DYEING
In the discussion of the problem of hand weaving, frequent reference has been made to the use of coloured materials. While it is possible to obtain many good colours in the market, it is much more satisfactory to make these colours at home by the use of the dye pot. In former times, when hand weaving was general, there was no other way; and, in fact, dyeing and weaving may well be considered now, as they were then, sister arts. When the wool was washed, carded into rolls, spun into yarn, and again doubled and twisted, it was, generally speaking, still necessary to treat the yarn with some permanent dye before weaving it into cloth. One notable exception was found in the natural gray homespun, which was of yarn spun from the wool of both the black and the white sheep carded together. The modern worker with the hand loom will find almost the same necessity as our grandmothers did for a knowledge of the art of dyeing. Seldom will she find at hand just the shade or colour required by the design of the piece to be woven. Much of the material that is worked up for the woof of rugs, for example, will be found to be so faded or spotted that it would poorly repay one for the labour of weaving it up in that condition. And even the new material, which it is often necessary to procure for plain weaving, for pattern weaving, and for use in borders, will often need a bath in the dye pot in order to furnish the tone of colour needed.
Some Good Points in Dyeing.—Good results in dyeing are obtained by using the prepared dyes of the markets, mixing together more than one colour often, after some experimenting, in order to produce the desired shade. Instead of mixing the dye one may, if she chooses, dye first in one colour and top off with another. A fine permanent green is obtained by dyeing thread or cloth a good yellow and topping with a blue bath. Green and blue dye used together give neither green nor blue but a blending of both colours, which is exceedingly pleasing. In all cases it is better to make the dye bath weak, leaving the article to be dyed in the bath a long time rather than to keep it a shorter time in a stronger dye. The advantage is not only greater permanency of colour but also greater certainty in the result; for one can watch the process of dyeing more easily and guard against the colours becoming too dark. The material which remains in the dye bath until it takes practically all the colour from it may generally be depended upon neither to fade nor crock.
Some Common Dyes.—The dull, soft colours, made generations ago from barks and teas with alum as a mordant, had artistic qualities and were generally permanent. It is well worth while to experiment in this direction. Straw colour may be made from the old-fashioned herb saffron; orange comes from madder and fustic; yellow is obtained from powdered dock root; rusty nails boiled in vinegar with a bit of copperas give a good black dye, useful also in freshening black yarns that have acquired a dull or faded colour. White maple bark boiled in water makes a fine medium brown which may be made fast by first treating the cloth or yarn to be dyed in it with a solution of alum. A permanent and fine nankeen colour may be made from a pail of lye with a piece of copperas half the size of an egg boiled in it. In fact, nearly everything which possesses colour may be considered a dye. Vegetable substances are generally in themselves more permanent, but most dyes need to be fixed or "set" by the use of some mordant. All this will mean much experimenting, of course, unless one is fortunate enough to possess an old receipt book with its quaint allusions to mordants, kettles of brass, and vessels of pewter. The use of the prepared dyes, which may be easily obtained with explicit directions, is generally satisfactory and of course somewhat easier; and yet the interest which inspires one to cultivate the art of hand weaving leads to a desire to master all of the arts intimately associated with this ancient and fascinating home industry.
[X]
POTTERY
To watch a potter thumping his wet clay—Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The boy who makes his mud pie, baking it in the sun, and the Indian who, ages ago, coiled clay in a basket which he burned away, are but two widely separated links in a continuous chain; for men of all time have found a fascination in the wet clay that is so easily moulded and fashioned into all manner of things of beauty and of use. And, beside the joy of exercising the creative faculty, there has also been the spur of a common need to inspire men of different races, independently of each other, to develop the primitive household arts, like pottery and rug making, by the use of methods no less remarkable for their similarity than for their cleverness. The impressions that the primitive man received from his natural surroundings were easily expressed in the plastic mud, and it was probably not long before he discovered that fire made them permanent and practically indestructible. Improvement was bound to come in due time. By washing the grosser impurities from the clay mud through a process in which the heavier particles settled, leaving the silt or finer clay to be poured off, some artist of a very early time found a material that became one of his most valuable helps in adding to the furnishings of his tribal household. First it was simply burned clay; but in due time enamel or glazed work found its use in tiles for building purposes, in grain jars, in wine jugs, in many kinds of table ware; for the uses of ancient terra cotta and porcelain were numerous.
Girls at Work on Pottery
[Plate XI]
The primitive arts, however, were not confined to objects of necessary use. We find, buried with the ruins of ancient cities, many evidences of the potter's craft, and among them articles for decorating the home, for personal adornment, and for religious use, like the rings and scarabs of Egypt. And in modern decorative art, as applied in the household, the one final touch which gives that indescribable charm, which it is the aim of all art to give, is perhaps to be found in a few—a very few—choice bits of pottery.
All of this use of clay, from the rude art of prehistoric times to the finest product of modern skill, is based on a plain scientific fact, viz., that a small quantity of water in the clay, not removable by any ordinary means of drying, can be driven out by intense heat so as to cause a permanent change in the character of the clay. This water is called the water of combination. If the clay is not heated more than enough to dry it, a later mixing with water restores it to its former plastic state; but clay once burned has lost its water of combination and never can return to its original condition.
Most beginners in clay modelling will expect, perhaps in the early stages of their work, to be made acquainted with the potter's wheel; for who has not heard of this interesting device? It is of interest chiefly because of its practical utility in the manufacture of pottery; and yet no one can forget the potter's song with which Longfellow begins his beautiful poem Keramos, making it a text for a sermon on the philosophy of life:
"Turn, turn, my wheel! Turn round and round
Without a pause, without a sound;
So spins the flying world away!
This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,
Follows the motion of my hand;
For some must follow, and some command,
Though all are made of clay!"
Potter's Wheel Unnecessary.—The potter's wheel was used in comparatively early times and has been intimately associated with the art ever since. But it requires much physical strength and considerable skill to use it effectively; and its use has been by no means universal. We find the Indians of our own time and people of other races, expert in building pottery by hand, using the method of coiling. It seems best, therefore, to advise beginners to adopt the simpler method and to forego the use of the potter's wheel. The comparative inexpensiveness of the hand method of building is another point in its favour. The tools required are few and simple. Inexpensive and easy methods are favourable to the experimental stage; and it is well for the amateur to have every encouragement to experiment freely both with methods for building and with designs for his ware, keeping in mind always that the beautiful is generally the simple and strong, not the fantastic and complicated.
The Method of Coiling.—It will be understood, therefore, that in general the process to be followed consists in building up the bowl or jar or whatever the design may be by using coils of clay of the right consistency, welding and shaping them together, and scraping them down, if necessary, until they are ready to receive the first firing. After this they may receive a coating of glaze and be fired again. At first the beginner will find his chief interest simply in experimenting with the building up process.