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.

French Stencil Sans JNL is another typeface based on vintage French tin/zinc stencils. Slightly rounded corners and a "hand-cut" look add an interesting and charming variation that breaks away from the "standard" design of other metal stencil sets.

An antique Bradley stencil cutting machine’s letters and numbers were the basis for Dry Goods Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

More Antique Stencils JNL is another collection of wonderful decorative stencil designs from antique sources. Included in this font are floral, bird and nautical motifs in both singular and border designs as well as an ornate embellishment. This font is a companion to Antique Stencils JNL.

Vintage Stencil Art JNL collects another twenty-six charming designs, all re-drawn from antique and vintage stencil sources. These images make for the perfect embellishment to typographic projects which utilize stencil type, or the designs can be applied as decorative thematic backgrounds (such as a flower show, nature walks and so forth). For reproduction as saleable commercial products such as stencils, decals, stickers, transfers, etc. please refer to the terms and conditions which are clearly stated in the font's End User License Agreement regarding specialized licensing.

The cover on the sheet music for the 1922 song "If She Comes from Dixie" had the title hand-lettered in an Art Nouveau style with a semi-stencil effect. It's now available as Nouveau Semi Stencil JNL in both regular and oblique versions. The typeface is not considered a "pure" stencil because many of the letters were made solid; lacking the classic stencil "breaks" at key points found in more traditional stencil designs.

De Vinne Stencil JNL is a stencil treatment of Theodore L. De Vinne's classic serif font.

Soldier Slab Stencil Dstrssd. is a grungy military stencil font. The bold slab characters provide a great base to present the distressed effect. The font has been developed from a war related computer game project. The font contains 26 letters of the English alphabet in capitals and alternative capitals are represented when typing in lowercase letters. Each font also contains numbers, punctuation and a range of Latin characters as displayed.

In the 1949 Paramount comedy "My Friend Irma" (a film based on the popular radio series that introduced America to Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis), an opening gag set-up involving excavation work utilizes street barricades which inspired Work Crew Stencil JNL. Placed along the site, different advisories are stenciled upon barricades warning of the work in progress. The scatterbrained Irma (Marie Wilson) walks straight through the construction, oblivious as to what's going on around her and steps right into the open hole dug into the sidewalk (a scene she reprises in 1950's "My Friend Irma Goes West").

An ad appearing in the January 5, 1952 edition of Billboard Magazine promoted the then-new releases from Capitol Records. The headline copy was set in a bold, condensed sans serif stencil typeface. This inspired Music Ad Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A new take on the classic font Bodoni, revealing the structural elements of the font, and adding a little sparkle with a pseudo-stencil treatment. The font is named in honor of its original designer and also the undisputed king of the two-chord song. Both versions of the font include the 1252 Latin and 1250 CE character sets (with localization for Romanian and Moldovan).

The typography on a 1964 children’s activity book published by Whitman entitled “Build with Stencils” was in a bold, condensed design. The only problem was that the ‘rails’ [the parts that divide a letter into stencil pieces] were too narrow and would disappear at smaller point sizes. Widening the ‘rails’ just a bit greatly improved the appearance of the stencil characters. Play Day Stencil JNL is now available in both regular and oblique versions. In its day, the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin published dozens of activity books for children, including a number of them with stencils. The company was a division of Western Publishers from the early 1900s through the 1970s, but went through a number of sales and name changes. Currently [as Whitman once again] it is owned by Anderson Press, and is known for its line of coin folders and books on coin collecting.

The opening title from the 1943 Abbott and Costello comedy ”It Ain't Hay” shows a park bench with the words “Universal Presents” stenciled on it in a chamfered sans serif style. This served as the design model for Grounds Crew Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Danish type designer Ole Søndergaard created this display FontFont in 2011. The family contains 3 weights: Book, Bold, and Black and is ideally suited for advertising and packaging, film and tv as well as music and nightlife. FF Signa Serif Stencil provides advanced typographical support with features such as ligatures, alternate characters, case-sensitive forms, fractions, super- and subscript characters, and stylistic alternates. It comes with a complete range of figure set options – oldstyle and lining figures, each in tabular and proportional widths. This FontFont is a member of the FF Signa super family, which also includes FF Signa, FF Signa Correspondence, FF Signa Serif, and FF Signa Stencil.

Searching the internet for interesting type ideas leads one to many unusual items for sale online. An antique, hand-cut metal stencil from France with the word “Bagagens” [luggage] provided a condensed Art Deco design in a semi-stencil format (some solid letters, others with traditional ‘breaks’ within the characters). The digital version of the type style has a more traditional stencil character set. Garment Bag Stencil JNL is available in both regular and oblique versions.

An image of a vintage British lettering stencil set [probably circa 1960s] spotted in an online auction inspired North End Stencil JNL. The original lettering was a hybrid of both stencil and solid letter forms, but for the digital version all of the characters were given the stencil treatment. North End Stencil JNL is named after a district in London, and the type face is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Vintage Stencil Borders JNL collects twenty-six decorative vintage and antique stencil border motifs for embellishing word copy set in stencil type or for any other decorative purpose. Please note: Commercial reproduction of these designs as stencils, stickers, decals, transfers, ink stamps or other decorative stand-alone products for resale requires a separate license. Contact Jeff Levine through the email address located in the PDF file provided with the font or from the online EULA text.

Based on some 1930s-era ‘block chamfer’ gummed paper lettering, Chamfer Stencil Sans JNL is a stenciled treatment of the original design; available in both regular and oblique versions.

A vintage metal stencil from a saw mill with the term "reusable skid" was the model for Saw Mill Stencil JNL. Although the original was what would be termed a semi-stencil (some letters did not have 'breaks' in them), the font was designed with a more traditional look.

Back Lot Stencil JNL is a hand lettered slab serif stencil design based on the titles and credits from the 1954 film “Human Desire” and is available in both regular and oblique versions. Caps only Font.

The Vtg Stencil fonts from astype are based on real world stencils from several countries. All styles offering an extended Latin character set. » pdf specimen «

A 1902 publication entitled "Lettering for Schools & Colleges" had an example of an ornate, hand drawn stencil alphabet in the Art Nouveau style. This is now available digitally as Nouveau Stencil Ornate JNL, in both regular and oblique versions.

Titles hand lettered for articles appearing in the November, 1938 issue of Hollywood Magazine were done in a condensed Art Deco stencil style in just lower case. This novelty type design is now available as Deco Display Stencil JNL in both regular and oblique versions.

For decades, the National Show Card Writer Company of Minneapolis, MN produced sign making kits used by shopkeepers, schools, churches and many other types of organizations. The standard sets were comprised of two part stencils that when overlaid, produced finished lettering, or a buyer could choose the same type style designs with a standard stencil letter. From one of these templates comes Show Card Stencil JNL, in both regular and oblique versions. Take note that the U, V and W have the heavier vertical strokes reversed. As this was the way the original stencil design was manufactured, it has been retained for this digital type as well.

This is a new version of our popular DIN Stencil family designed with a wider cut than the original. This overcomes the diminishing effect of the stencil at smaller sizes where the cuts tend to disappear, whereas it makes a bold statement at display sizes. Traditionally, stencils have been used extensively for military equipment, goods packaging, transportation, shop signs, seed sacks and prison uniforms. In the old days, stencilled markings of ownership were printed on personal possessions, while stencilled signatures on shirts were typical of 19th century stencilling. DIN Stencil B manages to preserve several traditional stencil features, but introduces additional modernities which enhance its pleasing characteristics and make it an ideal choice for a large number of contemporary projects. It consists of 7 diverse weights from Extra Thin to Black. This version supports Latin, Cyrillic, Eastern European, Turkish and Baltic. DIN Stencil B includes several additions such the recently unicode encoded character of the German uppercase Eszett (ẞ), the Russian currency symbol for Rouble (₽), Ukrainian Hryvnia (₴), Azeri and Kazakh letterforms.

Vintage Stencil Motifs JNL is a collection of charming and decorative designs re-drawn (as the name indicates) from vintage source material. For decades, home decorators and do-it-yourself hobbyists embellished furniture, chests, walls and other areas with thematic stencils in both borders and topical vignettes. Today's digital designers can use these stencil patterns to embellish text set in other stencil alphabets or by themselves to evoke the feeling of rustic Americana.

An image of a vintage metal stencil for the French wine region Côteaux du Tricastin [now Grignan-Les Adhemar] served as the inspiration for Wine Vat Stencil JNL. This condensed sans serif design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Amusement Ride Stencil JNL is based on a hand-cut paper stencil advising the riders to "Hold Onto Your Hats - Don't Stand Up - Let's Go Again!" Available in both regular and oblique versions.

Comic books based on popular characters have been around pretty much since the advent of comic books themselves. An edition of the "Car 54 Where Are You?" series published by Dell (and based on the hit TV show created by Nat Hiken) displayed "Car 54" in a bold hand lettered stencil design on the cover. These few characters became the inspiration for Patrol Car Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A very light, elegant, condensed typeface, which must be used very large (at least 100 points).

Marmalade Script by Uniontype is a modern multilingual type family inspired by vintage monoline fonts. The family consists of light, regular, bold and printed styles. Choose сolor and offset according to your taste. Marmalade Script provides advanced typographical support with contextual alternates, ligatures and swashes. That way, you’ll have automatic access to the dozens extra glyphs in each of the fonts. Marmalade Script is good for menu, signs, packaging, posters, letterings and logos.

Laurelle is a polished and smooth script family. The family consists of light, regular, bold and press styles. Laurelle provides advanced typographical support with contextual alternates, final forms, ligatures and swashes. This font also includes Cyrillic, with all OpenType features. It is most suitable for the headlines of all sizes, as well as for the text blocks. Laurelle is versatile and can be used on cards, posters, merchandise, book covers, websites, packaging, and basically anywhere you like. The overall feel of the font is warm, elegant and informal and it is perfect if you want to convey a sense of friendliness and style.

Another one of those faces that caught my eye in one of my art deco type books, and I wanted it. After I finished the face, I noticed that there is a more clean-cut version of this face in digital format, but my version retains more of the funkiness of the original drawings.

UT Triumph Script by Uniontype is a modern type family inspired by classic Americana scripts. The family consists of regular, vintage, and press styles. Also it contains shadow layers with which you can quickly & easily add depth of UT Triumph Script by duplicating the text layer and switching it to Shadow. Choose сolor and offset according to your taste. UT Triumph Script provides advanced typographical support with contextual alternates, ligatures and swashes. UT Triumph Script is good for menu, signs, packaging, posters, letterings and logos. Use the vintage and press styles to feel the true spirit of new retro!

A wonderful, very condensed, 3D font. A few years ago, I was commissioned to digitize the letters from this typeface for the words 'LEGENDS OF RODEO' and liked the look of it so much that I went ahead and digitized the rest of the alphabet. This CastleType revival is very clean-cut and contains uppercase, numerals, and punctuation. Sculptura was originally designed by the Swiss designer, Walter J. Diethelm (1913-1986) in 1957.

CastleType was commissioned in 1991 by San Francisco Focus magazine to digitize three members of the Standard family. This is a Continental lineale that was popular in Switzerland in the 1950s and later in the United States. A cousin to the classic sans serifs, Standard is an alternative that is considerably warmer and a bit more idiosyncratic. In 2008, CastleType released additional members of the Standard CT family to make it a complete typographic solution with three widths (normal, condensed, extended) of four weights each (Regular, Medium, Bold, and Extra Bold). Some of the original Standard fonts, particularly Standard Regular, appear to have been hastily designed (or perhaps too closely imitated Helvetica); these have been greatly improved in the CastleType versions with more harmonious proportions and other refinements. The three lighter weights of the Extended subfamily were designed from scratch based on the new Standard CT Regular and Standard CT Extended Extra Bold. More recently, four light weights (Light, Extra Light, Ultra Light, and Hairline) have been added to each of the three widths. The entire Standard CT family includes support for most European languages, OpenType features, arbitrary fractions, and a collection of geometrics, dingbats & fleurons.

Eden Light, originally designed by the American type designer Robert H. Middleton in 1934, was commissioned by Publish magazine for a redesign in 1990. When I found a specimen of Eden Bold a couple years later, I decided to digitize it also. Subsequently, I created a Medium weight. Very squared and compact with thin slab serifs, Eden includes support of all European languages that use the Latin alphabet.

The Latin family of typefaces, first popular in the last half of the nineteenth century, is characterized by its large, sharp, triangular serifs. With six widths (from Extra Condensed to Wide), Latin CT offers the most extensive collection of Latin fonts available, each with a large character set that includes support for all European languages including those that use the Cyrillic alphabet. From the sleek elegance of Latin CT Extra Condensed to the brash boldness of Latin CT Wide, you will find a width to fit your contemporary typographic needs.

CT Ausetan is a typeface designed for perfect reading in continuous text. With humanist proportions and calligraphic details but actual, both in appearance and in function. Its asymmetric serifs and slightly curved stems recall the warmth, dynamism and character of the first humanist typefaces built according to the logic of the flat pen. It has a high x-height and its moderate contrast make reading in small bodies comfortable. The many OpenType features make it a versatile typeface that fits into any publishing project. To cover present-day needs, CT Ausetan consists of six weights and their corresponding italics. Each font includes small caps, ligatures, old-style, lining, proportional and tabular figures, superscript, subscript, numerators, denominators, and fractions as well as various geometric figures and stylistic sets. With an extensive Latin character set, CT Ausetan covers a large number of Latin-based languages. Initially designed for small texts, below 14 pt, its calligraphic details accentuate its personality when used in larger bodies such as headlines.