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).

Browsing online auctions is a wonderful way to pick up ideas for font designs. Take Condensed Stencil JNL for example. This font was modeled from a set of vintage brass interlocking stencils.

Here's a stencil version of another Nick's Fonts typeface based on Chic, a Morris Fuller Benton creation for American Type Founders from the 1920s. Stylish and sophisticated as always, and now with an arts-and-crafts flair. Both versions of this font include the Unicode Latin 1252 and 1250 Central European character sets, with localization for Moldovan and Romanian.

The original design came from Berthold Herold typeface, designed by Hermann Hoffmann during 1913 (Art Nouveau style) in Germany. This project started from flyer printed during 1947 with movable type, the specimen was scanned as a source to development some of the uppercase letterforms. However the most unusual and tricky element from this sample is the leg from the uppercase (R) which is different from the original Herold design, until now I didn’t found where this version originally came from. This stencil typeface only contain the bold weight, but there are also available other versions without stencil cuts, like Nouveau LX and Nouveau LX Expanded.

The dust jacket for the 1929 Western novel "The Raider" by Charles Alden Seltzer featured the title and author's credits in a hand-lettered extra bold stencil design. This became the model for Raider Stencil JNL.

With all of the stencil fonts created by Jeff Levine from various vintage sources, you would think everything had already been covered. Not so. Along comes Amateur Stencil JNL. Modeled from a child's stencil set from the late 1950's or early 1960's, it vaguely resembles Futura, but its irregular widths and semi-stencil appearance sets it off greatly from that classic typeface.

The sheet music for the 1934 tune "Two in A Dream" had the title hand lettered in a bold type style that utilized some stencil and some solid lettering. Following through on the stencil portion of the design, Tuxedo Stencil JNL was created in both regular and oblique versions. The 1930s were the era of elegant supper clubs and night spots, and it was not unusual to find gentlemen all decked out in formal wear for an evening on the town, hence the font's name.

A vintage hand-punched brass stencil for the Pasadena Playhouse spotted online was the basis for Theatrical Stencil JNL. Slight variations in the letter forms from other similar designs might not quickly be noticed, but there is always a charm in the hand-made look of any stenciled lettering.

Strong Stencil JNL derives its name from its visual appeal. Strong, rugged, all-purpose; this type design (modeled from a set of brass stencils) can take on the toughest type chores and deliver.

A hand-lettered title on a children's stencil book for sale in an online auction served as the basis for Rustic Stencil JNL. Reminiscent of classic wood type, this stencil design adds a Western-influenced flair to any typographic project.

A retro delight for the holiday season is Xmas Stencils JNL, assembled from original 1950s holiday stencils and other sources. Twenty-Six designs offer a generous variety of embellishments for all of your seasonal projects.

The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati houses an amazing collection of vintage signage from all kinds of sources and covering many eras of retail advertising. Someone visiting the museum posted online an image of one particular piece of glass with hand lettering saying “gold leaf” in a bold Art Deco stencil style. Etched Stencil JNL was inspired by that image and is available in both regular and oblique versions.

Browsing online auctions and other webs sites often unearths wonderful examples of lettering from the past. A perfect example is Ritz Stencil JNL, modeled after a page from a 1930s-era lettering book. Although this font has similar characteristics to other better-known designs, there are enough unique differences to let it stand on its own as a great example of the Art Deco era.

The type design which inspired Stencil Maker JNL comes from a 1920s-era machine used in movie theaters of the day. It rendered tiny punched out letters (some characters solid and some in stencil form), enabling the user to make projection slides of important messages or general notices for the theater audience to read.

Czech Stencil JNL was modeled from examples of a 1930s-era typeface from Czechoslovokia called "Patrona Grotesk" as seen in the Steven Heller-Louise Fili book "Stencil Type" (published by Thames and Hudson).

Basic Stencil JNL was inspired by a lettering stencil sold by Dymo around 1968 that featured a sans serif design with rounded corners and an overall square look to the characters. This bold stencil design is available in both regular and oblique versions.

A group of unique metal plates with stencil initials cut into them was spotted while browsing through online auctions for source material. What made these items even more interesting was how some of the stencil letters had been sectionally divided - not vertically or horizontally as in most stencils, but lines cut at angles. This is the basis for Steel Stencil JNL and Steel Stencil Oblique JNL.

Malaguena Stencil JNL was derived from hand lettering found on an Art Deco-era piece of vintage sheet music for this familiar tune. According to Wikipedia: “Malagueña is the feminine form of the Spanish language adjective malagueño/ malagueña, ‘pertaining to Málaga’, a Spanish port city.” Additionally: "Malagueña", is a song by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona; written in 1928 it was originally the sixth movement of Lecuona's Suite Andalucia, to which he added lyrics in Spanish. The song has since become a popular, jazz, marching band, and drum corps standard and has been provided with lyrics in several languages.

Favorite Stencil JNL is inspired by and modeled after the classic hot metal typeface "Ludlow Stencil"; a design that enjoyed popularity around the 1950s and is not to be confused with Ludlow's similarly-named "Stencil" which was released in 1937. Available in both regular and oblique versions.

A butterfly, plants, animals, borders, embellishments, a center piece and corner pieces make up this assortment of charming stencil designs re-drawn from vintage sources for Antique Stencils JNL.

An ad spotted in a 1964 issue of Billboard magazine with the words “STAND BACK…” introduced the first record album from then-new stand-up comedian Bill Cosby. The lettering of those two words was in a stencil sans serif design that was a perfect candidate for developing into a digital font. The end result is Advertising Stencil JNL, which is available in both regular and oblique versions.