Spot the Frippet: stencil.

Stencilled walls, furniture, and floors have got so screamingly out-of-date over the last thirty years that they're showing every sign of coming back again. This isn't surprising because stencilling has been going in and out of fashion more or less forever.


This is the Stencil House in Vermont, built 1804. Photo by Storylanding

Indeed, man's very first go at decorating might have involved a stencil:


The appropriately named Cueva de las Manos. The hand-shapes were made in about 7,300 BC. Photo by Mariano.

But where to find stencils now? 

Well, tattoos are often stencilled:


design by Módis Ágnes Vadszederke

as are graffiti:


photo by Victor Grigas

Or, if all else fails, try putting a key or some coins on a flat surface and blowing a little dust over it. 

You'll be part of a very long tradition.

Spot the Frippet: stencil. In the 1300s stanselen meant to decorate with bright colours. The word comes from the Old French estenceler, from estencele, a spark, from the Latin scintilla.