WEFT-COLOURED FIGURED FABRICS--CURL TEXTURES.
239. Warp and Weft Colouring compared--240. Classes of
Designs Coloured in the Weft--241. Designs in which
the Pattern is a product of the Ground Weft--242.
Extra-Weft Styles--243. Vestings--244. Vestings
with one Extra Weft--245. Two-Cover Vestings--246.
Four-Cover Styles--247. Honeycomb Vestings--248.
Two-Cover Colouring--249. Four-Cover Designing--250.
Paisley Shawl Colouring--251. Compound-Weft
Reversibles--252. Warp and Weft Coloured
Figuring--253. Curls, Textiles of the Astrakhan
Group--254. Four Types of Curled Effects--255. Curls
obtained by Wires--256. Process of Weaving Curls
produced by Wires--257. Curls formed by the Weft in
which the Warp is Cotton--258. The Weave of Weft
Curls--259. Structure of Weft-Curl Fabrics--260.
Operation of Cutting after Weaving--261. Curls
developed by Milling--262. Points of dissimilarity
in the various Builds of Curled Textures--263. Two
kinds of Curls developed by Milling--264. Spiral
Threads used for Warp--265. Variety of Pattern in
Spiral-Warp Curls due to Colour--266. Twist-Yarn
Cotton Warp Curls--267. Backed Weaves for Curled
Cloths--268. Essential Characteristics of Cotton
Warp Curls due to Milling--269. Examples in Designs
for Cotton Warp Curls 335-367
INDEX 368
LIST OF COLOURED PLATES.
PLATE TO FACE PAGE
I. A = Spectrum 10
B = Spectrum resultant from viewing a strip of black on
a white surface through a prism.
II. Spectral colouring of fabrics 16
1. Woven-design specimen.
2. Printed-yarn „
III. Primary, secondary, and tertiary colours 22
IV. Tones and tints of the “primaries” 28
V. Plaid in which yellow is the bright overchecking colour 34
VI. Tones and tints of the “secondaries” 40
VII. 1. Blue texture 44
2. Fancy-twist yarn specimen.
VIII. Examples in colour contrasts 50
1, 2. Stripes.
3. Figuring in bright colours.
IX. Mono-chromatic contrasts 54
1. Contrasts in tone.
2. „ „ tints.
X. Specimen of bright colouring in plaids 58
XI. Red, green, and blue colouring 64
1. Figured pattern.
2. Check „
XII. Chart of colour standardization scheme 68
XIII. Blends of coloured wools 76
XIV. Specimens of marl yarns 90
Series I. Greys.
II. Colour.
XV. Regular stripes 104
1 and 2. Two-colour patterns.
3. Four-colour pattern.
XVI. Forms of irregular stripes 112
1. Tennis stripe.
2. Shaded „
3. Compound of ordinary and shaded stripes.
XVII. Fancy tweeds 120
XVIII. Compound stripings in bright colours 126
XIX. Check styles 134
1. Pattern in maroon and green.
2. Compound check.
3. Small interchanging check in fancy yarns.
XX. Check styles 144
1 and 3. Intermingled effects.
2. Broken check.
XXI. Figuring in simple twills 166
XXII. Styles due to simple orders of colouring 190
XXIII. Check and stripe patterns 228
1 and 2. Checks.
3. Gauze stripe.
4. Cord or rib stripes.
XXIV. Colouring of drafted styles 252
1. Weave compound--prunelle and [2\2] twills.
2. „ „ [1\3], [3\1], and [2\2] twills.
3. „ „ „ „ „ twist-warp
yarns.
XXV. Fancy yarns 262
1. Ordinary folded or two-ply and three-ply yarns.
2. Flake and cloud twists.
3. Curl twists.
4. Gimp „
XXVI. Fancy yarn colourings 272
1. Donegal tweed.
2. Compound-weave worsted.
XXVII. Colouring with curl and knop yarns 280
1. Twill weave.
2. Small figure.
XXVIII. Costume colouring in fancy yarns 288
XXIX. Reversible knop-twist yarn pattern 296
XXX. Double-plain styles 304
1, 2, 3. Stripe patterns.
4. Figured shawl.
XXXI. Various double-plain designs 308
1. Warped and wefted one-and-one.
2, 3 and 4. System of warp colouring coinciding with
the weave construction.
5. Irregular warp and weft colouring.
XXXII. Reversible double-weave fabrics 314
1. Double plain--velvet finish.
2. Double twill.
XXXIII. 320
1. Vesting.
2. Reversible golf cloaking.
XXXIV. Extra-warp colouring 324
1. Stripe style.
2. Quilting texture.
XXXV. Colouring of figured fabrics in the warp 330
1. Old vesting design (quilting).
2. Cut and uncut pile pattern.
XXXVI. Figured-pile specimen, sateen ground 334
XXXVII. Figured and spotted fabrics (extra-weft colouring) 340
1. Chintzed.
2 and 4. Extra-weft spotting.
3. Extra weft.
XXXVIII. 1. Honeycomb 348
2. Pine figuring.
XXXIX. Figured styles developed in warp and weft colourings 360
LIST OF FIGURES.
FIG. PAGE.
1. Weave design, effect of 2
1A. „ 2
2. Prismatic experiment 8
3. Design for prismatic experiment 10
4. Lambert’s experiment 14
5. _A_, _B_, _C_. One-and-one colouring effects in the
plain weave 98
5. _D_, _E_, _F_. One-and-one colouring effects in the
[2\2] twill 98
6. Hairline pattern in [3/1] twill 105
7. Hairline pattern in [3/1] twill, fine and broad effects 105
8. Hairline pattern in mat weaves 106
9. Hairline and broken effect in [3/1] and [2\2] twills 106
10. Vertical and transverse lines or stripes 107
11. _A_, _B_, _C_, _D_, _E_, and _F_. Stripe patterns in two
shades 108
12. _A_, _B_, _C_, _D_, _E_, and _F_. Stripe patterns in three
shades 109
13. Line patterns in warp face weaves 110
13A. Ten-shaft whip cord 111
14. Compound stripe of two sets of lines 111
14A. Compound stripe of several sets of lines of different width
in three shades 112
PRINCIPLES OF CHECKING.
15. Common check 123
16. Common check modified 123
17. Check composed of two sizes of squares 124
18. Check composed of two sizes of squares modified 124
19. Overcheck 125
20. Overcheck modified 125
21. Counter-change check 126
22. [4\4] and [8\8] check 126
23. Graduated check 127
24. Common three-colour check 130
25. “Set” check 132
26. “Set” check modified 132
27. Compound checking in three colours 133
28. Compound checking in three colours modified 133
29. Counter-change check in three colours 134
30. Three-colour interchanging check 134
31. Three-colour interchanging check modified 136
32. Shaded check 137
33. Weave shaded check 140
34. Weave shaded check reverse section 141
35. Shaded figured style 142
35A. Shaded figured style section of weave design for 143
TARTANS.
36. The Menzies 147
37. The Menzies, modification of 147
38. The Montgomery 148
39. The Montgomery, I. modification of 148
40. The Montgomery, II. modification of 149
41. The Douglas 149
42. The Douglas, I. modification of 149
43. The Douglas, II. modification of 149
44. The Douglas, II., modification of, in the [3\3] twill 150
45. The McQueen 151
46. The McQueen, I. modification of 152
47. The McQueen, II. modification of 152
48. The Hamilton 153
49. The Maxwell 153
50. The Elliot 154
51. The McKinnon 154
52. The McKinnon, I. modification of 155
53. The McKinnon, II. modification of 155
54. The Dundas 155
55. The Dundas, I. modification of 155
56. The Dundas, II. modification of 156
57. The Fraser 156
58. The Fraser, I. modification of 157
59. The Fraser, II. modification of 157
STANDARD ELEMENTARY COLOUR EFFECTS.
60. ⎫ Plain weaves 162
60A ⎭
61. ⎫ [2\2] twills 162
61A. ⎭
62. ⎫
62A. ⎬ Two-and-two colour effects in the [2\2] twill 163
62B. ⎭
63. Effect in the plain weave (bird’s-eye spot) 164
64. Spotted design composed of plain weave 165
65. Spotted design composed of plain weave, effect of colouring
one-and-one 166
66. Spotted design composed of [2\2] twill, effect of colouring
one-and-one 167
67. Spotted twill weave, effect in the fabric, one-and-one
colouring in warp and weft 168
67A. Spotted twill weave 168
68. Mat and twill weave, effect in the fabric, one-and-one
colouring in warp and weft 169
68A. Mat and twill weave 169
69. Checked weave, effect in the fabric, one-and-one colouring
in warp and weft 169
69A. Checked weave 169
70. [2\2] mat design, effect in the fabric, two-and-two-
colouring 170
70A. [2\2] mat design 170
71. ⎫
71A. ⎬ Three-and-three colour effects in the [3\3] twill 171
71B. ⎭
72. ⎫
72A. ⎬ Four-and-four colour effects in the [2\2] twill 171
72B. ⎭
73. Four-and-four colouring in [2\2] mat 172
74. Four-and-four colouring in weave 74a 172
74A. Fancy eight-shaft weave 172
75. ⎫
75A. ⎬ Six-and-six colour effects in the [3\3] twill 174
75B. ⎭
76. Eight-and-eight colouring in the [4\4] twill 174
77. Six-and-six colouring in weave 77A 175
77A. Twelve-shaft irregular warp cord 175
78. Star check (six-and-six colouring) 175
78A. Weave for Fig. 78 175
79. Three-odd thread colour effect in the [3\3] twill 176
80. Three-odd thread colour effects in a [3\3] twill check
design 177
80A. Design for Fig. 80 177
81. Three-2’s colour effect in the [3\3] twill 178
82. Three-3’s colour effect in the [3\3] twill 178
83. Hairline in four shades in the [3\1] broken twill 180
84. Four-2’s colour effect in the [2\2] twill 181
85. Four-3’s colour effect in the [3\3] twill 181
86. Four-2’s colour effect in the Mayo 182
86A. Mayo weave 182
87. Four-and-one colour effect in the [3\2] twill 184
87A. [3\2] twill 184
87B. Irregular checking in Fig. 87a 184
88. Six-and-two colour effect in a fancy mat weave 185
89. Fancy eight-shaft mat 185
89A. Weave for Fig. 89 185
90. Six-and-two colour effect in an irregular weave 186
90A. Weave for Fig. 90 186
91. Irregular colour effect in an eight-shaft twill 186
91A. Weave for Fig. 91 186
92. Two-two-and-one colour effect in the [3\2] twill 186
93. Three-two-and-one colour effect in the [3\3] twill 187
94. Six-four-and-two colour effect in the [3\3] twill 187
95. Six-four-and-two colour effect in the [2\2] mat 187
96. Twelve-shaft fancy twill 187
97. Irregular colour effect in four shades in Fig. 96 188
98. Irregular colour effect in four shades in ordinary twill 188
99. Irregular colour effect in four shades in the Mayo 189
100. Shaded check in four shades 189
100A. Weave for Fig. 100 189
101. A series of elementary colour patterns in [2\2] twill and
mat 190
EXAMPLES IN COMPOUND COLOURINGS.
102. Regular compound check, 2-and-2 and 1-and-1 colouring, [2\2]
twill 193
103. Regular compound check, 4-and-4, 2-and-2, and 1-and-1
colouring, [2\2] twill 195
104. Regular compound stripe, 4-and-4 and 8-and-8 colouring,
light weft, [2\2] twill 203
105. Regular compound stripe, 4-and-4 and 8-and-8 colouring,
dark weft, [2\2] twill 203
106. Regular compound check, 4-and-4 and 8-and-8 colouring, [2\2]
twill 204
107. Regular compound stripe, 1-1-and-1 and 2-2-and-2 colouring,
light weft, [2\2] twill 204
108. Regular compound check, 1-1-and-1 and 2-2-and-2 colouring,
[2\2] twill 204
109. Regular compound stripe, 3-3-and-3 and 6-6-and-6 colouring,
dark weft, [2\2] twill 207
110. Regular compound stripe, 3-3-and-3 and 6-6-and-6 colouring,
light weft, [2\2] twill 207
111. Regular compound check, 3-3-and-3 and 6-6-and-6, [2\2] twill 208
112. Regular compound stripe, 3-3-3-and-3 and 6-6-6-and-6
colouring, dark weft, [2\2] twill 209
113. Regular compound stripe, 3-3-3-and-3 and 6-6-6-and-6
colouring, light weft, [2\2] twill 209
114. Regular compound check, 3-3-3-and-3 and 6-6-6-and-6, [2\2]
twill 210
115. Regular compound stripe, 1-1-and-1, 2-2-and-2, and 4-4-and
4 colouring, light weft, [2\2] twill 211
116. Regular compound stripe, 1-1-and-1, 2-2-and-2, and 4-4-and-4
colouring, dark weft, [2\2] twill 211
117. Regular compound check, 1-1-and-1, 2-2-and-2, and 4-4-and-4,
[2\2] twill 211
117A. Regular compound check, 1-1-and-1, 2-2-and-2, and 4-4-and-4,
[2\2] mat 213
118. Irregular compound stripe, 2-and-1 and 4-and-2, dark weft,
[2\2] twill 215
119. Irregular compound check, 2-and-1 and 4-and-2 colouring,
[2\2] twill 215
120. Irregular compound stripe, 6-4-and-2 and 3-and-3, dark weft,
[3\3] twill 216
121. Irregular compound check, 6-4-and-2 and 3-and-3, [3\3] twill 216
122. Irregular compound check, 3-and-3 and 4-and-2 colouring,
[3\3] twill 217
123. Irregular compound check, 3-and-3 and 2-1-1-and-2 colouring,
[3\3] twill 217
124. Irregular compound check, 3-and-3 and 2-1-1-and-2 colouring,
differently grouped, [3\3] twill 218
ILLUSTRATIVE OF COLOURING SPECIFIC WEAVES AND DESIGNS.
125. Corkscrew weave, colour effect in 222
126. Corkscrew weave, colour effect in broad stripe 224
127. Corkscrew weave, colour effect in angled stripe 224
128. Modified corkscrew weave 225
129. Pattern obtained in Fig. 128 225
130. (Upper section) Check produced in fancy weave 226
130. (Lower section) Pattern due to Fig. 132 226
131. Weave for Fig. 130 (upper section) 226
132. Warp and weft cord and prunelle twill design 228
133. Diagonal pattern in single- and double-plain weaves 230
134. Section of design for Fig. 133 231
135. Striped spotted design 233
136. Wave or zig-zag effect 233
137. Section of gauze and plain-woven pattern 234
138. Gauze structure (photo-micrograph) 235
139. Plan for gauze twill and plain stripe 235
140. Healding draft for Figs. 139 and 140 235
141. Similar to Fig. 139 235
142. Fancy gauze and ordinary weave compound 236
143. Mock gauze stripe design 239
144. Mock gauze check 240
144A. Structure of mock gauze (photo-micrograph) 240
144B. Weave for Fig. 144A 241
145. Cord stripe. Weaves, weft cord, and whip cord twills 241
146. Cord stripe. Weaves, weft cords and buckskin twill 242
COLOUR EFFECTS IN COMPOUND WEAVE DESIGNS.
147. Figured pattern in [2\2] twill and double-plain weaves 247
148. Section of design for Fig. 147 248
149. Woven effect of Figs. 150 and 151 250
150. Compound design [1\2], [2\1] and [2\2] twills 250
151. Healding draft for Fig. 153 251
152. Woven effect of Figs. 153 and 154 250
153. Compound design, small twill weaves reversed 251
154. Healding draft for Fig. 153 252
155. Compound check design, [2\2] twill weave reversed 252
156. Healding draft for Fig. 155 253
157. Six-and-three colour effect in Fig. 158 255
158. Stripe design composed of [3\3] mat and a broken mat 255
159. Healding draft for Fig. 160 257
160. Compound style in [2\2], [3\1], and [1\3] twills 258
161. Stripe design consisting of a seven-shaft diagonal reversed 259
162. Stripe design consisting of warp and weft cord effects on a
plain weave ground 260
163. Stripe design consisting of thirteen-shaft weaves 260
164. Stripe design consisting of fancy weaves 262
165. Stripe design consisting of sixteen-shaft twilled mat and
other weaves 263
166. Compound of warp and weft corkscrews and whip cord weaves 263
167. Wave pattern, sateen ground 265
167A. Design for Fig. 167 265
COLOURING OF SPOTTED DESIGNS.
168. Angled [2\2] twill spotted pattern 268
169. Effect of Fig. 168 269
170. Spotted warp twill 269
171. Spotted warp twill 270
172. Spotted effect in [3\1] broken twill ground 271
173. Spotted effect in [2\2], [3\1], and [1\3] twills 271
174. Spotted effect in [3\1] and [1\3] broken twills 271
175. Stripe spotted design 272
176. Method of grouping “spots” 272
177. Irregular distribution of “spots” 273
177A. Pattern for Fig. 177 274
178. Warp and weft spotting on a plain ground (small effects) 274
179. Warp and weft spotting on a plain ground (broad effects) 275
180. Warp and weft spotting on a twill ground 276
181. Warp and weft spotting to form checks 278
182. Pattern for Fig. 181 278
183. Single-thread warp spotting 280
184. Single-pick weft spotting (corkscrew twill) 281
185. Single-pick weft spotting (mat ground) 283
186. Modification of Fig. 184 283
187. Warp-backed design, single-pick spotted 283
188. Diagonal single-pick spotted 284
189. Single-thread and single-pick spotting 285
COMPOUND WEAVE COLOURING.
190. Double-plain stripe, thread-and-thread colouring 299
191. Double-plain stripe, thread-and-thread colouring 299
192. Double-plain stripe, weaves cutting 299
193. Double-plain stripe, warp colouring fitting with weave
structure 301
194. Double-plain stripe in three colours 301
195. Double-plain stripe in three colours 302
196. Compound design, double-plain and warp-twill weave 302
197. Double-plain check 304
198. Figured reversible design 306
199. Figured reversible design 308
200. Figured reversible design double-plain and [2\2] twill
weaves 309
201. Double-weave reversible 2-and-1 principle 310
202. Double-twill figuring 312
203. Double-weave vesting 313
204. Double-twill, warp stitched for golf cloaking 316
205. Check golf cloaking pattern 317
205A. Weave for Fig. 205, centre-warp stitched 316
PRINCIPLES OF COLOURING IN THE WARP.
206. Warp-figured design 322
207. Extra-warp figuring 323
207A. Section for Fig. 207 323
208. Warp-pile structure 329
209. Weave structure for three-colour warp pile 331
210. Section of three-colour pile fabric 334
PRINCIPLES OF COLOURING IN THE WEFT-CURL FABRICS.
211. Ordinary principle of weft figuring 338
212. Extra-weft colouring 338
213. Section design for Fig. 212 339
214. Rib or cord stripe, extra weft coloured 342
215. Spotted vesting, extra weft colouring 342
216. Diagonal design, extra weft colouring 343
217. Section of four-cover vesting design 344
218. Honeycomb weave 345
219. Honeycomb fabric 346
220. Honeycomb striped design 346
221. Figured pattern, sateen ground 347
222. Section of pine figuring, four extra wefts 348
223. Pine figuring, Border style 350
224. Section of Paisley shawl design 351
225. Section of two-ply weft reversible fabric 352
226. Weave for Fig. 227 352
227. Design for a reversible fabric 352
228. Three-shade weft coloured reversible 353
229. Three-ply weft weave, four-shaft 354
230. Three-ply weft weave, six-shaft 354
231. Weft figuring on a warp cord ground 355
232. Figuring in solid weft floats and bold warp cord on a rep
ground 356
233. Section of pile fabrics 357
234. Section of pile fabrics, (cut) 359
235. Section of pile fabrics, long curl effect (cut) 359
236. Section of pile fabrics, long curl effect (uncut) 360
237. Feather trimming textures 361
238. Weft curl weave 364
239. Striped curl pattern 365
240. Weave design for Fig. 239 365
241. Irregular “curl” 366
242. Weave design for Fig. 241 366
243. “Curl” in two colours of weft 367
244. Design for two-colour weft “curl” 367
TABLES.
PAGE
I. Methods of applying Colour to Textiles 7
II. Wave Frequency of the Spectral Colours 9
III. Compounds of Coloured Lights 14
IV. Colours resulting from combining Pigments 15
V. Compounds of Shades or Tones of Colour 30
VI. Compounds of Tints of Colour 31
VII. Types of Woven Colouring 93
VIII. Illustrating the Effects on the Plain and [2\2] Twill
Weaves of changing the Order of Warping and Wefting 99
IX. Regular Simple Colourings 161
X. Irregular Simple Colourings 182
XI. Compound Colourings 199
COLOUR IN WOVEN DESIGN.
CHAPTER I.
THEORIES OF COLOUR.
1. Elements of Woven Pattern--2. Occurrence and Utility
of Colour in Loom Productions--3. Treatment of Colour
in Relation to Textiles--4. Methods of Using Colours
in Textiles--5. Colour Phenomena--6. Analysis of
Light--7. Utility of Prismatic Experiments--8. Schemes of
Colouring--9. Primary Colours--10. Compound Colours--11.
The Three Constants of Colour--12. Temperature of Colours.
1. _Elements of Woven Pattern._--Weave, compounds of form, and blending
of colour are the three primary elements of textile design. They
enter, either separately or in combination, into the many styles of
loom effects. Weave relates specifically to the build or structure
of the fabric, and is a necessary factor in any type of texture,
whether plain, twilled, or ornamental in character. It is the scheme
or plan of crossing the warp and weft yarns that forms or produces
the fabric. Weave may give a compact texture subordinate in effect to
other elements in the design; or, it may be the constructive and not
the ornamental part of the pattern; yet in several woven specimens it
possesses both these qualities. Fabrics of this description are not
embellished with compounds of form or colour, and hence derive their
design from the structural plan employed in the operation of weaving.
Schemes of intertexture giving these results are devised in such a
manner as to form, by interlacing warp and weft, an even fabric,
decorated with a type of pattern consisting of minute effects in
threads or yarns, and which may be subdued or decided in definition.
Fig. 1 is an elementary type of Weave design or Pattern. The weave used
is Fig. 1A. The sections are produced thus:--
_A._ White warp crossed with white weft.
_B._ Grey „ „ „ „
_C._ White „ „ black „
_D._ Grey „ „ „ „
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 1A.]
Four degrees of definition of the design are present. The textural
effect is clearly visible in section _A_, but increasingly distinct
in sections _B_, _C_, and _D_, due to the improved or more pronounced
contrasts of the shades of warp and weft combined.
Briefly considered, Weave has the following functions in textile
design:--
(1) In the construction or build of the fabric.
(2) In the development of textural design (Fig. 1).
(3) In the production of special and compound makes of fabrics.
(4) It is employed to accentuate or subdue in simple and
decorative styles certain parts of the design--producing
harmony of composition, whether due to blends of form,
colour, or both.
Combinations of form have no relation whatever to the structural
arrangement of the fabric. The sphere of form in woven design is not
constructive or utilitarian, but in the amplest sense ornamental. It is
surface decoration obtained by amalgamating, on definite principles,
linear and curvilinear lines: ornament, consisting of geometrical or
floral features, is applied to such loom products as dress, mantle,
and vesting fabrics; silk textures, including neckties, handkerchiefs,
robes, and decorative styles; damasks, quiltings, tapestries, etc.;
carpets, hand-woven or tufted (produced on the vertical loom and now
made in Donegal and some parts of Scotland as well as in the East);
velvet, or cut pile (Axminster type); looped or uncut pile (Brussels
type); and Kidderminster and other plain-surface productions.
Colour, the third characteristic in design, is differently related to
textile effects from Weave and Form. The special function of colour is
to impart brightness of tone and improve the qualities of the design.
There are many varieties of pattern in fabrics for wear, which possess
freshness owing to the style and method of colouring practised. In
the woven decorative arts, colour may be the main constituent of the
design, or employed to develop its integral parts.
2. _Occurrence and Utility of Colour in Loom Productions._--Colour is
extensively used in woven design. It obtains, and is the prevailing
element of the pattern, in all classes of fancy woollens, such
as tweeds, flannels, and light textures, and thick figured rugs,
wraps, and shawls. Whether the pattern be stripe, check, figure,
or intermingled effect, it obtains its outline and detail from the
method of colouring adopted. But colour is not confined to woollens;
it is also an important factor in design produced in worsted, silk,
cotton, jute, ramie, and other yarns. There is, in worsteds, a larger
diversity of weave design than in woollen or carded-yarn textures;
but, still, colour is very extensively employed to develop the effects
due to weave and form, and also to impart a cheerful and lustrous
appearance to the cloths. Patterns in dress fabrics, shirtings and
blouses, made entirely of cotton, are frequently combinations of fancy
shades; while, if the fabrics composed of silk and jute materials are
considered, including--in silk--ties, handkerchiefs, and various
kinds of matelasses; and--in jute--simple carpets, mats, and coarse
rugs, it will be discovered that the colour element of the design
largely predominates. This brief summary of the textures, in which
fancy shades are used, shows that colouring, and the combinations of
colours, in all branches of woven products embellished with design,
are the elements which give tone and character to the styles. Though
the fabrics produced may be soft to the touch, substantially made,
uniform in structure, and skilfully finished, yet a lack of brightness
and harmony of colouring so powerfully detracts from the merit of the
pattern, that these qualities, in themselves, are not sufficient to
give the fabric an attractive appearance--particulars which demonstrate
the importance of choice and tasteful colouring in designs produced in
the loom. Evidently colour is of twofold utility in the development
of woven effects; for it may, firstly, be the sole constituent of the
pattern; and, secondly, a supplementary element which affords precision
and beauty to the composition of the design.
3. _Treatment of Colour in Relation to Textiles._--Though, to a
considerable extent, the principles of colouring are similar in all
types of decorative design--harmonious blending and contrasting
combinations possessing like qualities in whatever materials they
obtain--still there are several reasons why some of the recognized
canons of the science of colour are inappropriate, if not inapplicable,
when textiles are the media of development. Foremost of these reasons
are the technical difficulties which arise in the employment of colour
in woven pattern. There is not the same facility nor means for its
application here, as in the treatment of ordinary surface decoration.
The make of the fabric, and the principles of its structure, determine
the system of distribution; while the general aspect of the entire
body of colouring varies according to the nature of the materials
employed. If the same colourings which appear harmonious, neatly toned,
and cheerful in arrangement in a velvet pile carpet, were reproduced
in a silk texture, many points of dissimilarity would be noticed in
the general effect obtained, though the tint and hue of the shades
combined, might be identically the same in the respective fabrics. Why
is this? Are not the apparent modifications in the colourings--for
such they appear when thus compared--due, first, to the difference
in the nature of the materials composing the textures; second, to
the dissimilitude of their structural character; and, third, to the
distinct principles of weaving practised in their production? The pile
of the carpet--dense and compact--gives breadth, force, and richness to
the colours; whereas the fine and clear texture of the silk imparts a
more precise effect to the shades, causing the whole blend to possess
an aspect which, while harmonious, lacks that mellow quality of bloom
so characteristic of the pile production. It is clear, therefore,
that colour in textiles requires to be studied as a special art. Its
functions and effects in woven fabrics are so various and distinct
from what they are in ordinary decorative work, that it can only be
effectively treated when the nature of textile materials, and the
diverse structures of the fabrics, are considered. In a word, there
are not only recognized principles of woven design which have no place
in purely ornamental art, but also schemes and laws of colouring which
simply apply to the development of pattern in textile fabrics. Any
exposition, therefore, of the theory and practice of colouring, to be
useful to the textile technologist, must be given in relation to the
varied technicalities of the weaver’s craft.
4. _Methods of Using Colours in Textiles._--Colour is not always
applied to woven textures on the same system. The method of utilization
depends upon the composition of the design to be woven, and on the
structure of the cloth it is intended to produce. There are fabrics
in which the colour element is so decided that the effect obtained is
somewhat similar to the results noticed in ordinary surface decoration.
Take, for example, silk textures of a ribbon class, in which, by
skilful workmanship and exact sketching, any floral form may be
developed with a delicacy of toning and correctness of delineation that
cannot be improved upon, even though the crayon or the brush should
be employed. But this is not a common, because not a useful, species
of designing and colouring. Carpets and tapestry fabrics illustrate
other principles of employing fancy shades. The structure of some types
of carpets very materially affects the character of the colourings.
In Brussels and tapestry, for instance, the loop or pile of the
carpet which forms its distinguishing feature, prevents that solidity
and compactness of colouring noticeable in the silk ribbon or dress
material. If the same design and blend of shades introduced into a
Kidderminster or Scotch carpet were subsequently applied to a Brussels
production, they would be entirely changed in appearance; for there
is no common principle of intertexture in the respective carpets. In
cotton, silk, woollen, and worsted textures, colour is found to have a
different tone or cast in each fabric. Fancy colours in cottons, while
decidedly smart and clear in effect, are comparatively non-lustrous,
raw, and dull in toning.[1] Silk is distinguishable by brilliance of
hue; woollen colourings have a unique depth and saturation of hue
characteristic of the material employed in their manufacture; while
worsted colourings are bright, definite, and smart in appearance.
These differences are due to the physical formation and properties
of the several fibres and yarns. Thus, a filament of silk is almost
transparent, and shines like a smooth glass rod when light falls upon
it; that of wool is solid and opaque in the centre, but its exterior
consists of a multitude of semi-transparent scales, which, when of
large dimensions and uniformly arranged--as in the best qualities
of Lincoln and Leicester wools--reflect light with a minimum amount
of dispersion, and impart to the woven material a lustrous aspect.
Cotton has no such partially transparent surface. Its downy structure
absorbs light freely, while what is reflected is so broken up, that
the colour resultant is impoverished in saturation and brightness. To
clearly apprehend the degree to which the nature of the raw material
is capable of changing the tone or character of colours, compare three
plain woven textures of the same colour made of silk, wool, and cotton
respectively. Lustre, brilliance, and richness are the features of the
silk colouring. Though thus bright, it lacks that fulness and depth of
hue which appertains to the wool production, the filaments of which
closely compounded, and all tinted alike, possess a peculiar bloom and
saturation of colouring not to be found either in the silk or cotton.
The cotton texture is somewhat dull and flat in quality of hue,
lacking the brightness of silk. Such is the importance of the relation
of the material to the species of coloured effect produced in textiles,
that it will require subsequent analysis.
The various methods of employing fancy shades in patterns obtained in
the loom may be briefly summarized as follows:--
TABLE I.
METHODS OF APPLYING COLOUR TO TEXTILES.
I. In mixture cloths, for suitings, coatings, and costumes.
_a._ By combining or blending various colours of materials.
_b._ By combining several classes of twist threads.
II. In plain, twilled, mat, and fancy weave designs, for trouserings,
coatings, suitings, dresses, costumes, flannels, shirtings, and fine
textures.
_a._ By applying colour to the warp, forming stripes.
_b._ By applying colour to the weft, producing spotted patterns.
_c._ By applying colour to both warp and weft, giving
checks and other styles.
III. In figured designs for dresses, mantlings, vestings, shawls, rugs,
mauds, carpets, and tapestries.
_a._ By using one or several series of extra warp yarns.
_b._ By using one or several series of extra weft yarns.
_c._ By using one or several series of extra yarns in both
warp and weft.
Each of these systems is capable of further subdivision; but, as here
given, they represent the principles of colouring the general classes
of woven designs.
5. _Colour Phenomena._--Under ordinary conditions, light is essential
to colour apprehension. Diversity of hue may be made evident to the
mind by mechanical agitation of the optic nerves in a darkened room. Of
course, such an experiment is only useful as showing the media by which
colour sensations are rendered visible, or rather conveyed to the mind.
The colour of an object is determined by three things: the nature of
light, the physical properties of the material on which light falls,
and the power of the observer’s eye. These are obvious conditions.
Change the light from brilliant daylight to gaslight, and a richly
coloured fabric undergoes several modifications--the hues suffer in
brightness and lose a measure of their co-relative value. Or, by using
a mono-chromatic light (that from burning sodium is a compound of two
yellow lights of similar quality in the spectrum[2]), coloured objects
may be changed to a similar hue. That colour is affected by the nature
of the material has been stated in reference to fibres of wool, cotton,
and silk.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Incapacity to correctly distinguish the hues, tones, and tints of
colour is caused by some affection of the retina. Training and practice
in the matching and blending of colours may enhance the acuteness
of colour vision. The Gobelin tapestry-weaver will select, without
hesitancy, from a bundle of bobbins of tints of material of the same
hue or colour, the one he requires. Similarly, the carpet-weavers of
Donegal--after a period of training--will unerringly manipulate a
varied assortment of delicate colours.
“Light is due to waves--or other periodic disturbances, whose
recurrence resembles that of waves--in the ether of space; and just as
air-waves of a certain definite frequency of recurrence will induce in
the ear the sensation of a sound of a particular pitch, so will the
impact of ‘ether-waves’ of a certain particular frequency induce in the
eye a sensation of light of a particular colour.”[3]
The extreme visible red in the spectrum is produced by 392 billions,
and the extreme visible violet by 757 billions of waves per second. The
table gives the wave frequency of the spectral colours:--
TABLE II.
WAVE FREQUENCY OF THE SPECTRAL COLOURS.
Red 492·4 billions per second.
Orange red 484·1 „ „
Orange 503·3 „ „
Orange yellow 511·2 „ „
Yellow 517·5 „ „
Green 570 „ „
Blue 591·4 „ „
Cyan blue 606 „ „
Blue 635·2 „ „
Violet blue 685·8 „ „
Puce violet 740·5 „ „
As the frequency of the vibrations increases, or as they are diminished
in length, the visible colours of the spectrum are produced. Just as
the pitch of a musical instrument depends upon the celerity of the wave
it produces, so the colour of an object is subjective to the length
of the undulations transmitted. This analogy between the phenomena of
sound and light has led some colourists to attempt a scheme of colours
based upon similar laws to musical harmony.[4]
6. _Analysis of Light._--When a pencil of sunlight passes through a
prism horizontally fixed, as in Fig. 2, it is decomposed, and produces
on the screen the colour spectrum _A_, Plate I. In the intervals between
each hue there is a gradation to which the colours are severally
susceptive. Red passes, through a diversity of tinting, into orange,
which graduates into yellow; and green, green blue, blue, indigo, and
violet occur in succession, all softly toning into each other. The
purity and intensity of each colour will be observed.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
A second and useful experiment may be made as follows:--Place a piece
of black cardboard, about an inch wide and a few inches in length,
on a white ground, and view it through the edge of a prism. If this
experiment be correctly made, a result will be obtained corresponding
to _B_, Plate I. The edge nearest the observer produces the violet,
blue, and green side of the spectrum, while the opposite edge gives
red, orange, yellow, and pale yellow--these two series of spectrum
colours of distinct qualities being divided by a narrow band of black.
Coldness is the distinguishing characteristic of the violet side, and
warmness that of the red side; in the upper portion of the spectrum
are found the intense, ostentatious hues, while in the lower portion
are the colours of a subdued, soft quality. Yellow and green are
beautifully toned. The former passes from a yellowish orange into a
pure, bright tint, which is softly shaded off into white. Green, on the
front edge of the black line, is similarly graduated in hue, but as the
band of this colour is not so broad as the yellow strip, its shadings
are not so extensive; still, it imperceptibly changes from deep into
pale green, and diminishes in intensity until it disappears in white
light. One feature of this experiment will at once be observed,
namely, the brilliance and richness of coloured lights, when compared
with corresponding colours obtained by pigments or dye substances.
Bloom, depth, and purity of hue characterize the former; but however
the latter are produced, they seem, in comparison, to be lacking in
fulness, intensity, and brightness.[5]
[Illustration:
Plate I
A = SPECTRUM
B = SPECTRUM RESULTANT FROM VIEWING A STRIP OF BLACK
ON A WHITE SURFACE THROUGH A PRISM]
7. _Utility of Prismatic Experiments._--Experiments with the prism
afford suggestive exercises in colour blending. Seeing that the
results of these experiments are richer by far than those obtained
by pigments, and always harmonious in tone, they are calculated to
enhance appreciation for pure and lustrous colouring. For the purpose
of successful manipulation of prismatic experiments, and of viewing in
a suitable manner the effects that may, by this means, be produced,
a piece of black velvet or cloth should be employed, and patterns
cut out of white cardboard placed on it, and then the design thus
arranged examined through the prism. The more ingenuity exercised in
pattern origination, the more pleasing the combinations resultant.
Fig. 3 illustrates the class of designs adapted for this work. Form
and arrangement should be of the most elementary kind, and the
whole pattern clear and pronounced, in order to allow of a complete
development of the colours formed on the respective edges of the
various figures. Intermingled, diminutive patterns give confused and
indistinct effects. On the other hand, broad and large designs yield
lustrous colourings, which the experimenter may feasibly dissect, and
which teach principles in colour arrangement, harmony, and contrast, of
utility in pattern production.
When the pattern in Fig. 3 is viewed through the refractory angle of
a prism at a distance of about two feet, and about three times larger
than here sketched, it forms an interesting assortment of colourings
and tinted effects. Any description of this experiment, however concise
and clear, can only afford a vague idea of the real appearance of the
pattern when prismatically examined. Still, to assist the reader to
make the experiment accurately himself, a detailed analysis is given.
Treating of the different sections of the patterns, the edge of band A,
nearest the observer, should be considered first, which commences with
pure green, running through blue, purple, deep violet, and crimson. The
crimson results from the violet rays of this edge blending with the
intense red rays of the further edge of band _A_.
SMALL LINES _B_ AND _C_. The former begins with crimson, which
successively changes into scarlet, orange, and yellow, a small strip of
white separating these colours from those of band _C_, which consists
of various tints of green and orange.
DIAMOND FIGURES OF BAND _A_. The front edges of these are tinted with
scarlet, orange, and yellow, and the opposite edges with various shades
of green.
CIRCLES OF BAND _D_. First, as to the edges nearest the observer.
These are coloured with emerald-green and grass-green. It will be
noticed that the green in this section of the pattern is distinct from
that produced by the front edge of band _A_, being, as stated, more
grass- than sea-green. Its peculiar tint results from the orange rays
of the upper edge of band _C_ intermingling with the green rays of
the circles. As the centres of the circles are approached, green is
succeeded by blue, purple, and black. Second, as to the distant edges
of the circles. At these points red, crimson, scarlet, and orange--the
latter colour graduating imperceptibly into yellow--all occur. It is
notable that the yellow hue is somewhat dingy, being adulterated with
other colours. Compare it, for example, with the yellow resulting from
the extreme edge of this diagram. Its dulness and impurity are due to
certain colours intermingling with it. Thus, the space between the
extreme edge of the circles and band _E_ is so limited, that the yellow
rays of the circular objects combine with the green rays of the latter,
and, as a consequence, the yellow suffers in purity and luminosity.
BANDS _E_, _F_,AND THE FRONT EDGE OF _G_. These, very closely
resembling strips _B_, _C_, and _A_, require no description.
EXTREME EDGE OF BAND _C_. Here the red side of the spectrum is seen
in its intensity and lustre; it begins with deep red, which gradually
verges into orange, and the latter into yellow.
This simple experiment demonstrates the value of prismatic results.
All colourists should study shade combinations through these media.
Analysis of the colourings obtained in this manner increases the
acuteness of the faculty of discrimination of the brilliance and
depth of hue of individual colours. Though, in practice, the textile
designer has to deal exclusively with pigments and dye substances,
yet the intensity and beauty of the combinations resulting from the
decomposition of light are so novel and suggestive, that all desirous
of cultivating aptitude for harmonious colourings will be at pains to
multiply experiments of this class, which afford a true conception of
what constitutes harmony and contrast in colours.
That such compounds of spectrum colours have an application to textile
design is evident from the specimens on Plate II., in which tints of
the pure or prismatic colours are used in silk fabrics. The mode of
distribution is irregular, but this is done for the purpose of subduing
the strength of contrast which would be formed if the colours were used
on the basis of the experiment described. Two fabrics are given as
examples on Plate II. No. 1, a silk ribbon, is produced by weaving in
a bold warp rep or cord weave, the colours being arranged in the warp
to give the intermingled shaded effect. The weft is a thick, yellow
cotton yarn, but, owing to the weave structure, does not show on either
the face or underside of the texture. In the second example, No. 2,
the colouring is due to printing the warp prior to weaving. It has a
similar intermingled composition, but the colour contrasts are harsher
in tone. Both examples show the utility of prismatic colours in their
purity, or when slightly subdued by tinting.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
8. _Schemes of Colouring._--There are two important theories of
colour--the Light Theory and the Pigment Theory. The former deals
with the phenomena of colours, the attributes of light, and the laws,
which control the modification of the intensity, hue, and tone of
colours. These varied phenomena are theoretically of value, but as
they have few practical applications, the pigment theory of colouring
is necessarily adopted in the applied arts, and deals with colour as
an active element in decorative design. Every possible shade and hue
of colour may be obtained by mixing red, yellow, and blue in variable
proportions, and, of course, by toning and tinting with white and
black. Mixtures of lights and pigments, however, do not give analogous
results. Lambert[6] is credited with being the first to discover and
prove that the colours due to these two causes were rarely identical,
and frequently widely dissimilar. His method of doing this consisted in
using two coloured wafers, _A_ and _B_ (Fig. 4), which were placed on
a black surface, and a piece of ordinary glass, _g_, fixed vertically.
It was found that when blue and yellow were thus simultaneously seen,
the rays reflected by them did not, when co-mingled, give green, but a
whitish-coloured sensation. This fact was also subsequently elaborated
by Helmholtz, who pushed his inquiries into the spectrum itself, and,
by blending the lights, obtained valuable results. Blue-green, when
mixed with red, instead of giving a brownish or greenish grey, as
with pigments, was found, like ultramarine blue and yellow, to also
constitute white light. With pigments, a mixture of chrome yellow and
ultramarine blue, in variable quantities, forms different tints of
green. Microscopic examination of this compound does not reveal the
separate particles of yellow and blue pigments, but simply the greenish
hue. The real and obvious distinction between spectrum and pigment
combinations is that the former are additions, while the latter are
subtractions. Knowing this, it will at once be evident that the colours
obtained by these two methods cannot coincide.
The following are some of the results of combining coloured lights and
pigments respectively:--
TABLE III.
COMPOUNDS OF COLOURED LIGHTS.
Red + green = yellow. Should the green be slightly bluish = white.
2 red + green = orange.
Green + blue = sea-green.
2 green + blue = greenish sea-green.
Blue + red = purple.
2 blue + red = violet.
Red + green + blue = white.
2 red + green + blue = white + red, or pale red.
2 red + 2 green + blue = white + yellow, or pale yellow.
Red + 2 green + 2 blue = white + sea-green, or pale sea-green.
2 red + green + 2 blue = white + purple, or pale purple.
TABLE IV.
COLOURS RESULTING FROM COMBINING PIGMENTS.
Primaries. Secondaries. Tertiaries.
Red + yellow = orange. 2 R + Y + B, or O + P = russet.
Yellow + blue = green. 2 Y + R + B, or O + G = citron or greenish
olive.
Blue + red = purple. 2 B + R + Y, or G + P = olive.
9. _Primary Colours._--Writers on the pigment theory are all agreed
as to the selection of the simple colours; but scientists have, in
treating of this subject, chosen several sets of hues as primaries.
Young and Helmholtz take red, green, and violet; vermilion,
emerald-green, and ultramarine blue are selected by Maxwell. When
the subject of colour is considered with a view to its practical
application to the arts, it is needful to base all combinations on the
scheme elucidated by Chevreul, Hey, Field, and others--that red, blue,
and yellow (Plate III., Nos. 1, 2, and 3) are primary colours, and
all others the resultants of mixing them in variable quantities. For
technical purposes, it is therefore only feasible to deal with colour
as it changes, according to the pigments combined; hence red, yellow,
and blue will be regarded as primaries, because, when mixed with each
other and with black and white, every possible shade of colour may be
obtained.
10. _Compound Colours._--These are of two classes--secondaries
and tertiaries. The secondaries--green, orange, and purple (Plate
III., Nos. 4, 5, and 6)--are composed of two primaries, while the
tertiaries--russet, citron, and olive (Plate III., Nos. 7, 8, and
9)--are composed of two secondaries. Orange and purple produce russet
or reddish brown; orange and green produce citron or greenish olive;
and green and purple, olive. On reducing these shades to their simple
elements, it is found that they are each composed of three primaries,
with one predominating and giving tone to the colour. Russet, for
instance, contains a double portion of red, for red is a constituent
of both the orange and purple which enter into its composition; citron
contains a double portion of yellow, and olive a double portion of blue.
The hue or tone of a compound colour is determined by the proportionate
quantities of the primaries combined in its production. For example,
to procure a bluish green, blue must be the predominating and yellow
the subordinate colour; while, on the other hand, to obtain a yellowish
green, yellow would be the predominating and blue the subordinate
colour. Reddish or yellowish orange is got by increasing the red or
yellow constituents of this colour; and bluish or reddish purple, by
increasing the blue or red components of this secondary. This affords
some idea of how colours are modified and multiplied. Taking the three
secondaries and subjecting them to similar treatment, a diversity of
shades will be found to result. Russet (Plate III., No. 7) is composed
of two parts red, one part yellow, and one part blue. It will be
obvious that by varying these proportions another series of hues will
result. By increasing the red constituent, the warmth of the colour is
intensified; by increasing the yellow, the reddish tone is neutralized;
while an increase of the blue would add to its depth and saturation.
Similar results are obtained by modifying the constituents of the other
primaries. Thus citron--composed of two parts yellow, one part blue,
and one part red--may be changed to a yellowish, bluish, or brownish
citron, according to the quantity of yellow, blue, or red used.
Olive, which consists of two parts blue, one part red, and one part
yellow, varies from a deep olive-green, brownish olive, to a yellowish
olive-green, as the blue, red, and yellow constituents are increased.
[Illustration:
Plate II
SPECTRAL COLOURING OF FABRICS
1. Woven-design Specimen
2. Printed-yarn „ ]
The tertiary shades are the most useful colours employed in textile
design. They are generally used for the ground of the fabric, while
the secondaries and primaries are utilized in enhancing the brightness
of the pattern.
11. _The Three Constants of Colour._--The three constants of colour
are, _purity_, _luminosity_, and _hue_. If a piece of paper is painted
vermilion and placed across the red end of the spectrum, it will be
seen to be deficient in purity. Emerald-green and ultramarine blue
papers, when compared with their respective sections of the spectrum,
are found to be similarly defective. By mixing white light with the
colours of the spectrum they may be so adulterated as to correspond
with, or match, those obtained by the use of pigments. Artificial
colours are never perfectly pure--they always contain some measure of
foreign element, which can only be correctly determined by bringing
them in contact with the colours of the spectrum. The second constant,
_Luminosity_ or _Intensity_, depends on the degree of light a colour
reflects. Yellow, orange, and red represent the most luminous, and
green, blue, and violet the least luminous end of the spectrum. It
will be evident that it is possible to have two or more colours of the
same degree of purity, but of different degrees of brightness. Two
scarlets might both contain the same proportionate quantities of colour
and of white light, and yet be dissimilar, simply on account of one
being more intense in hue than the other. To match the two colours,
the more luminous one would require to be exposed to a dull light, or
the less luminous to a bright light. The third constant, _Hue_, is
that special property which is caused by a definite refrangibility of
light, producing the colour proper. Green and red may be exactly of the
same purity and brightness, but they are different in hue, each being
produced by a distinct refrangibility of rays.
12. _Temperature of Colours._--The temperature of the spectrum colours
is not uniform. It augments from violet to red. Herschel, by exposing
thermometers to the several tints of the solar spectrum, determined
the temperature of each colour, and proved that, proceeding from the
most refracted or violet end of the spectrum to the least refracted
or red end, there is a successive increase of heat. Besides luminous
rays, the sun emits a mass of invisible but potent calorific rays.
Herschel, pushing his thermometers beyond the visible red and violet
rays, discovered the presence in the spectrum of ultra red rays of
intense heat, and ultra violet rays of a less heat. The solar spectrum
may therefore be described as consisting of three distinct sections:
First, of the ultra and invisible red rays; second, of the luminous
rays, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet; and third, of
the ultra and invisible violet rays. Though it is thus evident that
each spectral colour has a different temperature, yet it cannot be
assumed on this basis that a red fabric will possess a greater degree
of heat than a blue fabric composed of the same materials; because
all rays penetrating a coloured body are not luminous, and yet,
whether luminous or non-luminous, they possess properties of heat.
Were the rays absorbed by a coloured surface only luminous, then
it would be possible, by estimating the measure of absorption, to
determine the colour temperature. But the bulk of radiation from any
luminous body consists of invisible calorific rays, regarding which
colour teaches absolutely nothing. A fact that has to be taken into
consideration is, that a body may be highly susceptible to one class
of rays, but insusceptible to other classes. As it is generally known
that black garments are more effective retainers of solar heat than
white garments, it may be pointed out why this is the case. White
clothes absorb the invisible rays, but reflect the luminous rays which
constitute solar light. Black or dark clothes, on the other hand, not
only retain the dark rays which penetrate them, but also the visible
rays; and hence they are that degree warmer than white fabrics of
the same structure and material, as the difference in the influx of
temperature due to the absorption of luminous as well as invisible
rays. Tyndall explains that if a white cloth were spread over the snow,
it would even act as a shield to the latter instead of assisting it
to thaw. Snow, which is ice in a powdered form, absorbs the dark rays
with greater avidity than a white fabric; and, as both the particles of
snow and the threads of the texture reflect the luminous rays poured
upon them, the snow would melt sooner without the cloth than with it.
Indeed it would be found that in a short time the cloth would occupy
quite a prominence--the snow not covered by it thawing more rapidly
than that over which it is spread. Should a black fabric of similar
material be next placed on sunned snow, it would produce the very
opposite results. Absorbing the luminous as well as the dark rays, it
retains more of the sun’s heat than the snow, which rapidly melts under
it; while the surrounding and uncovered snow remains comparatively
unthawed and icy. Both the white texture and the snow are powerless
as regards the luminous rays emitted by the sun; the myriads of
fibres composing the former receive no warmth from them, nor can the
ice-like atoms of the latter be melted by them. They, in a word, can
only be changed by the dark rays. As to the black-surfaced texture,
there are different conditions to be taken into account. It is both an
absorbent of the invisible and of the luminous rays, consequently dark
materials not only attract but retain more of the sun’s heat than light
materials. More than this cannot be stated with certainty about the
warmth-yielding qualities of woven textures of various colours.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mercerized cottons possess some of the qualities of
silk colourings.
[2] “Colour”: _Chambers’ Encyclopædia_.
[3] Abney’s _Colour Measurement and Mixture_.
[4] Wilkinson’s _Harmonious Colouring_.
[5] Paterson’s _Science of Colour Mixing_.
[6] Atkinson’s _Ganot’s Physics_; Tyndall’s _Fragments of
Science_.
CHAPTER II.
ATTRIBUTES OF COLOURS.
13. Utility of a Knowledge of the Qualities of Colours--14.
Qualifications of the Textile Colourist--15. Functions of
Pure Colours in Design--16. Red: its Characteristics--17.
Methods of Modifying Colours--18. Derivatives of Red: their
Qualities and their Province in Textiles--19. Blue: its
Properties and Uses--20. Derivatives of Blue and their
Application to Woven Textures--21. Shades and Tints of Blue
mixed with Shaded and Tinted Reds and Yellows--22. Methods
of obtaining Well-balanced Colourings--23. Uses of Blue
in Twist Yarns--24. Points in the Application of Blue and
Red to Textiles Summarized--25. Attributes of Yellow--26.
Province of Yellow in Woven Fabrics--27. Derivatives of
Yellow--28. Secondary Colours--29. Green: its Attributes
and Derivatives--30. Tints of Green--31. Orange: its Shades
and Tints--32. Purple.
13. _Utility of a Knowledge of the Qualities of Colours._--In
order to apply colours artistically to woven fabrics, one must be
conversant with the attributes of the tints, tones, and hues of colour
the technologist uses in his work. More is requisite than a mere
acquaintance with the technical details which lie at the basis of the
construction of useful and decorative fabrics: this knowledge must
be supplemented by practice and training in the blending of pure and
other shades, and in the origination of novel schemes of colouring.
Exact knowledge of the quality and application of colours, and of the
laws which determine harmony of colouring, is indispensable to the
successful textile designer. The pattern originator must display in his
work a reliable conception of the province of colour in woven style;
this is as essential as it is to the manufacturer to have regard to the
chemical composition, physical structure, and clothing qualities of
the materials used. As in blending wools and other fibres, the nature
and properties of each are taken into account, so in colouring woven
manufactures, the attributes of the several shades and the method of
arrangement require to be carefully considered.
14. _Qualifications of the Textile Colourist._--One of the primary
qualifications of a colourist is natural aptitude for his work. To
“feel” or appreciate harmony and contrast of colour, the eye of
the observer must convey to the mind an accurate impression of the
_ensemble_ of shades visible. Two things are requisite--intuitive
and acquired taste for colouring, combined with practice in textile
designing. Yet these are insufficient. They may enable one to judge
of the purity of colours, or of the degree in tone between two or
more hues; but this faculty for matching of colours, or of colour
discrimination, however acute, does not constitute that sense for
harmony of colouring which would make it a transgression of nature
for a designer to originate incongruous colour compounds. Another
quality is needful. It may be said to be practically, if not wholly,
an intuitive talent, for it may be displayed in the work of those who
possess but slender knowledge of the laws and theories of colour.
There must be taste or genius for colouring. Such is the perfection
in which some designers have this natural faculty for colour blending
and application, that they are a law in themselves. Natural talent is
the source of inspiration. This faculty is invariably the better for
culture. As a capacity for music may be developed by training, so a
power for colouring may be augmented by studying harmony and contrast,
and the general principles of the science as they relate to the
development of patterns in the loom; consequently, though culture may
not create that acuteness of conception exercised by those who have an
intuitive bent for harmonious assortments of hues, yet it may result in
producing a passable, if not a proficient colourist, and is, moreover,
calculated to direct even the naturally talented to a judicious
selection and use of materials.
15. _Functions of Pure Colours in Design._--Before treating of the
attributes of the primary and secondary colours, namely, red, blue,
yellow, green, orange, and purple, it may be useful to allude to the
application of these colours to the various types of woven decoration.
Some designers so rarely use such hues, unless tempered with either
white or black, that they seem to entertain an idea that they can
only be made to yield strong and harsh contrasts. Certainly this is
likely to occur if they are not combined with due regard to intensity
and quantity of hue, the methods of distributing the several colours,
and the relative effect they have on each other in the woven fabric.
Bright colours should always be applied to textures for the purpose of
imparting tone and character of pattern. Though, generally, they do
not form the groundwork of the style, yet they should give additional
lustre to the design. What such hues are in decorative and pictorial
art, they are also in loom productions when skilfully employed.
Showy styles in which the primaries or bright colours are present,
result more from the system of combination practised than from
excessive brightness. The Indian shawl--or the Paisley imitation--and
the Turkey or Persian carpet, not infrequently consist of designs
composed of the most brilliant shades producible in the dye vat.
In the former, in addition to a play on certain figures, which are
generally unique in arrangement and ingeniously grouped, there is a
depth and fulness of tinting that seems to possess all but a permanent
freshness. As to the Eastern carpet, it contains a large diversity of
colours, and mostly of a bright tone, but still the general effect is
pleasing and cheerful. To what are the congruity of tone and richness
of colouring due in these textures? This law is observed in their
composition: the quantity of each colour used, depends entirely on the
position it occupies in the pattern and on its intensity and quality;
while the several shades are so blended that when the carpet or shawl
is viewed in its entirety the whole is harmonious in result. This is
the general effect sought after in tweeds and all classes of fancy
fabrics. If scarlet, blue, green, crimson, or orange were applied to a
woven design,--though decidedly stronger in hue than the shades forming
the bulk of the fabric--while tingeing the pattern with a freshness of
tone, they should not be allowed to unduly attract the eye. The use
of twist yarns very largely facilitates the production of congruous
combinations, in which bright colours play a prominent part in the
composition of the pattern. By employing these threads, the colours
may be broken up, in which form they do not produce that continuity
of effect which necessarily results from the use of self-coloured
yarns. Success in effective colouring with pure hues lies, however, in
a proper distribution of the shades combined, incongruity of effect
being as largely due to defective balancing of colour as to injudicious
and distasteful combinations; in a word, there is as much dependent on
the arrangement, as on the selection and blending of shades in pattern
origination.
[Illustration:
Plate III
PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY COLOURS]
In addition to thus acting as the brightening elements in woven
design, these colours are also used in some classes of textures as
ground shades. For instance, they are the principal colours employed
in dress fabrics of a Scotch tartan class, certain kinds of shawls,
silk neckties, handkerchiefs, and wraps; but generally, in worsted
and woollen textures they are used sparingly, and for giving lustre
to a sombre mixture of colours. Pure colours have therefore two
distinct functions in textile patterns: first, they constitute a kind
of supplementary colouring which imparts lustre and intensity of hue
to the style to which they are applied; and, second, they may be the
principal colours comprised in the design.
16. _Red: its Characteristics._--Red (No. 1, Plate III.) is designated
a simple or primary colour in both the light and pigment theories of
colouring. Of all hues it is the most showy, brilliant, and gorgeous.
Intense red is so powerful that when used in large quantities it
neutralizes the effect of adjacent hues. On this account, its
distribution in textiles should always be accomplished in accordance
with the depth of the other colours entering into the style; that is
to say, its intensity, as well as its quantity, must be varied in the
same proportion as the general colouring of the pattern is diminished
or augmented in tone. An otherwise satisfactorily coloured pattern may
be destroyed by using a red too potent in hue, or by using this colour
too profusely. Yet red is decidedly one of the most useful colours
at the command of the decorative designer and the textile producer.
Whether employed as a pure, or as an adulterated colour, it is of
extensive utility in textile designing. When judiciously applied, it
adds brightness and cheerfulness to woven effects. Its true sphere in
textiles is to impart freshness. Red in these compositions is the
brightening or toning hue. In applying red tints to worsted and woollen
fabrics, they should seldom occur in patches or in continuous lines of
a check arrangement, but they should be more or less intermittent in
effect.[7] It should be borne in mind that in these fabrics it is not
loudness or showiness, but neatness of style, that is sought after, yet
the quality of brightness must not be lacking. In the form of twist
yarns, reds and scarlets may be made to produce exactly the general
toning required. This mode of applying this colour is particularly
well adapted to textures of a cheviot and tweed description. Worsteds
require different treatment. One method of introducing reds into these
fabrics consists in using silk yarns, and simply bringing them on to
the surface to form a bright spot or minute line of colour. In silk,
cotton, and some kinds of linen textures, this primary is used in
larger quantities, and more liberally displayed in patterns composed
of these materials, than in the ordinary run of woollen and worsted
fabrics.
Being such a potent and bright colour, it is of utility in the blending
process of manufacturing, when several shades of materials are combined
to produce a mixture yarn. Some mixtures or blends of this class
contain scarlet wools, which, in whatever form they occur give tone
and quality to the combination of which they form a part. A variety of
tints and shades results from mixing red in different quantities with
black or white, and also an extensive range of hues from combining
it with other colours. Still, pure red is not so liberally used in
textile work as its derivatives: thus, it unites with yellow and blue
in the production of orange and purple. Should a small quantity of
yellow be added to red, it gives scarlet, while the addition of a small
quantity of blue produces crimson. The richness and luminosity of the
scarlet are determined by the proportion of yellow added; and the depth
of the crimson by the amount of blue entering the mixtures. Both in
scarlets and crimsons, a considerable diversity of hues is obtainable.
Before either of these colours is produced, red undergoes a series
of gradations of hue. In the rose, there is displayed to perfection
the various modifications in tint and shade of which this colour is
susceptive. Scarlets, crimsons, maroons, russets, and browns are all
hues employed by the weaver that obtain their prevailing tint from this
primary.
17. _Methods of Modifying Colours._--All pure colours, such as red,
blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple, may be subjected to three
kinds of modification: first, they may be darkened in _tone_; second,
lightened in _tint_; and third, changed in hue. If, for example, black
is mixed with red in various proportions, it produces _tones_ or
_shades_ of this colour, while an admixture of white with red yields
different _tints_ of red. To alter the hue, it is necessary to blend it
with some other colour, such as blue, when various shades of full-toned
crimsons result. In blending, and also in the arrangement of colours
in the warp and weft of the woven fabric, the phenomena underlying the
changes producible in the tone and tint of a colour have to be taken
into consideration. Black and red wools when scribbled together give a
dark brown or reddish-brown mixture, according to the quantities of the
respective shades entering into the combination; on the other hand, if
white and red wools are blended, a mixture of a pinkish character is
obtained. Hence it is clear that the same principles which determine
the alteration in the shade, tint, or hue of a colour when pigments are
combined, also regulate the results due to mixing several colours of
textile fibres.
Strictly speaking, white and black cannot be designated colours,
being merely representative of the principles of light and darkness,
and acting, in the multiplication of shades and tints, as the great
modifiers of colour. Such is their province in the _rôle_ of colour
production. In design, they are indispensable in mellowing certain
combinations of hues, and in giving precision and clearness to specific
sections of a pattern. As ground shades they are also useful. Light
colours appear bright and distinct on black surfaces; while deep
colours, such as blues, purples, and reds, appear intense and clear
on white materials. So that by a proper use of these shades it is
possible, in the first place, by the process of mixing them with bright
colours, to produce a variety of hues; and, in the second place, by
introducing them into the warp and weft of the pattern, to impart
smartness and lustre to the colours employed.
18. _Derivatives of Red: their Qualities and their Province in
Textiles._--By the derivatives of a colour, are signified those
shades and tints which result from mixing it with various quantities
of white or black. Those obtained from red are both numerous and
important, being specially useful in the production of woven effects.
They comprise both ground and fancy hues. First, in the category of
the derivatives of this primary, are those shades produced by toning
it with black. A few typical specimens of these are given in Nos. 1,
2, and 3, Plate IV. The brightest shade (No. 3) is compounded of three
parts of red and of one part of black; the medium shade (No. 2) of
equal quantities of red and black; while in the dark brown (No. 1)
black preponderates, the proportions being one part of red to three
parts of black. Such shades of brown may be used as ground colours, but
the two latter are the most appropriate for this purpose. Shade 3 is,
however, frequently employed with good results in dress fabrics for
the foundation of the texture. Some excellent colourings ensue from
their combination. The two extremes--Shades 1 and 3--when employed in
the same style give a softly toned pattern. A less pronounced contrast
ensues from a compound of Shades 1 and 2, or Shades 2 and 3. In
combinations of this kind, there should usually be a larger quantity
of one colour element than another. Another method of combining these
shades consists in introducing the three into one pattern. For example,
if twelve threads of Shade 1, eight threads of Shade 2, and four
threads of Shade 3, were woven together and checked over in the weft
by a similar arrangement of yarns, a neat design would be obtained. It
might be changed by taking four threads of Shade 1 instead of twelve,
and twelve threads of Shade 3 instead of four. In the former style
the dark brown would preponderate, but in the latter the light brown,
the quantity of the medium hue being the same in each instance. These
illustrations demonstrate the utility of these shades and the systems
on which they are amalgamated in pattern construction.
The tints Nos. 4, 5, and 6, on Plate IV., are characterized by
brilliance and intensity of tone, making them adapted for imparting
lustre and richness to design. Like the colour from which they obtain
their specific tint, they are ostentatious and potent in effect. While
the shades given in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are all darker in tone than the
original red, these tints are lighter on account of the entrance of
white into their composition. Thus they are made up as follows:--
Tint 4, Plate IV.--1 part of red and 3 parts of white.
Tint 5, „ „ --2 parts of red and 2 parts of white.
Tint 6, „ „ --3 parts of red and 1 part of white.
Bright tints of this kind are extensively used in figured weaving,
as in the manufacture of vestings, silk neckties, dress fabrics, and
trimmings. Sometimes in the latter description of textures they form
the pattern proper. In the ordinary run of woollen and worsted cloths
they are, however, only sparingly employed, and that in the form of
twist yarns. Amongst the varieties of twists which can be produced by
combining two or more of these shades and tints of red, the following
are selected as suggestive illustrations:--
I.--One thread of Shade 1 twisted with one thread of Tint 4,
Plate IV.
II.--One thread of Shade 1 twisted with one thread of Tint 6,
Plate IV.
III.--One thread of Shade 2 twisted with one thread of Tint 5,
Plate IV.
IV.--One thread of Shade 3 twisted with one thread of Tint 4,
Plate IV.
V.--One thread of Shade 1; one thread of Shade 3; and one
thread of Tint 4, Plate IV., twisted together.
Each of these compound yarns, in worsted, woollen, or cotton materials,
is capable, when judiciously applied, of contributing to the quality of
woven pattern.
Another section of manufacturing in which these derivatives are
employed is in the blending process, or in the production of fancy
mixture yarns.
19. _Blue: its Properties and Uses._--Blue (No. 2, Plate III.) is
one of the most valuable colours used by textile designers. In dark
shades it is utilized for the ground of patterns; in medium shades
it is employed for mellowing and toning purposes; while bright blues
convey freshness and force of colouring; so that this primary has three
distinct functions in textile designing. In each of these, it will be
indicated what its properties are as a colour, and the relation it
sustains to other shades with which it may be combined.
Unlike red, which is decidedly a warm colour, the quality of blue is
cold and retiring: this distinguishes it from yellow, orange, and red,
which produce a sensation of warmth. Resembling violet and purple,
it is indistinct and neutral in a declining light, but strong and
brilliant in a bright light; hence, when applied to light grounds, it
is not only pronounced in hue, but is quite distinct from other shades,
while on a dark or black surface it is both mellow and lustrous in
effect.
Its property of “coldness” renders it a useful shade for subduing the
redness of tone of some colourings; for it in some degree neutralizes
the warm hue of the browns, maroons, russets, or other shades forming
the pattern in which red is prevalent. This does not, however, indicate
that red and blue harmonize; on the contrary, whenever these two
colours are associated in large quantities, the resultant composition
is somewhat incongruous; but that when combined with browns and
russet olives, or shades in which the red tint is assimilated by the
quantity of black they contain, blue can be made to yield excellent
coloured effects. Pure blue, like pure red, is not so largely used as
its derivatives, still it has a place in textile designing. This is
principally as a fancy yarn, when it gives freshness and bloom to the
pattern. It is also employed as a ground colour in the manufacture of
fine silk fabrics, and as the figuring colour in certain makes of fancy
worsteds.
[Illustration:
Plate IV
TONES AND TINTS OF THE “PRIMARIES”
1. 2. 3. Tones of Red 4. 5. 6. Tints of Red
7. 8. 9. „ „ Blue 10. 11. 12. „ „ Blue
13. 14. 15 „ „ Yellow 16. 17. 18. „ „ Yellow]
20. _Derivatives of Blue and their Application to Woven Textures._--If
blue is mixed with black, shades of an indigo character result; but, if
mixed with white, peacock blues, lavenders, and pale blues are formed.
Some few examples in both these types of derivatives may be considered.
From the series of dark or shaded blues three examples have been
selected, namely, those in Nos. 7, 8, and 9, Plate IV. The first
consists of one part blue and three parts black; the second (No. 8)
of two parts blue and two parts black; and the third (No. 9) of three
parts blue and one part black. Shade 1 (indigo) is a useful colour
for piece-dye goods, as well as for the grounds of fancy fabrics. By
studying this method of mixing, it will be observed how a pure and
intense colour may be gradually darkened in shade, or--if white is
added--gradually lightened in tint, until it closely resembles black or
white, as the case may be. This system of varying the tone of a colour
makes it feasible, by a proper assortment of hues, to produce stripes
or checks in light or dark shades. Take, for example, the three blues
given in Nos. 7, 8, and 9 on this Plate. If these are put together
thus: eight threads of Shade 7, eight threads of Shade 8, and eight
threads of Shade 9, a shaded blue check will result, which in worsted,
woollen, or cotton yarns gives a satisfactory pattern. Let the warp
thus arranged be crossed with similar quantities of the respective
shades, and checks of the several blues will be formed in the fabric.
This plan of colouring produces checks of equal proportions of the
different shades; but, if needful, these might be easily got in various
dimensions, say, for instance, the darkest check about three-quarters
of an inch in size, and the remaining two checks half an inch.
A few of the principal tints of blue, got by mixing this primary with
white, in the same proportions as the shades just described were
produced by mixing it with black, are Nos. 10, 11, and 12, Plate
IV. The white has given them a softened and mellowed tone, having
neutralized that forcible and striking attribute which characterizes
pure blue. On comparing them with the original colour from which they
result (No. 2, Plate III.), the degree to which white subdues and
mellows bright hues with which it is blended will be evident. Tints
of this class are used in various ways in designing. Some styles in
silk handkerchiefs are producible by the exact depth of hues seen
in the illustration--these weights of colours forming congruous and
evenly-balanced patterns. They are also largely employed in cotton
textures. One example of this type of combination is given in No. 1, on
Plate VII. This is a sketch of a fabric made of cotton yarns. The warp
is light blue--Tint 10, Plate IV.--and the weft a deeper blue, or Tint
12. The neatness of this colouring is due to the soft contrast between
the tints of the warp and weft yarns.
21. _Shades and Tints of Blue mixed with Shaded and Tinted Red and
Yellow._--In the styles in which blue is employed for ground purposes,
indigo shades are invariably used. Blue, however, is not a foundation
colour that admits of much diversity of tinting. To succeed in its
application to the grounds of patterns, a good range of browns, olives,
and greys is important. With shades of the olive class it gives the
most marked contrasts. This is due to yellow being the prevailing tint
of this compound hue. But it also mingles harmoniously with certain
tints of grey and brown. Patterns in which these shades are arranged
as in Tables V. and VI., in woollen, worsted, cotton, or silk yarns,
illustrate the methods of combining blue effectively with different
shades and tints of red and yellow. In Table I. the combinations of
shades are included; but in Table II. will be found the tints of red,
blue, and yellow. The colours are given in groups of six threads, and
would, providing the arrangements appended were carried out in the
weft, produce a series of clearly developed check effects.
TABLE V.
COMPOUNDS OF SHADES OR TONES OF COLOUR.
_(a) Shades of Blue and Red (Plate IV.)._
Ex. 1. Dark shades.
Black preponderating.
6 threads of dark blue (Shade 7).
6 threads of dark brown (Shade 1).
Ex. 2. Medium shades.
Black and Blue, and Black and Red equally mixed.
6 threads of medium blue (Shade 8).
6 threads of medium brown (Shade 2).
Ex. 3. Lightish shades.
Blue and Red preponderating.
6 threads of toned blue (Shade 9).
6 threads of light brown (Shade 3).
_(b) Shades of Blue and Yellow (Plate IV.)._
Ex. 1. Dark shades.
Black preponderating.
6 threads of dark blue (Shade 7).
6 threads of dark olive (Shade 13).
Ex. 2. Medium shades.
Black and Blue, and Black and Yellow equally mixed.
6 threads of medium blue (Shade 8).
6 threads of medium olive (Shade 14).
Ex. 3. Lightish shades.
Blue and Yellow preponderating.
6 threads of toned blue (Shade 9).
6 threads of toned olive (Shade 15).
TABLE VI.
COMPOUNDS OF TINTS OF COLOUR.
_(a) Tints of Blue and Red (Plate IV.)._
Ex. 1. Very light tints.
White preponderating.
6 threads of pale lavender (Tint 10).
6 threads of pale salmon (Tint 4).
Ex. 2. Light tints.
Blue and White, and Red and White equally mixed.
6 threads of lavender (Tint 11).
6 threads of bright salmon (Tint 5).
Ex. 3. Deep tints.
Blue and Red preponderating.
6 threads of tinted blue (Tint 12).
6 threads of tinted red (Tint 6).
_(b) Tints of Blue and Yellow (Plate IV.)._
Ex. 1. Very light tints.
White preponderating.
6 threads of very pale yellow (Tint 16).
6 threads of pale lavender (Tint 10).
Ex. 2. Light tints.
Blue and White, and Yellow and White equally mixed.
6 threads of lavender (Tint 11).
6 threads of pale yellow (Tint 17).
Ex. 3. Deep tints.
Blue and Yellow predominating.
6 threads of tinted blue (Tint 12).
6 threads of tinted yellow (Tint 18).
22. _Methods of Obtaining Well-balanced Colourings._--From these
Tables it will be evident that if the shade of blue is modified, that
of the combining colour is also changed. Unless this rule is adhered
to, the arrangement adopted will give incongruous results. Only a
certain depth of blue harmonizes with a corresponding depth of brown
and olive; if one predominates over the other, the colouring becomes
deficient and displeasing to the eye. For example, if Shades 1 and 9
and Tints 4 and 12 were blended, the result would not be so mellow as
if Shades 1 and 7 and Tints 4 and 10, as in the Tables, were combined.
The reason for this is that, in the first instance, a shade of red in
which black preponderates is used with a shade of blue in which blue
preponderates; while, in the second instance, a tint of red in which
white preponderates is associated with a tint of blue in which blue
preponderates; whereas, to produce a perfect balance of colour--that
is, providing the quantities of the respective colours are equal--it is
necessary for the shades or tints combined to contain exactly the same
quantities of black and white, as in the combinations of Shades 1 and
7, and Tints 4 and 10 of Plate IV.
In no combination given in Tables V. and VI. is there a lack of
harmony; indeed, considering the principle on which they have been
obtained, this is almost impossible. Thus, take Ex. 1 in Table V. Here,
dark shades of blue and brown are associated. In both colours black
preponderates; that is to say, the former is composed of three parts
of black and two parts of blue, and the latter of three parts of black
and two parts of red. Providing the primaries blue and red (Nos. 1 and
2, Plate III.) harmonize, these shades, which are their derivatives,
will also mix well together. A test to which they can be submitted is
to view them side by side. If slips of these shades are thus combined,
they do not appear incongruous and harsh in tone, but possess a soft
and mellow aspect, and in this consists the true characteristics of
harmonious colourings. As the tints are worked out on the same system
as the shades, they form useful compounds. In order that this important
element of congruous colour effects may be clearly understood, let Ex.
1 of Table VI. be also briefly examined. Such a combination can only
yield an agreeable pattern. Whether these tints are blended in the wool
or in the yarn, the resulting mixture is satisfactory. This arises from
the weight or depth of colour of the respective tints being identical;
in other terms, the intensity of the tinted red is precisely the same
as that of the tinted blue. In dress stuffs, tennis flannels, fabrics
for trimmings, silks, and extreme fancy textures, this blend of tints
is invariably pleasing. Equally harmonious results may be arrived
at by combining tinted red (No. 4) with tinted yellow (No. 16), or
tinted blue (No. 10, Plate IV.) with tinted yellow. In each of these
compounds, delicacy of tint and mellowness of hue are the prevailing
qualities.
23. _Uses of Blue in Twist Yarns._--Having now treated of blue as a
ground colour, and also as a shade for blending with other hues to
tone down a style or subdue its coloured aspect, it only remains to
indicate its utility as a colour for twist yarns. It is a valuable
shade for this purpose. As it is a bright but not a showy colour, it
is particularly suitable for fancy two- or three-ply yarns. Twists in
which red, yellow, or orange are used, have a tendency to overpower
the general colouring of the pattern in which they appear, but this
is not the case in fancy yarns in which blue is the principal colour.
Such twists, while imparting lustre and freshness to the design, in
no wise detract from its beauty of colouring, though that may be of a
comparatively subdued character. The following are a few examples in
two-ply yarns in which blue threads are employed: black and blue; white
and blue; brown (No. 1) and tinted blue (No. 10); dark blue (No. 7) and
tinted red (No. 4); blue and yellow; dark blue and shaded red (No. 3,
Plate IV.); and medium blue and white.
24. _Points in the Application of Blue and Red to Textiles
Summarized._--The analyses which have been made of the use of blue and
red in woven designs, have demonstrated that, whenever primary colours
are applied to textile fabrics in their purity and natural intensity,
it is in comparatively small quantities. Brilliance of hue causes
the application of primaries in large patches to textile surfaces
to be undesirable. In dress fabrics, bright blue, red, and yellow
have an important place. Mantlings, shawls, wraps, and travelling
rugs also provide scope for a liberal use of these shades; but in
treating designs with colour for fabrics of the coating and trousering
class, subdued and indefinite shades prove the most useful. Red and
blue are valuable to impart tone and newness of character to the
style. The groundwork of the pattern should first have attention--the
intensity and strength of the bright colours depending on the mode
of application. Should the ground colouring of a pattern be strong
and harsh, the addition of green or blue will, in some cases, give
it a mellow quality; or should it lack brightness, then red, orange,
or yellow, if applied in small quantities and properly distributed,
will relieve the heaviness of the colouring and impart the requisite
freshness of aspect. Success in the use of pure colours is determined
by the quantities in which they occur, and by the nature of the shades
with which they are associated. Bright red, however sparingly employed,
if applied to a mixture of brown or russet shades, cannot but form an
incongruous colouring; but if applied to an assortment of shades in
which soft-tinted blues and greens are conspicuous, both harmony and
contrast of composition would result.
[Illustration:
Plate V
PLAID IN WHICH YELLOW IS THE BRIGHT OVER CHECKING COLOUR
(5013)]
25. _Attributes of Yellow._--This colour (No. 3, Plate III.) is
generally understood to be emblematical of purity and brightness.
It is the most luminous tint in the spectrum. Purple is its
complementary and contrasting hue. Intense yellow--rich, bright, and
cheerful--has the same relation to light or whiteness as blue has to
darkness. It lacks the lustrous quality of red and the retiring, mellow
characteristic of blue, but possesses vividness and lustre. Luminosity
and brilliance of hue limit its application to textile design; yet it
has a sphere which no other colour can occupy. Thus, in patterns in
which white yarns and light or delicate shades are employed, it is
one of the most important fancy colours it is possible to introduce
into the fabric. Mingled with such shades, it loses a degree of that
prominence and individuality of tint which characterizes it when
applied to patterns possessing dark and sombre grounds.
Another quality of this primary is vividness--no colour being
comparable with it in this sense. Orange possesses this attribute,
but not so largely as positive yellow. Its characteristic freshness,
but comparative lightness of hue, imparts to it a clear and decided
tone on black or dark surfaces. Hence it is found that when yellow is
blended with light and medium greys and lavenders, its property of
lustre suffers in intensity; whereas, if it is applied to dark blue,
dark brown, or black materials, its vivid attributes are forcibly
distinguished. When these modifications, which this and other bright
colours undergo according to the qualities of the several shades with
which they may be combined, are clearly understood, the possible effect
of their application to any pre-arranged scheme of ground colours
may be estimated. Obviously there are three factors to be carefully
considered when employing primary hues: first, the nature of the
contrast resultant when the colours are placed on light materials;
second, on medium-toned grounds; and third, on textures composed of
dark yarns. Yellow is somewhat lessened in distinctiveness on the
first, but improves in intensity on the dark grounds, being only
slightly changed when arranged side by side with shades of a medium
depth.
26. _Province of Yellow in Woven Fabrics._--Pure yellow is but
sparingly used in textile designing. In tweeds and worsteds it is
combined, to a limited extent, with other shades in the construction
of fancy twist and mixture yarns. It is the principal colour in the
following two- and three-ply yarns: black and yellow; blue and yellow;
indigo blue and yellow; dark grey and yellow; black, purple, and
yellow; black, medium grey, and yellow; and black, red, and yellow.
When used in this form it may add lustre and freshness to an otherwise
sombre style. It possibly gives the best results in tweeds, where
the fibrous nature of the texture helps to minimize its excessive
brightness. Yellow is also applied as a self-coloured yarn to certain
styles of check patterns for woollen travelling mauds, shawls, and
rugs. An example of a plaid pattern of this description is given in
Plate V. There are contrasts of dark green and red, dark green and
blue, black and red, and also yellow as an intermediate colour between
green and red, and as a checking colour on the black. Yellow is thus
used for two purposes: first, as a divisible hue; contrasting with
the green, and harmonizing with the red; and second, as the strongest
contrast possible on the black. It gives what may be termed the chief
checking lines to the plaid, and produces freshness and lustre in the
style. These lines are of sufficient width considering the brightness
and vividness of the colour, which are two qualities to be taken into
account when using colours in combination with other bright shades.
27. _Derivatives of Yellow._--These are both numerous and important.
When blended with blue, as previously explained, hues of green are
formed, comprising myrtle green, sea green, emerald green, and grass
green, all of which vary in tint according to the intensity of the
bluish and yellowish elements entering into their composition. Yellow
with red, on the other hand, yields an assortment of scarlet and orange
hues. Yellow with white gives delicate tints of a straw, lemon, and
primrose class (see Nos. 16, 17, and 18, Plate IV.); while with black
it forms many shades of an olive character, such as those supplied
in Nos. 13, 14, and 15 on the same Plate. If it should be mixed with
grey, it produces various tints of drab; so that this primary is a
very useful colour for blending with other hues in the production of
compound shades.
28. _Secondary Colours._--The attributes and functions of the
primaries in textiles have now been defined. The secondaries--colours
resulting from mixing two primaries--possess quite distinct properties
from the hues of which they are composed. Compared with the primaries
red, yellow, and blue, they lack intensity and strength of hue.
Still, they are potent colours, and, as a consequence, only produce
harmonious combinations when judiciously employed. As a rule, the
stronger and the more intense a colour, the greater the skill required
in its application to pattern or design. To use the secondaries in
large quantities with success, some practice in textile colouring is
essential.
Of these compound shades, orange is the most ostentatious, being
tinged with red; purple possesses depth and fulness of hue; and green
is suggestive of freshness. Each colour is largely used in woven
manufactures, the methods of application depending on the type of the
texture. In silk ribbons and neckties, they are used as pure colours,
and are also applied to cotton and flannel shirting styles, linen
vestings, and fancy worsted shawls; but when employed in the ordinary
types of woollens and worsteds, they are somewhat subdued by mixing
with white or black, or they may form one of the threads in a fancy
twist yarn. The qualities of each colour will be considered separately.
29. _Green: its Attributes and Derivatives._--This is a useful
secondary colour. In the Light Theory of Colouring, it is a primary
hue; but it is already understood that, according to the Pigment
Theory, green is not a simple, but a compound colour resulting from the
admixture of the pigment yellow with the pigment blue. Greens may also
be obtained by the same process in the dye vat. Thus the texture or
material may primarily be treated with the blue colouring matter, such
as indigo, and subsequently with the yellow dye-ware, such as weld or
old fustic.
In Nature, green is the most extensively distributed colour, but in
the decorative arts, unless modified, it has not a wide application.
As a colour it combines the qualities of its component hues--blue and
yellow--for it is at once fresh, bright, and cheerful. When associated
with the various shades and tints of red, harmonious and contrasting
combinations ensue. Amongst the shades used in textiles derived from
this secondary, are myrtle greens, olive greens, slate greens, and dark
greens. Colours of this description are useful in textile work.
The spectrum green is only applied to extreme fancies, and then chiefly
as an extra, spotting, or figuring yarn; in tweeds and worsteds,
however, it forms an appropriately coloured yarn for twisting with
other threads of such shades as will neutralize a degree of its
intensity and lustre. In fact, green is one of the most useful colours
for twisting purposes employed in textile designing: such twists as
black and green, scarlet and green, and white and green illustrating
its utility in the production of fancy yarns for tweeds.
Derivatives of green, due to its admixture with black, comprise a
fair diversity of medium and dark shades which are employed as ground
colours, and also for piece-dye textures. Three examples in such
shades are Nos. 1, 2, and 3, Plate VI. In the first, black is the
preponderating element, but in the third, green is the prevailing
hue. With the red browns given in Nos. 1, 2, and 3 on Plate IV., they
form perfect contrasts. The most pleasing combinations are those in
which the greenish derivatives are blended in equal quantities with
the reddish browns as follows: dark green (No. 1, Plate VI.) with dark
brown (No. 1, Plate IV.); medium green (No. 2, Plate VI.) with medium
brown (No. 2, Plate IV.); and toned green (No. 3, Plate VI.) with light
brown (No. 3, Plate IV.). An endless variety of striped and checked
patterns in woollen, worsted, and cotton materials is got by combining
these shades on the lines just indicated. Some excellent ground twists
result from combining dark brown (No. 1, Plate IV.) and toned green
(No. 3, Plate VI.); dark green (No. 1, Plate VI.) and light brown (No.
3, Plate IV.); and medium green (No. 2, Plate VI.) and medium brown
(No. 2, Plate IV.).
30. _Tints of Green._--The admixture of green with white results in
the formation of tints of pea-green. (See Nos. 4, 5, and 6, Plate VI.)
These blend harmoniously with the tinted reds given on Plate IV. For
example, the pea-green, No. 4, Plate VI., when blended with the whitish
pink, No. 4 of Plate IV., the pale green, No. 5, Plate VI., with the
rose colour, No. 5, Plate IV., and the tinted green, No. 6, Plate VI.,
with the tinted red, No. 6, Plate IV., all form satisfactory contrasts.
As the tints of the respective couplets perfectly balance, being of the
exact depth of hue, they constitute mellow and choice combinations.
Though these tints are not extensively employed in fancy woollen and
worsted fabrics, still there are some classes of these textures in
which they are used for ground purposes. One illustration of this kind
is pattern No. 2 on Plate VII. The twilled ground of the fabric is a
similar tint to No. 4, Plate VI., while the spotting yarns are two-ply,
namely, tan and white, and crimson and white twists. The white feature
of the colouring serves a twofold purpose: first, it neutralizes and
subdues the intensity of the crimson and tan threads; and, second, it
imparts precision to the mottled figuring.
31. _Orange: its Shades and Tints._--Next to red, orange (No. 5, Plate
III.) is the most intense, showy, and potent colour. It is closely
allied to both red and yellow, of which hues it is composed. Orange
is more luminous, but less intense than pure red, and is warmer, but
not so bright in hue as yellow. Its potency of hue causes it to suffer
little impoverishment either in lustre or intensity from juxtaposition
with certain shades. With colours of a reddish or yellowish hue, it
undergoes the most marked degree of modification; with blues and
greens, and also with their derivatives, its quality is not perceptibly
diminished. Whether distributed on dark or light surfaces, it stands
out with lustre and freshness, and hence is one of the most appropriate
colours for imparting brightness, or for giving to any combination of
shades, lacking these qualities, a rich appearance.
Shades of orange (Nos. 7, 8, and 9, Plate VI.) are designated brownish
olives, possessing warmer attributes than the shades derived from
yellow, but wanting that strength and richness of hue characterizing
the russet browns resulting from mixing red with black. As ground
colours they are of utility to the textile colourist. With shades of
green they form complementary combinations, as the following examples
illustrate:--
I. Dark brownish olive (No. 7) with dark green (No 1, Plate VI.).
II. Medium brownish olive (No. 8) with toned green (No. 2, Plate
VI.).
III. Light brownish olive (No. 9) with medium green (No. 3, Plate
VI.).
These shades also combine satisfactorily with the dark and deep blues
given in Nos. 7, 8, and 9 of Plate IV.
From the orange tints (Nos. 10, 11, and 12, Plate VI.) it will be
noticed that by mixing white with this secondary, salmon and gold
colours are obtained. They are useful in making twist threads, and
are also employed, to a considerable extent, in silk yarns in the
manufacture of vestings, spotted textures, neckties, and fancies.
Satisfactory styles result from combining them with either tints of
green or blue.
32. _Purple._--There is no colour comparable with purple (No. 6,
Plate III.) as regards depth of hue. Its characterizing qualities are
softness, bloom, and richness of tone. It is a composition of the warm
and the cold, and the showy and the quiet elements of the spectrum,
namely, of red and blue.
It only yields congruous combinations with a limited range of shades,
and these generally belong to the derivatives of yellow. Purple and
pure yellow form a very pronounced contrast--an example of which
obtains in the common pansy. In this flower, the deep but lustrous
tone of the purple opposes the luminous and pure hue of the yellow.
From this natural combination of these tints, it is possible to
learn with what class of colours purple will form the most effective
contrasts. These are shades in which yellow preponderates, such as
tans, light olives, and olive browns. To give bloom and richness of
aspect to combinations of fawns, olives, and similar shades, purple,
in conjunction with white, may be employed. Some excellent tapestries,
bordered rugs, and travelling mauds are produced in which this hue is
one of the principal colours.
[Illustration:
Plate VI
TONES AND TINTS OF THE “SECONDARIES”
1. 2. 3. Tones of Green 4. 5. 6. Tints of Green
7. 8. 9. Tones of Orange 10. 11. 12. Tints of Orange
13. 14. 15. Tones of Purple 16. 17. 18. Tints of Purple]
The derivatives of purple are applied to dress fabrics, but are rarely
used in textures for men’s wear, except for line striping and checking
purposes. The examples given in the tints and shades of this colour, in
Nos. 13 to 18, Plate VI., inclusive, show that its admixture with
white produces hues of a lilac class, and with black, hues of a deep
indigo blue character. Materials dyed alizarin blue possess a similar
purplish bloom as these shades, being warmer and redder in tone than
the pure indigoes they are dyed to imitate.
Though purple and its derivatives are not largely employed along with
other colours in the construction of fancy patterns, yet they are of
utility in the blending department of a woollen factory.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Tartans are special forms of checks in the colouring of
which this principle is not observed.
CHAPTER III.
CONTRAST AND HARMONY.
33. Colours Affected by Adjacent Colours--34. How Colours
are Changed by Juxtaposition--35. Contrast--36. Examples
in Contrasts--37. Economic Contrasts--38. Two Kinds of
Contrasts--39. Poly-chromatic Contrasts--40. Mono-chromatic
Contrasts--41. Toned and Tinted Contrasts--42. Comparison
of Contrasts by Shade and Contrasts by Colour--43. Shaded
and tinted Compositions--44. Bright Colour Contrasts
Modified with Black and White--45. Successive and
Simultaneous Colour Effects--46. Methods of Neutralizing
the Effects of Strong Colour Contrasts--47. Harmony--48.
Principles of Harmony.
33. _Colours Affected by Adjacent Colours._--The intensity, potency,
and hue of a colour may apparently undergo change by placing it in
juxtaposition with other colours. The process of colour modification
has been considered, when it was indicated in what manner hues are
subjective to change in proportion to the quantity of black, white,
or a colour which forms part of their composition; but the behaviour
of colours when in contact or close together remains to be explained.
Change of hue and tone of colour originated by the laws of contiguity
is both varied and subtle. Trained and practical colourists realize
some difficulty in determining the precise nature of the alteration,
but it is none the less evident. That the attributes of colours are
somewhat modified when the hues with which they are blended are
combined, is an essential principle of shade compounds. If, for
example, a series of small scarlet spots were woven on black, grey, and
white grounds in succession, the hue of the scarlet, when the several
fabrics were compared, would prove to be different in appearance
in each sample, though the same scarlet yarn were employed in the
production of the respective textures. Cutting away the grounds and
comparing the spots from each on a common surface would show that
identically the same scarlet had been used in the three fabrics: yet so
apparent is their dissimilarity of hue that a casual examination would
pronounce them distinct shades. Thus, on the black surface the spots
gain intensity and lustre; on the grey they appear murky and dingy;
whereas on the white surface the spots are bright, but evidently pale
and washy as compared with those on the black ground. On varying the
colour of the spots a different set of modifications ensues. Taking
blue as the spotting colour, the black ground neutralizes a degree of
its bloom and brightness; on the grey it suffers in lustre, but retains
its precision of colour, and increases in richness and fulness of tone
on the white fabric. Continuing this idea: if a batch of red threads
were interspersed in a white warp, a degree of the colour quality
would be subdued by the white threads; but should similar yarns be
introduced into a black warp, an augmentation in the intensity of the
red would be observed, because of the contrast thus created between
the sombreness of the black and the rich brightness of the red: a
contrast which, if the quantity of the red be large, is sufficient to
give a copper-coloured cast to the black threads with which the red is
in immediate contact. A law of colours is, that if the fancy shade is
lighter than the ground colour, it will increase in brightness of tone;
but if, on the other hand, the “fancy” is darker than the coloured
surface on which it is distributed, it will suffer in tone. Moreover,
if two colours, such as light and dark olive, were arranged together in
the same warp, the former would appear lighter and the latter darker
than they really are. This illusory alteration is entirely attributable
to contrast. Colours of contrasting qualities and tones undergo two
modifications when juxtaposed; first, they alter in depth, and, second,
in nature of hue. When yellow and blue yarns are woven together, each
is subject to this twofold change produced by contrast; first, as to
tone, the yellow becomes brighter and the blue deeper; second, as to
hue, each is tinged with the complementary colour of the other.
34. _How Colours are Changed by Juxtaposition._--It is a generally
accepted principle of colours that when two surfaces of different
shades are placed in contiguity, each is changed as though it had
been mingled with the complementary of the other. Chevreul relates an
incident, in his Treatise on Colours, which so clearly sets forth this
important rule that it may be stated here. Certain merchants requested
a firm of manufacturers to ornament red, violet blue, and blue woven
stuffs with black spots or figures. When the goods were produced, the
merchants complained that the spots were not black, as ordered, but
that those on the red fabrics were tinged with green, on the violet
with dark greenish yellow, while those developed on the blue were
toned with a chocolate or coffee-coloured shade. Chevreul,[8] in order
to prove that the spots were perfectly black, covered the separate
grounds with white paper, when it was at once discovered that the
changes in the colours of the spots were entirely due to the contrast
ensuing between the black shades and the respective grounds on which
the spots had been arranged. All this conclusively shows that colour
is a modifier of colour, and hence those hues which possess bloom
and richness of tone on one species of coloured surface may be quite
different on another. It is a good plan to combine the shades in the
precise order in which they are intended to occur on a black ground.
Classification in this way enables the colourist to estimate at a
glance, without putting the pattern into the loom, the general tone of
the shades.
A common law of Colouring is, that the general effect of combining
colours is that they appear further apart in the chromatic scale. Thus,
when orange and red are combined, the former does not become reddish
or the latter orangish, but the red seems to approach purple and the
orange to assume a greenish cast. Complementary colours--_i.e._ those
farthest apart in hue--are the least affected by association, as is
evidenced by the results of such contrasts as red and green, blue and
orange, and yellow and purple. An illustration may elucidate this
primary principle of colour combinations. If a striped fabric were
composed of bands of rose (Tint 4, Plate IV.) and lavender (Tint 10,
Plate IV.) colours, one hue would help to give prominence to the
other, because they strongly contrast with each other. On the other
hand, if the same rose tint were combined with straw or primrose (Tint
16, Plate IV.), then the individuality of the separate colours would
suffer, for, being similar in character, they would neutralize each
other’s attributes, and would impinge upon one another. Hence, if in
colouring textiles, it is required to preserve the intrinsic attributes
of a shade, it should be combined with such colours as will differ most
decidedly from it in hue and other qualities; whereas, if it is sought
to change, by the law of contrast, any particular shade, it should be
brought into contiguity with potent colours more or less allied to it
in tone and hue.
[Illustration:
Plate VII
1. BLUE TEXTURE
2. FANCY-TWIST YARN SPECIMEN]
35. _Contrast._--What is termed “contrast” is that principle or quality
of tints which produces a change in their lustre, depth, saturation,
and hue, when in immediate contact with each other.
Contrast may be explained by considering the effect of black and grey
yarns in a woven style to which white is subsequently added. There is
contrast in the pattern before the white is introduced, but it lacks
precision and force. The addition of white imparts lustre to the grey,
and fulness of tone to the black. Correctly speaking, neither the black
nor the grey are changed by the white; they are, as it were, developed
by it. White, in this instance, has the same function as in shaded
drawings, in which clearness and boldness are given to form and outline
by increasing the dark element of some parts and the light element of
others. What may be designated a Tempered Contrast, originates when a
quantity of grey intervenes in a mixture of black and white. In the
shading of a round surface, this kind of contrast, in neutral tints, is
developed to perfection, undue harshness of effect being neutralized by
the gradual toning of black into white; but in the shading of angular
objects, the sudden transitions from the extreme light to the extreme
dark end of the scale of shades, produce good illustrations of the
characteristics of Decided Contrasts. A pattern composed solely of
black and white yarns is full of this kind of contrast, but by adding
grey a toning element is introduced which forms a mellowed or tempered
combination. Decided or “hard” contrasts, resulting from the use of
positive (primary and secondary) colours, are exactly the reverse of
graduated ones; they are inartistic, and deficient in softness which
constitutes good colouring; on the other hand, toned contrasts possess
richness and mellowness. Contrasts obtained by combining pure colours
may be harsh and displeasing to the eye. Red and blue, for example,
form a strong colour contrast, but this may be subdued by changing
them to tones or tints. This will be seen by combining the following
derivatives of these primaries: dark brown (Shade 1, Plate IV.) and
dark blue (Shade 7, Plate IV.), and rose pink (Tint 5, Plate IV.) and
blue lavender (Tint 11, Plate IV.). On account of the colours in these
cases being either shades or tints, they produce mellow or tempered and
not harsh or pronounced contrasts.
36. _Examples in Contrasts._--On Plate VIII. and in Nos. 1 and 2, two
illustrations in contrast are given. In No. 1 the two ground colours,
pale blue and straw, form a passable contrast, but the small lines
of orange impart harshness of effect to the stripe. The strength
of hue of this colour is not suitable for the stripings on which
it is placed. Providing only three colours were allowable in this
composition, then to prevent the orange from being too pronounced, it
should be softened or tempered as in the illustration, No. 2, Plate
VIII. While in this latter example the pale blue and straw remain the
same, yet the mellowing of the orange into a paler tint produces a
strip of colouring in which each element, being of similar depth of
tone, is equally prominent and effective. Comparing these illustrations
further, it is obvious that in No. 1 the orange characteristic first
strikes the eye. The slight hardness of tone does not arise from any
want of beauty in the separate colours, but from the relative undue
strength and vividness of the shade of orange. Providing this hue were
replaced by green, an imperfect contrast would be formed; for green,
while detracting from the lustre of the pale yellow or straw, would
also harmonize indifferently with the lavender or tempered blue. From
these illustrations it will be evident that in a satisfactory blend of
colours all hues contribute to the attractiveness of the _ensemble_;
but in an imperfect contrast one or more colours may subtract from the
lustre of adjacent hues, and partially neutralize their effect.
37. _Economic Contrasts._--Economic Contrasts comprise the production
of the most effective styles with a minimum variety of hues. It does
not follow because a pattern contains a diversity of shades that
it will be attractive. Just as it frequently happens that the most
permanently beautiful patterns result from the simple but unique
methods of amalgamating forms, so by the artistic arrangement of a few
choice colours excellent contrasts may be produced. To multiply the
diversity of hues in any combination without marked increase of beauty
is calculated to be more detrimental than beneficial to the style. An
economic method of colouring consists in blending shades or tints of
the same colour, and freshening or brightening the style by the use
of “extras” or “fancies.” To practise economy in colour compounds,
the first care should always be to obtain appropriate ground shades:
if these produce harmony and possess a rich though subdued bloom, but
few bright colours will be necessary to impart freshness and lustre to
the style. On the other hand, an indifferent selection of foundation
shades implies the employment of an increased range of fancies to tone,
strengthen, and brighten the contrasts.
38. _Two Kinds of Contrasts._--All types of colour compounds may be
included under two heads: namely, Mono-chromatic and Poly-chromatic
Contrasts. The former comprise all species of contrasts due to a
diversity of tint or shade in one colour; the latter comprise all kinds
of contrasts arising from combining two or more distinct colours.
The strongest and most effective colourings occur in poly-chromatic
contrasts; while soft, subdued, and graduated tonings are largely
characteristic of analogous colour contrasts. Blends of scarlet and
green, yellow and blue, and orange and purple are colour couplets which
illustrate the principles of contrast due to a diversity of hues; but
blends of two shades of brown, blue, or slate, form contrasts belonging
to the mono-chromatic class. In textile designing both these types of
colouring obtain. They are frequently present in the same pattern, for
a style may contain contrasts in shade, as well as contrasts in hue.
For example, if two shades of brown, forming the bulk of a pattern, are
brightened by extra threads of scarlet and blue, its colour elements
are a co-mixture of both kinds of contrasts defined above.
39. _Poly-chromatic Contrasts._--A suggestive illustration of this
species of colour arrangement is given on Plate VIII. in No. 3. It is a
scrap of textile ornament, borrowed from a Japanese work on decorative
fabrics found in a Buddhist temple. A more vigorous combination of
colours, possessed of greater potency and lustre, it would be difficult
to conceive. With such chromatic science have the various hues been
associated that each retains, unaffected, its individual strength and
vividness. Considering that this group of forms contains no fewer than
seven colours, in addition to black and white, and that the ground
shade is a deep purple, the lustre of the separate hues is exceptional
and a forcible quality of the design. Purple, as a rule, is a shade
that, in virtue of its potency, alters all colours with which it may
be mingled that are in any way akin to it, such as greens, blues, and
reds; but it forms strong and decided contrasts with yellow, orange,
and their derivatives. It becomes, therefore, an interesting inquiry,
why in this blend of hues, green and blue lose none of their freshness
and saturation. The method of arranging the colours, or the plan of
combination--comprising the couplets scarlet and orange, deep and pale
greens, and deep and pale blues--supplemented by the ingenious touches
of black and white, are elements at the base of the colour emphasis
characterizing the entire pattern. For the purpose of making the
sequent analysis as lucid and instructive as possible, one of the four
triple-leaved conventional forms surrounding the central diamond figure
may be isolated, and its colourings alone considered; for each of these
not only comprises every kind of hue entering into the design, but
also illustrates the system of colour-mingling adopted throughout the
design. Starting with the minute spots of scarlet--they are contingent,
on the one side, with the purple ground: and, on the other side, with
the small curved strips of orange. If the eye is allowed to single out
and rest upon these scarlet sections where they are in contiguity with
the purple, it will be noticed that the scarlet gains a crimsonish
hue; but the eye takes simultaneous cognizance of the whole series
of hues--a feature of the pattern which markedly contributes to the
freshness of the individual colours. As a result of the incompetency
of the eye to view the colours separately, and also on account of the
method of arranging the colours, green at once associates itself in
the mind of the observer with scarlet, and orange with pale green and
deep blue. The law of contrasts brings the complementary colours in
affinity, and, as a consequence, develops strength and fulness of hue.
Impingement of colours is by this means avoided. The white edging of
the leaves prevents the purple ground from affecting the purity of the
pale blue, and also imparts clearness of outline to the ornament in
general.
The lessons to be learnt from this colouring may be summarized as
follows: First, pure complementary colours, when adjacent, do not
neutralize, but develop the qualities of each other; second, that by an
appropriate use of white and black, as agents for separating colours,
kindred hues may be arranged to produce an attractive contrast; and
third, a medium shade of green gives lustre to scarlet, and palish
green and deepish blue are complementary to orange.