The Knitted Rug Page 3

        Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9 - Page 10
        Page 11 - Page 12

If there is one thing above others for the student to remember, it is that in handicraft the conditions under which work is produced seldom repeat themselves. While this is true of any branch of handicraft it is especially true of branches like dyeing and pottery where certain chemical action is involved. Here many new conditions arise, and the original plan of work must often be changed to conform to them. While this makes some difficulties, it also adds charm and interest to each problem. The craftsman who is most successful in the dyer's art is one who possesses most artistic adaptability. The worker will not be discouraged by any new condition which arises, but will seek to adopt it by including it in the original plan, to which it often proves a valuable addition. All handicraft is largely experimental and while help and advice must sometimes come from outside, each handicrafter will find it more profitable to make original experiments and will in this way discover a peculiar educational value in the work.

THE DESIGN
As the technical problem of the knitted rug is so simple, the design should be made an important feature in order to lift it out of the common-place and into the rank of dignified handicraft. The design must conform to the structure of the rug and take advantage of its technical peculiarities.

As it is always more interesting to plan a design which has some association with a familiar, natural object, the fruit of the gourd vine has been selected as a suggestion for the surface decoration. In the designer's terms it is the subject-matter or natural prototype which becomes the motif of the design when applied to handicraft. But since good design is not pictorial, the motif must become abstract before it is applied. It therefore only suggests decoratively the natural type because all its relatively unimportant features have been taken out for the sake of decoration. Only too often attempts are made to make a picture instead of an article of handicraft. It is manifestly impossible to reproduce natural form by the craftsman's skill, for many things which can be represented in paint cannot be reproduced in woolen thread. The result is always complicated and inartistic. Decorative art is the interpreter of natural form, not the imitator, and only truly serves the designer's purpose when it offers suggestion for conventional motif to be applied to handicraft.

Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9 - Page 10
Page 11 - Page 12

The Craft Of Handmade Rugs - View The Rest Of The Book

Introduction - Some Old Time Rugs - A Word About Dyes - The Braided Rug - The Scalloped Doormat Or Tongue Rug - The Crocheted Rug - The Hooked Rug In Cotton And Wool - The Needle-Woven Rug
The Colonial Rag Rug - Some Applications - Newer Methods Of Stencil Making - The Tufted Counterpane
Old Time Lights - The Batik Or Wax Resist Process