Fabulous animals atmosphere

In the West, no other period that the Middle Ages which covers a millennium approached and has staged as much animal. It is discovered in church decorations and even architectural manuscripts such as Villard de Honnecourt's one where the dragon is the letter S. The medieval culture is curious of the animal; two schools of thought can be distinguished:
- the first, minor and inherited from Aristote considers a true community of living things, man and animal.
- A second, dominating, for which the man in the image of God is opposed to the animal, imperfect and subject. Which is why the animal has been so often narrated, embellished, interfered at the heart of all the metaphors and in a constant behavioral comparisons with man. The animal is sometimes invented to increase the imaginary fears, or simply exaggerated because it is presented orally approximately. The medieval bestiaries, real mixture of fantasy, show examples of the most fabulous animals.
!

Whale-12-century-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.75

This whale is an interpretation of a miniature of the whaling of an English bestiary of the late twelfth century. The whale belongs to the real world but its impressive size fertilized throughout the medieval imagination. Flemish fishermen had used to go hunting in the northern seas because although the business was perilous it were successful.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the patternisdry.



Level of difficulty

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

Basilic-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.51

Basilic, known since ancient times, is said to have a snake body erect with peak head. It is particularly harmful. Indeed Isidore of Seville (sixth-seventh century) says that the man who has the misfortune of watching a basil dies immediately. In medieval bestiaries, it will appear in another form: Hybrid of the rooster for his head and part of his body and of the snake to its termination.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Sea-horse-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.7

This sea horse is taken from an English bestiary of the twelfth century. On this particular miniature are reproduced a series of sea monsters with fishtail and body of land animals. And to make this even more real fantasy, monsters swim among the fish.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Crocodile-1-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.39

The crocodile which seems to swim is extracted from a bestiary of the thirteenth century in northern France. This book presents a hundred more often eccentric or comic miniatures as this crocodile.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Crocodile-2-fabulous-animals

On the board two alligator variants. The height shown in the dropdown list corresponds to the height of two crocodiles.

for a crocodile width = height / 0.69

This crocodile is from Le Livre Fleurissant en fleurs a French book from the early sixteenth century in which most of the drawings are not colored. The author, Lambert of St. Omer, had probably never seen a crocodile and he did not hesitate to make him a human head. The crocodile has always scared, Sir John Mandeville describes this "kind of snake" killing and eating men crying.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Dragon-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.42

The dragon is a hideous monster, the largest of all snakes, which in the Christian Middle Ages is associated to the evil, (it does not hold true in Asia, where it can be beneficial). Its legs are terminated with huge claws, her look is terrifying, it spits fire ... He runs very fast, flies through the air and swim under water. A symbolic victory over the dragon is a victory over sin, evil, the devil. This dragon comes from a collection of the fifteenth French century that contains a bestiary and other texts.

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden passage of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Elephant-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.52

In the Middle Ages the elephant is not ranked among the monsters that inhabit the margins of the world. It is used as a draft animal in ancient times; his huge body allowed the Persians and Indians to cap it with the wooden towers from which they were throwing their enemies. The elephant shown here comes with the divine Bestiary of Guillaume Le Clerc de Normandie (XIII century) in which he states that man can only achieve the elephant by hitting the animal navel!

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a light orientation.

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty

Elephant-dragon-fabulous animals

width = height / 0.72

The elephant attacked by an enemy dragon is extracted from an English bestiary of the thirteenth century. The most frequent illustrations of the elephant are those of the animal constricted by the long tail of the dragon, or those of the elephant that protects the female giving birth to the baby elephant in the river.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern, - multiplied on the support in rotations or various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

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

Evangeliary-Armenian-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.92

In addition to the full-page miniatures of medieval manuscripts, margins provide a space for the illustration and therefore to the bestiary. These margins are usually decorated with inhabited foliage and comedies. This bird with heads of rinceau is extracted from a twelfth-century Armenian Evangeliary



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being masked at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Unicorn-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.37

The unicorn is mentioned as early as ancient Greek with a white horsy body, a frontal horn, goat's beard and cloven hooves. It is among the most important mythical creatures in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Only a virgin can capture the ferocious animal whose horn is the antidote any poison. In the original, a historial Bible of Guiard des Moulins (XIV century), this little unicorn is colored blue!



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- monochrome
- monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a light orientation.

 

Level of difficulty: *

The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Bird-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.56

In addition to the full-page miniatures of medieval manuscripts, margins provide a space for the illustration and bestiary. They are often decorated with inhabited foliage and comedies. These include drôleries through the animal metaphors of human behavior. It also happens that the page is dotted with small sketches of imaginary animals, usually hybrids, just sketches.

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Psalter louterell-1-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.45

Another example of marginal bestiary : two dragons confronted of the Louterell's Psalter (around 1340).



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

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

Psalter-louterell-2-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.6

Another example of marginal bestiary: the unlikely animal with bovine head, cloven hoofed paws and bird body of the Louterell's Psalter (circa 1340).



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden at the application of colors; the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Psalter-louterell-3-fabulous-animals

width = height / 0.29

Another example of marginal bestiary: the dragon with multiple heads of the Louterell's Psalter (around 1340).

 

Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.

 

Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden at the application of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .

 

Level of difficulty

* The stencil is simple. No particular difficulty.

Villard-Honnecourt-fabulous-animals

width = height / 1.68

When the dragon becomes the letter S. This dragon is from the manuscript of Villard de Honnecourt. Villard is an architect of the thirteenth century that left a sketchbook of medieval places. And even if it is architecture, the animals contained therein are in the form of sketches. The naturalist theme is indeed characteristic of the century of Villard so the plant or animal subjects are ubiquitous in the manuscripts.



Suggested use

- Isolated central motif, corner pattern,
- Multiplied on the support in rotation or of various sizes,
- At the start or termination frieze,
- Inset on top of door, a book cover, a table center.



Chromatic suggestions

The pattern is suitable for:
- Monochrome,
- Monochrome accented by a work light and shadow by choosing a bright orientation,
- Polychrome, each element being hidden at the application of colors;

the work of light and shadow is possible once the pattern is dry .



Level of difficulty

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

the trick of the professional

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 .