The practical book of early American arts and crafts . results were concerned. Nevertheless, the speci-mens that have come down to us are amusing and show adecided spirit of independence and enterprise on thepart of American craftsmen which ought to affordencouragement to the present craftsworker, endowedwith infinitely superior facilities. FABRICS Matebiaxs Used. As we have seen from Dewingsadvertisement, calico was a favourite material for blockprinting. Besides this, linen, muslin, and any kind ofcotton cloth could be used. Most of the fragments thathave been preserved are either of linen o
The practical book of early American arts and crafts . results were concerned. Nevertheless, the speci-mens that have come down to us are amusing and show adecided spirit of independence and enterprise on thepart of American craftsmen which ought to affordencouragement to the present craftsworker, endowedwith infinitely superior facilities. FABRICS Matebiaxs Used. As we have seen from Dewingsadvertisement, calico was a favourite material for blockprinting. Besides this, linen, muslin, and any kind ofcotton cloth could be used. Most of the fragments thathave been preserved are either of linen or calico. The colours were made from vegetable dyes, bluesand reds being the usual favourites. 300 EARLY AMERICAN ARTS AND CRAFTS The blocks were generally about an inch thick andof any size and shape the design to be printed called fine, close-grained wood had to be used so that thedesign could be cleanly cut: pear, maple, box, holly,bass, or gum was suitable for this purpose. The designwas carved in bold relief with a smooth surface (Fig. 1),. Fig. 1. Pearwood Handblock with design carved in sharp relief. Frishmuth Collection,Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. or else reversed so that the design was incised. Theeffect of the first was to print the design in colour on thefabric; the effect of the second was to colour the back^ground and reserve the design in white or whatever wasthe natural colour of the fabric before the dye wasapplied. Specimens of both are shown in the plateillustrations. Peocesses. The design was first drawn upon the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade191, booksubjectdecorationandornament
