. Art crafts for amateurs . analytical age any formof ////consciousness isrefreshing. Some of these quali-ties are seen in the ex-ample No. 120, which ap-pears to be a reproduc-tion of an old piece ofwork. Here we havethe archaicness I men-tioned, and, looked atcritically, it is very weakin design, the curvesbeing very feeble andthe whole panel wantingin logical coherence;yet I dare say manywould prefer this ex-ample to those in which a much greater effort had beenmade to evolve a high-class design. It will be gathered that I am an opponent of prettiness inthe crafts, especially in that of the
. Art crafts for amateurs . analytical age any formof ////consciousness isrefreshing. Some of these quali-ties are seen in the ex-ample No. 120, which ap-pears to be a reproduc-tion of an old piece ofwork. Here we havethe archaicness I men-tioned, and, looked atcritically, it is very weakin design, the curvesbeing very feeble andthe whole panel wantingin logical coherence;yet I dare say manywould prefer this ex-ample to those in which a much greater effort had beenmade to evolve a high-class design. It will be gathered that I am an opponent of prettiness inthe crafts, especially in that of the needle, for the stitchesthemselves, if cunningly ^done and with nice-colouredthreads, will give us all the prettiness we need. We mustthink of those other qualities, character, individuality,naivete, the adaptation of means to end. Such a work asthe Chasuble, No. 121, possibly Sicilian work of the seven-teenth century, is astonishingly rich in effect. It is a moreor less traditional pattern, as some form of this decorated. No. 124.— Conventional Sprig, fromsixteenth-century work. NEEDLEWORK* 181 scroll is constantly met with in the work of that period, andthe rich and very varied colouring of the original is barelyhinted at in the reproduction. The worker, in stitching thecurious ornamental flowers and fruit growing on the wavystem, would exhibit her skill in stitching and fancy incolouring them, for all the details being so removed fromindividual forms in nature, the worker would feel unfetteredin colouring the design and her fancy would have rein,whereas had there been a more direct reference to naturethe workers individuality would have been brought muchless into play, and this cramping would have been a serioushandicap both to herself and her work. This brings us to the consideration of how far naturalforms should be used inembroidery. Those whodraw plant form muchfrom nature are oftendisposed to use theirstudies too much asthey find them in theirnote books. Havingmade a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdecorat, bookyear1901
