Fig. 106 (reduced)
The diaper is selected for a beginning, because it is the easiest form of pattern to make, as there is no question of getting round corners, and very little of studying proportion. It is selected also because it teaches the student the decorative value of simple forms repeated on some orderly system. When he has grasped this, he has grasped the underlying principle of nearly all successful tooled ornament. Diapers are good practice, because in a close, all-over pattern the tools must be put down in definite places, or an appalling muddle will result. In tooling; a repeat of the same few tools, is the best possible practice, giving as it does the same work over and over again under precisely the same conditions, and concentrating, on one book cover, the practice that might be spread over several backs and sides more sparingly decorated, when variety of conditions would confuse the student.
Fig. 107.
When the principles of the diaper have been mastered, and the student has become familiar with the limitations of his tools, other schemes of decoration may be attempted, such as borders, centres, or panels.
A form of border connected with cross-lines is shown at [fig. 106]. This is made up of a repeat of the spray built up of three tools and four gouges shown at [fig. 107], with slight modification at the corners. Other schemes for borders are those in which flowers grow inwards from the edge of the boards, or outwards from a panel at the centre, or on both sides of a line about half an inch from the edge. A pattern may also be made to grow all round the centre panel. Borders will be found more difficult to manage than simple diapers, and at first, are best built up on the same principle—the repeat of some simple element.
Fig. 108 (reduced)