In taking up the other ways in which school children are using dyes, it is well to place emphasis upon the design elements involved. All dyeing as done by craftsmen and in the schools involves design. Even all-over dyeing is carried out with the idea of the dyed piece becoming a part of some larger whole.
The earliest use of dyes in the schools is in stick printing, and here begin the first lessons in pattern dyeing.
SUGGESTED USE OF BLOCK PRINTING FOR END PAPER
All shapes used in design resolve themselves into certain recognized types. These type shapes are the square, oblong, triangle, circle, ellipse and oval. There are also standards of color that have become associated with these types. They are red, yellow, blue, orange, green and violet. These shapes and colors are taught universally by teachers who train children in the elementary concepts of design.
It is the adjustment of these shapes and colors in space that constitutes design. It is the application of these shapes and colors to definite materials for definite uses in the child’s life that constitutes applied design.
When the child prints a square on his paper it is a real square and good in color. The next one will be a real duplicate, both in shape and color. The problem is where to put the duplicate. That is the essence of design, and both teacher and pupil are ready to take hold of it. There is time for discussion and drill. Results must follow. The child begins to sense and appreciate standards and to love accuracy, neatness and orderliness. His interest is sustained and his powers strengthened through satisfactory accomplishment. He plans, invents, and executes, acquires independence of thought and expression, and designs in accordance with his imagination and experience.
Very early in the child’s training, while the stick printing is unfolding the elements of design to him, he applies his designs to enrich his construction work. It is the time for the child to begin through concrete efforts to get rooted into his thinking that designs are made to be applied and that everything [!-- original location of illustration --] which contributes to his comfort, happiness and well-being exists because a design has been applied.