Stencil

Bob Tucker cutting a stencil for Le Zombie in his fan den in the mid-1950s. Photo by Bob Madle.

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

(1) n. the wax-impregnated fibre sheets used as stencils in mimeography; (2) v.t. to cut the prepositioned matter into stencil, the last step before publication. The stencil is typed with typeribbon disengaged, cut with a stylus (smoothpointed piece of metal in a handle) and a rough celluloid sheet under the stencil, or with a shading screen. An ineffable blessing is obliterine. The number of copies from mimeoing is limited only by the durability of the stencils (somewhere in the thousands), and stencils can be saved and filed after use by blotting between newspapers for later re-running if necessary.

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Cutting stencils for mimeoing, either by stylus or typewriter.

Wax stencils are packed in sets of 24, called a quire.

See also: e-stencil, Composing on Master.

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Publishing