The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-10-10
10, 1884. WHOLE NO. 796
WOMAN AND HOME.
What "Clara Belle" Has to Say Of
Autumn Fashions.
Yellow and GoId-CrueIiy MIsunder-
stood - Beauty OF American
Women - Industrial De
signing for Women.
ISt. Louis Globe. Democrat. l

lob StrlODe-DelnOcrat.l
The craze for painting china and wall deco
ratiOns has induced many scores Of women,
who have not an iota Of talent for the art of
painting, 10 imagine that they have, AMI that
in fact what they do not know about it is not
worth trying to find out. But there are ex-
ceptions, and there are many whose talk
about chrome yellow with touch of red,"
or "ultramarine with a shade Of crimson"
Is not less instructive than entertaining.
Nevertheless. the interest taken is q healtny
sign, since it shows that there is something
attractive in the work as well as the
worker and the efforts in this direction arc
generally likely to lead up To something
better.
Before q woman enters into tho industrial
designing us a business, however, she ought
to be sure that she has talent for it; other
wise her time will be worse than wasted.
industrial designing means designing for
wall-pal er, lace, silk ch!ntz, calico, Oil
cloth, GnOleum, b0ok-Covers, embroidery,
wood-carving, silverware, jewelry, silks,
handkerchiefs. and carpets of all grades from
!ngrains to moquettes" 1t is now only
question of time when all such work will be
done by women, though up to the present it
has been largely moEopoliZed by men. To
do it properly requires an eye for color as
well As for form; the ability to draw must DO
q natural gift and the woman to succeed
must not only have ideas of her own, but
what is a rarer gift power of combination;
that is, from number Of designs to take
parts OF each, and from these parts produce
q new pattern.
Those who have not had the opportunity to
inform themselves would be surprised to
learn Of the lively demand there is at all
times for new designs. One might suppose
that single design would last
lifetime, but such Is not tho
fact; the fashions in carpets, wall
paper and oilcloth are as changing as the
fashions in bonnets and dresses, each manu-
facturer competing with his neishbors to
get something new and each willing to pay
handsomely for anything striking or original
Good designs can therefore always find IA
ready sale, while pale or poor patterns have
no chance whatever.
There are several schools in this country
where industrial designing is taught as
business, their courses Of study being extern
sive and requiring from two to four years to
complete. After woman has thoroughly
prepared herself at one of these schools she
can command good though not the highest
wages These are monopoized by men, who
received from 81 900 to $4,000 a year for
such work. The best plan for women who
desire to do work OF this kind is for them to
take it home and work by the piece. The
pay for good carpet design is $50 to $50, and
this may be very good or very poor pay, de-
pending upon the length of time required for
the design. Designs for wallpaper are
worth $40 to $40 and for oilcloth IS to $l5.
or course, all the designs cannot DO sold, SO
tie earnings in this line of work are ex-
trenlely uncertain.