Jacquard Weaving and Designing

by T. F. Bell

A pantagraph is sometimes useful, and proportional compasses are a great assistance if very correct enlargements are required. When a careful outline of the pattern is made upon the design paper, it is then painted. Some painters dot round the outlines, and in large forms leave them to be filled in by assistants; others paint in solid as they go along. Vermilion and scarlet and crimson lakes are the paints mostly used. The first is easily washed out, but the lakes are more transparent, and admit of the checks on the paper being clearly seen through it, which is a benefit to both twiller and card-cutter. Scarlet lake, with from a half to a quarter its quantity of crimson lake mixed with it, makes a very good paint. The ordinary water-colour cakes are the best paints to use, but powdered colour is sometimes preferred on account of its cheapness. In [Fig. 70] the painting is all black, with white twilling on the flowering.

Simple flat ornamental forms, if of sufficient size, are not difficult to put on the design paper, but more intricate forms and shaded effects require a considerable amount of skill, and are tedious, unless to an experienced hand, the difficulty being to get the checks on the design paper to express the figures in the best possible manner, and frequently it is necessary to slightly alter the forms to make them come nicely on the paper.

When the sketch has to be enlarged to, say, three or four times its size, a slight inaccuracy in the painting will have but little effect, as it will be reduced on the cloth. At the same time, advantage should not be taken of this to employ inferior hands at the work, as, the more correct the painting, the more correct will be the pattern on the cloth, although it be reduced in size; and a ragged-edged painting will never have a clear, defined appearance on the cloth. It is in coarse coloured work, such as carpets, that the accuracy of the painting is of the utmost importance, as the pattern on the cloth is as large as, or may be much larger than, it is on the design paper; therefore all inaccuracies are magnified, and no forms that do not come satisfactory on the squares of the paper will have a good appearance on the cloth, so that to a great extent the design must be made to suit the paper. When the pattern is all painted on the design paper, both the ground and pattern for ordinary full-harness work have to be dotted over with the texture of the cloth. This is called twilling. In [Fig. 70] the texture is a 5-end satin on both ground and flower. For twilling the ground the same colour is used as the flower or figured portion is painted with, and for the figured portion black is mostly used, sometimes white. The twilling dots on the figure mean blanks, as if these checks were left without any colour on them, or as the ground, and they are passed over by the card-cutter when the cards are being cut.

In twilling care must be taken not to run the dots up against the edges of the flowering so as to injure the form of the figures. In some cases, as at any flat portion, such as a horizontal or vertical line, or any portion of one, this cannot be avoided, but the red dots on the ground should here fall in against the black dots on the figure. It is necessary to begin one set of dots against the other set to carry this out as far as possible, and in some cases, when they will not join, the dots are set out of their places to make them come together. The two dots coming together bind the threads and keep the last thread of the ground on one side, and of the figure on the opposite side—according as it is the weft or warp that is forming the line—from hanging loose or sliding out from the others. The direction of the twill on the ground or flower may vary so as to suit the twill used, and whether a satin or sateen effect is required. Various kinds of twills are frequently used to give effect, but too great an irregularity of texture should be avoided, though a plain ground, with an 8-or 10-end satin for the flowering, may be used for handkerchiefs with a good effect; for heavier work a 5-end satin ground and an 8-end satin figuring may be used, but for firm, strong cloth an 8-end satin for both ground and figure is much better, letting either warp or weft predominate largely in the cloth.

[Fig. 72] shows how a leaf or any piece of ornament may be shaded; care should always be taken not to let the texture be too close at any part in the shaded portion so as to make hard pieces in the cloth, as would be the case if a plain texture were used in a firm cloth.

Fig. 72

[Fig. 73] shows how a flower and bud should be painted so as to give a natural, or rather semi-natural, representation. The shading should be made to express the form as well as possible; a variety may also be made in the twilling on the flower, as may be seen on the front petal, where a straight twill is used; this makes the cloth richer and the petal come out fuller. This pattern is rather small on the design paper to come well on the cloth; it would be better twice as large, as it may be seen that in many cases single lines of the design paper have to be used for divisions, and for full-harness work it is generally better to have at least two lines, representing two threads.