Fig. 67
The same cards will suit in this case for several sets of cloth, if required. Of course it is plain that the friction on the harness twines working through the two cumber boards must be greatly increased from that of the ordinary method of working; but for light work, and when the harness is not required to last long, it may prove very serviceable when frequent changes are required, as it furnishes a ready means of accomplishing the desired object, which cannot be done without cost in some direction. For wide looms or intricate mountings it will not be of much service. In the Figure only one hook of the jacquard is given, for simplicity, but the harness would be filled up in the usual manner. If the harness is built with long mails having several eyes in them, the second cumber board is not required; the slips can be shifted and the warp levelled by drawing it through suitable holes in the mails.
CHAPTER IV
DESIGNING AND DRAUGHTING
Designing is the composing, drawing, and colouring, if necessary, of the sketches for jacquard patterns, and in some cases planning the texture of the cloth; and draughting (or drafting) is the term usually applied to the painting of the patterns upon design paper.
A designer should be a first-class draughtsman, and have a thorough knowledge of the various styles of ornament; he should also be well practised in drawing floral forms from Nature, without which there is generally a stiffness and want of freedom in his style of work. For coloured work, such as carpets, &c., skilful colouring is the most essential point. No drawing will atone for bad colouring; at the same time, good colouring should not be wasted on bad drawing.
A designer may draught his own patterns, and if he is an experienced draughtsman with a good knowledge of weaving, perhaps this is the most successful method of working; but if the greater portion of his time is to be taken up with draughting, his talent as a designer will be, to a great extent, lost, and he will probably deteriorate; besides, he will not have the same opportunity for getting up a variety of designs that he would have if he had nothing else to attend to. A designer for any class of work should have a knowledge of the technicalities of the material for which he is designing a pattern; at the same time, a very slight knowledge is essentially requisite, provided the sketch be given into proper hands to be worked out. It must be remembered, however, that in this case a sketch may often have to be taken only as an idea for a pattern, and not be handed by the manufacturer to the draughtsman with directions to make a truthful reproduction of it on the cloth. A draughtsman may be a skilful designer as well, or he may be a skilful draughtsman and have very little powers of designing. When he is a designer, the most successful method of getting a variety of patterns would be for the manufacturer to purchase sketches for ideas and hand them over to his designer, who will be considered to have a thorough knowledge of the practical work, to prepare them to suit the fabrics for which they are intended, perhaps completely altering them, making two or three out of one, or combining two or more to make one pattern if necessary—in fact, using them as material to work from. They may then be handed over to the draughtsmen, or be sent to a designing establishment for draughting and cutting. In case the manufacturer has no designer in his place, but only a draughtsman, the sketches must be bought prepared to suit his fabrics, or it would be better to have the complete work done, in many cases, at a designing establishment. Of course, in draughting, as in all classes of work, a great deal of the less important portions may be done by junior hands, but a knowledge of drawing is required, if only to guide the eye, by them all, except the twillers.