Animal representation in the Middle Ages oscillates between the real and the imaginary. Sometimes animals are fantastic looks like griffins and dragons to evoke the power, danger, or another world; sometimes they are recognizable and participate in scenes of everyday life, hunting scenes or they are just as metaphors to express the human vanity through the musician donkey.

Bestiaries, the margins of illuminated pages, paving tiles, sculptures and church marquees are the essential supports to all this inventive fauna.

Here a wolf, scary forest animal, is part of a monumental carved decoration of France in the fourteenth century.

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central pattern between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Griffin both eagle with its head, wings and talons, and lion by his body, appears at the end of the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamian civilization. It crosses civilizations and we seen it fighting with warriors or centaur. His power as well as the fact that it is often associated with the sphere of the gods integrate it to the imaginary world of the Middle Ages. It is found in all forms of art: painting, sculpture, illumination, etc. and so precise description in medieval encyclopedias leads us to believe it was perceived as a real animal

Suggested use

- Isolated central pattern between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

The floor of the thirteenth century Castle of Orgelet (Jura), installed in the church today, offers a rich decorative vocabulary: plant, animal, and human with geometric representation of the Lord of Orgelet. Among these tiles, the rampant lion is a notorious figure.

The lion called rampant always show this head in profile ; also it seems to climb a hill. Unlike the lion, the lion as leopard take the head in front of us and seems to be like a leopard surprised.

Suggested use

- Isolated central pattern between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

 

chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

 

Level of difficulty

** The stencil requires attention; no particular difficulty but the multiplication or sensitivity bridges require care.

The manufacturing technique of inlaid tiles bicolor imposes a simplified drawing of the pattern. Indeed, the surface of the tile is hollowed to the pattern lines. Then the recessed portion is filled with clay ; after firing this clay became yellow and spring in opposition to the red ocher background. These delicate, and therefore costly process, make these pavements be used for rich religious buildings, castles and a few homes of wealthy laymen.

Here, the heraldic leopard pattern: it seems to pass by turning the head towards the vieweSuggested use

- Isolated central pattern between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

** The stencil requires attention; no particular difficulty but the multiplication or sensitivity bridges require care.r.

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

** The stencil requires attention; no particular difficulty but the multiplication or sensitivity bridges require care.

The two-tone tile inlaid pavements were developed in the thirteenth century. The technique developed enabled to apply a resistant decor tile subject to wear no. They rarely have the mark of the manufacturer. It is their productions that characterize because if we find almost the same ornamental vocabulary, the manner differs. The main areas of manufacturing such tiles are Normandie, Ile de France, Burgundy and Champagne. Among the most beautiful pavements still visible we can notice that of the chapter house of the abbey of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives (Calvados, France), of a  round composition. We admire the great iconographic diversity to the thirteenth century where fabulous animals neighbour plants on stems and geometric patterns.

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

Level of difficulty *

The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

The rose abounds in the iconography of the Middle Ages cathedrals rose, roses of illuminated margins, golden rose of the popes. Its round shape and its symbolic contrast with the fantastic world of bestiaries. The sculptors of the thirteenth century love to represent it natural with its petals.

The attraction to the Middle Ages is great at the end of the nineteenth century in England but especially in France with architects such as Viollet-le-Duc which will restore many medieval buildings. This rose is taken from a book by the late nineteenth century G. Audsley intended for monumental decorations in the medieval taste.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

This is a blue ceramic tile decor of the fourteenth century. The technique of faience allows freehand painting thus ridding the artisan constraints specific to the two-color inlay tiles. The invoice and ornamental themes is then nearest of illuminated or murals pages.
The big blue earthenware production centers are first in Valencia (Spain) and Catalonia before the installation of artisans in the Rhone Valley in the fifteenth century.
Some copies of these crazed blue carpet were found in Avignon (Biron hotel).

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination of a frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other patterns for wall separation or in a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

Chromatic suggestions

 The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of stencil, restoring the principle of two-tone tile.

Level of difficulty **

The stencil requires attention; no particular difficulty but the multiplication or sensitivity bridges require care.

This is a variant of the middle-ages-volute in a double stencil: Cross cut star and tile scroll pattern overlay.

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

Level of difficulty

*** The stencil is tricky. It requires a certain application either for breeding frieze either installing or removing the support because bridges or windings.

Suggested use

- Wall employment: repeated down the wall and to the right height.

Level of difficulty

*** The stencil is tricky. It requires a certain application either for breeding in numbers either for installation or removal of the support because bridges or windings

This plant is inspired from two-tone pavement of the chapter house of the abbey of Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives (Calvados, France) a round composition. On this tiles carpet, you can see the great diversity of the thirteenth century iconography where fabulous animals coexist with plants on stems and geometric patterns.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern, or faced in opposite position,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

** The stencil requires attention; no particular difficulty but the multiplication or sensitivity bridges require care.

The productions of pavement of bicolor tiles of the twelfth century were marked by geometric designs. These linear or circular patterns fit together in varying compositions
that can reveal other bigger patterns like rosettes or form true carpet.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Few pavements of the Middle Ages have survived. That of the courtroom of the castle of Orgelet in the Jura (France) was discovered in 1975 during excavations. The pavement of great iconographic richness is now visible in a church chapel. It consists of 3000 tiles arranged in parallel bands. There are about twenty different patterns all of vigorous hand-crafted making it strength.

In this remarkable collection, tiles with clover rings joined by four form a rosette. This stencil is a transposition of the four assembled tiles.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Until the eleventh century decorative effect floors were built from pre-cut stones assemblies. The difficulty in finding varieties of marbles or stones will favor manufacturing clay imitating these small pieces of stone from the twelfth century. Alongside the development of the glaze, little used in Europe, will allow the color brown and yellow. Real carpet more or less complex will be organized from a few simple geometric shapes (diamond, square, triangle, etc.).

One can admire and in the Basilica of Saint-Denis (France) soil reconstituted by Viollet-le-Duc from the remains of the twelfth century found on site.

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif between two strips, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- Frieze single or combined with other reasons for wall separation or a piece of cloth edge,
- Composition of strips or carpet tile with other patterns.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Polychrome applying a background color before the passage of the stencil to restore the principle of two-colored tile.

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

If you take very complex stencils at a very small size, you may encounter difficulties in both the use and reuse of the stencil. Instead, when your stencil is large, it is more solid and easy to paint and reuse. The only notable exception is the use of stencils on textile : even complex small stencils can be used with relative safety and therefore a number of times.

If you want to use very small stencils on hard materials (wall , wood, cardboard ... ) remember that bridges, very thin, are more fragile than they could be on the same stencils used in larger size. To avoid the distortion off bridges in anticipation of a renewed use, you must adapt the adhesion of the stencil to the material on which it will be applied . For masking glass, for example, very adherent because very smooth surface, do not hesitate to tire adhesive stencil using a repeated sticky stencil surface with a lint-free textile touch before application . And the stencil will withdraw more easily and bridges will be spared .