. Art crafts for amateurs . have imposed no artificial conditions, will act as astimulus when my readers essay something original \ forthe best use they can put my designs to, is to use them asdata or notes, and not as dogmas. In designing inlays, the first thing to remember is themethod of reproduction. The design is composed of anumber of pieces which have to be cut out of very thin INLA YING. 123 wood (veneers) and let into the surface to be decorated. Acertain simplicity, even severity, should characterise ourdesign. We must think of everything as a shape, as asilhouette in fact, and not a
. Art crafts for amateurs . have imposed no artificial conditions, will act as astimulus when my readers essay something original \ forthe best use they can put my designs to, is to use them asdata or notes, and not as dogmas. In designing inlays, the first thing to remember is themethod of reproduction. The design is composed of anumber of pieces which have to be cut out of very thin INLA YING. 123 wood (veneers) and let into the surface to be decorated. Acertain simplicity, even severity, should characterise ourdesign. We must think of everything as a shape, as asilhouette in fact, and not as a transcript of nature. Acertain ingenuity, therefore, should be displayed in the waywe combine our forms, seeing that there is no chance givenus of showing our skill in giving a true and faithful 1coppie of the natural form, such as can be exhibited by thepainter. Nature can be taken, indeed must be taken, asour guide and stimulus, but we must allow our fancy andingenuity free play, and above all we must be restrained by. No. 84.—Simple continuous Border, in which the stems are made theleading feature, nature being only distantly suggested in the fruit and leaves. the limitations imposed on us by our craft. We can takethe utmost licence with nature, twist a stem into a zigzag,continuous scroll, or other geometrical device, develop atendril or a leaf-stem until it becomes a purely ornamentalfeature, take what we want, and leave out what we do notwant of the plant form selected as the basis of our design ;and accordingly as we do this with fitness, ingenuity,balance, suitability to method of reproduction, to thatextent shall we be successful. The amateur must remember that designing is not taking anatural form and reproducing it in a certain conventional I24 ART CRAFTS FOR AMATEURS. way, but is developing ideas suggested by nature, andcarrying them out harmoniously. The final result maybear so distant a resemblance to the natural form as to berecognised only by ourselves. On
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdecorat, bookyear1901
