DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41192#0038
Lecture IIL
Some Hints
on Pattern /
Designing.
that is, every little bit of surface must have its own
indi vidual beauty of material and colour. N othing
must thrust this necessity out of view in a carpet.
Now, if in our coarse, worsted mosaic we make
awkward attempts at shading and softening tint
into tint, we shall dirty our colour and so degrade
our material; our mosaic will look coarse, as it
ought never to look; we shall expose our lack of
invention, and shall be parties to the making of
an expensive piece of goods for no good reason.
Now, the way to get the design flat, & at the same
time to make it both refined and effective in colour,
in a carpet design, is to follow the second kind of
relief I told you of, and to surround all or most
of your figure by a line of another tint, and to re/
member while you are doing it that it is done for
this end, and not to make your design look neat
andtrim. Ifthis iswell done, your pieces of colour
will look gemlike & beautiful in themselves, your
flowers will be due carpet flowers, & the effect of
the whole will be soft and pleasing. But I admit
that you will probably have to go to the school of
the Eastern designers to attain excellence in the
art, as this in its perfection is a speciality of theirs.
Now, after all, I am bound to say that when these
difficulties are conquered, I, as a Western man &
apicturedover, must still insistonplentyofmean/
ing in your patterns; I must have unmistakable
suggestions of gardens Sc fields, & strange trees,
boughs, and tendrils, or I can't do with your pat/
30
Some Hints
on Pattern /
Designing.
that is, every little bit of surface must have its own
indi vidual beauty of material and colour. N othing
must thrust this necessity out of view in a carpet.
Now, if in our coarse, worsted mosaic we make
awkward attempts at shading and softening tint
into tint, we shall dirty our colour and so degrade
our material; our mosaic will look coarse, as it
ought never to look; we shall expose our lack of
invention, and shall be parties to the making of
an expensive piece of goods for no good reason.
Now, the way to get the design flat, & at the same
time to make it both refined and effective in colour,
in a carpet design, is to follow the second kind of
relief I told you of, and to surround all or most
of your figure by a line of another tint, and to re/
member while you are doing it that it is done for
this end, and not to make your design look neat
andtrim. Ifthis iswell done, your pieces of colour
will look gemlike & beautiful in themselves, your
flowers will be due carpet flowers, & the effect of
the whole will be soft and pleasing. But I admit
that you will probably have to go to the school of
the Eastern designers to attain excellence in the
art, as this in its perfection is a speciality of theirs.
Now, after all, I am bound to say that when these
difficulties are conquered, I, as a Western man &
apicturedover, must still insistonplentyofmean/
ing in your patterns; I must have unmistakable
suggestions of gardens Sc fields, & strange trees,
boughs, and tendrils, or I can't do with your pat/
30