller "The Trouble with Harry" inspired Hitchcock Stencil JNL; named in honor of the great master of suspense cinema.

A bold, handmade stencil alphabet from the book “Lettering” by Harry B. Wright (1950) served as the model for Obscure Stencil JNL – available in both regular and oblique versions.

The lettering for Stencil Box JNL was found on the packaging of a children's toy stencil set circa the 1940s. Popular for years, Pencil Stencils were a series of "connect the line" stencils where a series of dashed lines were traced from the cutouts and the lines connected to complete pictures of animals or other subjects. Although the packaging itself was often updated to reflect the current times during the life of the product, it was this hand-lettered example of stencil-meets-Art Deco from the 40s that proved worthy of saving as a digital typeface.

Inspired by hand lettering on the 1950s packaging for E-Z Letter stencils, Stencil Merchandise JNL is a bold sans serif stencil, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Mystery Stencil JNL was inspired by lettering spotted on images of European kitchenware.

Stencil Decor JNL is loaded with all kinds of antique designs, embellishments and borders to work well alongside your favorite stencil lettering to create a totally retro look. Of course, these designs also make beautiful additions to many other kinds of print and craft projects. PLEASE NOTE: The purchase of this font does not include the right to reproduce the images for resale as stand-alone products (including, but not limited to stencils, ink stamps, stickers, wallpaper, etc.). For this kind of use, contact Jeff Levine Fonts through the email address provided in the EULA to discuss special licensing options and fees.

Easy Stencil JNL is a simple sans serif stencil design [based on a hand lettered example] from the 1922 publication “Modern Show Card Writing” and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencil Octoid JNL was inspired by a set of twelve inch tall stencil letters and numbers made by Duro Art Industries in Chicago. The bold type style with angled rather than rounded corners gives the font a strong feel of industry or military usage.

Many great lettering examples were found in the 1939 French publication by Georges Léculier, "Modèles de Lettres Moderns" ("Models of Modern Letters"). One design in particular is a stencil alphabet so typical of the Art Deco movement of the 1930s. Artwork Stencil JNL is now available digitally in both regular and oblique versions.

Stencil Deco JNL was an experimental modification of Jeff Levine's Cardboard Cutouts JNL font, originally designed from an authentic stencil source circa the 1950s. This version is a fusion of the Art-Deco style and a modern, trendy approach to the stroke weights.

A vintage lettering stencil manufactured by the E-Z Letter Stencil Company of Baltimore, Maryland was the model for Schoolyard Stencil JNL, available in both regular and oblique versions. Re-drawn digitally and following the actual bend of the steel rule dies used to cut the stencils, this typeface has not been cleaned up from its original design. Upon close examination, you will find straight angles and slight curves in the most unusual places. This was representative of the difficult work involved in bending steel cutting rule material and fitting it into small areas. For many years, E-Z Letter was the main competitor to the Stenso Lettering Company; the originator of the oil board stencil lettering guide complete with automatic spacing holes. Anyone over 40 will well-remember lettering their science fair posters, report covers and ring binders with these stencils.

British Stencil JNL was sketched from images of a vintage stencil set made by Reese and Sons of England that was being sold on ebay. In truth, this is a semi-stencil, as some of the characters are solid; lacking the breaks in the letter shapes so typical of stencil alphabets.

The Butterfly Brand [from the UK] manufactured some lettering stencils (circa the 1950s) with a distinctively British look and feel. These inspired Lancashire Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A brass stencil hand cut to mark the tops of oil drums yielded the lettering for Stencil Plate JNL. The font emulates the retro feel of the unique letter forms found in the original antique design.

Common Stencil JNL takes a vintage lettering stencil from the 1980s with imperfectly bent cutting dies [which unintentionally gave the characters a distressed or "grunge" look] and recreates it in a digital form. The design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Painting Stencil JNL was modeled in part from a vintage set of 8 inch Gothic stencils. Alphabets of this size were generally referred to as painting stencils because each letter could be painted individually in marking signs, streets or buildings, where the classic 'lettering guide' type of stencils were used for smaller projects and had alignment holes for accurate letter spacing as well as multiples letters per page.

Roman Stencil JNL is a condensed version of the classic Roman typeface found on many vintage hand-punched brass stencils made for packing and shipping merchandise. This digital interpretation is available in both regular and oblique styles.

Nature Stencils JNL brings together a number of vintage decorator stencils with bird and flower motifs (along with individualized elements from the original designs). These home decor stencils were manufactured by the Huntington Oil Cured Stencil Company somewhere around the early 1950s. Originally located in Huntington, New York, the company later relocated to the South Florida area, but there is no additional information found about the company's background.

With a large variety of stencil fonts contained within the Jeff Levine Fonts library, Another Stencil JNL is simply another stencil design added to this growing collection. Modeled from a lettering guide manufactured in the 1970s, the style is influenced by Franklin Gothic, but has enough differences in the shapes of the stencil characters to be considered a cousin to that classic design.

Sign Stencil JNL was modeled from some vintage lettering stencils spotted in an online auction that were part of a store sign making kit. A variety of styles, sizes and designs were contained within a carrying case along with paints, brushes and instructions on how to paint attractive signs.

The sheet music for the title song of the 1960 movie "Exodus" had the name hand lettered in a block stencil style with rounded corners and narrow "rails" [the breaks between the stencil parts]. Loosely based on this design and working from just the six letters of the title, Cartage Stencil JNL is available as a digital font in both regular and oblique versions.

An assortment of antique, hand-punched brass stencils from Australia [used for crate marking and shipping] served at the models for Aussie Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions. The lettering of the original stencil punches had rounded edges to the characters; looking more machine rendered than hand punched into the brass sheets.

An ad from the 1930s for a Spanish company called Intex Textiles featured some hand lettering in a bold and unique stencil design. This is now available as Textile Stencil JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

A poster for the 1952 film “Diplomatic Courier” featured the title hand lettered in a bold serif stencil design. With some modifications, this served as the model for Government Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An online photo gallery showcased a number of vintage and unique signs around Europe – mostly from Germany. One particular sign (“1818-Hoofdkant Spaarbank-1921”) was formed in metal and with stencil letters of a distinctive 1970s feel. This served as the model for Euro Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Crude Stencil JNL is a rough auto-tracing of a vintage lettering stencil from the 1980s, with additional characters added in post-production. At small type sizes, the lettering takes on a "grunge" effect, but larger scale text will reveal more of a jagged "cut paper" look.

Stencil Press JNL was based on just a few existing sample punches from a 1920's stencil machine made by the Diagraph-Bradley company. Thanks to Neal Haynes at Diagraph for the samples and the ability to preserve this design in digital format.

Stencil Machine JNL replicates the lettering of a stencil cutting machine. The stencils produced on such machines were primarily used for carton identification and shipping.

If you're old enough to remember having a lettering stencil in school, then you might have tried to save all of the waste paper punched out of the letters and numbers; hoping to do something with them later on. Jeff Levine took his Tramp Steamer JNL stencil font and gave it the look of those waste paper pieces - lined up to form erratic characters with a personality all their own.

At one time, the Hampton Publishing Company of New York specialized in producing reading and activity books for children. The “Letters and Numbers Stencil Book” (probably from the late 1940s or early 1950s) was the basis for Kiddie Stencil JNL. This bold sans serif type style replicates the handmade steel rule dies used for cutting the stencil pages of the book, and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

We've all seen the informational markings on commercial driveways or roadways instructing us which way to turn, where to park, etc. They are usually in stencil lettering 16 inches or taller, with compressed letters that make the horizontal strokes look slightly thicker than the vertical ones. By condensing the lettering in Narrow Stencil JNL by 20 percent, the result is Driveway Stencil JNL - a digital emulation of those painted road markings.

Stencil Modernistic JNL was modeled directly from an early 1960s lettering stencil that favored the Art Deco style. There is minimum kerning due to the nature of this typeface, so designers should use their own judgment when working with it.

Streamlined Stencil JNL is based on a photo of an Art Deco era shipping stencil saying "With Care" which was heavily influenced by the Futura Black style of lettering. The image was seen in the Steven Heller-Louise Fili book "Stencil Type" (published by Thames and Hudson).