Seven-year-old Katie Wallach of Hinsdale thoughtfully dabbed at a stencil with a paint-soaked sponge, and a blue rabbit magically appeared on the corner of a muslin square.
Folding the square`s corners inward with the help of Hinsdale Historical Society volunteer Jean Bonkoske, she held up the finished bread cover for compliments, just as a child might have during the Victorian era, when stenciling was popular.
”I`ve been here before,” Katie confided.
The society holds monthly Victorian-style arts and crafts programs for children (February features Valentines and March brings in kites) and last Saturday morning`s well-attended session presented several uses of stenciling. Nick Chibucos, 8, of Oak Brook used the century-old technique to create a modern Rebus-style book, as Elaine Hummer, another volunteer, looked on. How modern?
”My story is called `The Race,` ” Nick explained, showing how he had stenciled a sports car on paper.
Mary Sterling, who directs the children`s programs, used a rather modern product to make many of the stencils: plastic packaging found in bacon containers.
She showed the group of 25 youngsters how a wallpaper design had been copied with a stencil on the building`s living room ceiling, and the children examined some antique wooden blocks like the ones they had stenciled.
”It`s a way to learn something and have fun at the same time,” Sterling said about the society`s popular programs.
With learning as one of the goals, Bonkoske and Hummer could feel right at home: Both are also teachers at Hinsdale`s Madison Elementary School.
