The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-04-17
The GObelin TaDestries.

Gobellns were woven in horizontal
frames, similar to those used by ladies
in ordinary tapestry work. It was the
painter Lebrun who introduced the YER
tical frames still in use; both for carpet
and tapestry making. This upright
frame is from four to eight yards wide
and the warp chain is stretched on it
vertically. Behind this frame sits the
artist with his model or pattern behind
him. After having, with the assistance
of tracing-paper, transferred the OUT
lines of the pattern to the. warp he in
dicates the dark shades by the series of
black and the light shades by a series
of red dots for the portion of the work
which he expects to execute during the
day. Having 'smade up his box'' with
the spindles of worsted of such colors
as viii be needed for that day, he be-
gins to execute, using the spindles
called brooches, instead of shuttles, such
as are made use of by weavers.. Ac-
cording as the pattern demands, he
twists the woof (frame) around one,
two or three threads of the warp, fast
ening it with a knot, and repeats this
process with the same or with differ
ent colored worsted, according to pat
term at which he of course glances from
time to time. 1t is because he has to
tie this knot on the wrong side of
the warp that the artist is COM
PEELED to stand behind the frame.
The work is exceedingly slow, de-
manding great manual skill and also
much judgment in the selection of the
colors. 193TiEGE a EIgIaw .asi.4&t
1t is mosaic work, but instead of lit.
tie stone cubes the tapestry artist uses
colored worsted. The tapestry in front
of which we are standing is about 6x10
feet in size; 1t is not yet one-third fin
ished, and yet the artist has been work
ing on it for more than three years.
1t win take him about eight more years
to finish his work, and when it is done
it will represent 3 pastoral scene-a q
young man and young woman at the
side of a lake, ducks and swans swim
ming in the waters, COWS in the back
ground, flowers and shrubbery, servants
in livery, distant chateau4in brief. a
sort of Vatican in worsted.T Its value
will be very large; I cannot say how
much, as It will not be for sale From
the tapestry atelier we 60 into the car
pet-weaving rooms, where the artists
stand in front of their frames and have
their patterns spread out above their
heads The workmen are, less skillful
and the worsted much coarser here
than in the room we have just left. and
when this woof is passed around the
warp it is cut off at a certain distance
SO as to leave long. nap, the thickness
of the carpet depending on this length.
As the pattern progresses this nap is
clipped with q pair of shears SO as to
present a uniformly even surface, and
thus is formed what is known in COM
merce as a velvet carpet. Ff.
1t is believed that the success of the
Gobelins depends to great extent on
the excellence, of its colors and l.! that
these are only obtained by using the
waters of the little stream on the banks
of which it stands. This, however, isa
mistake, for the waters ot the Bievre
have become so befou1ed by the nu-
merous dyehouses, and tanReries in this
part of Paris that It is no longer used
by the Gobelins and has not been for a
great many years. All the dye waters
come from the city works-frorn the
. same reservoirs that supply my bath
room. The woods used are carefully
selected and assorted according totheir
degree of fineness when received from
the spinning -mill., They are then freed
from all trace of oil or grease, after
which they are washed in thin white.
wash; then they are arranged in skeins
and plunged into asolntion Of alum on
of boiling cream of tartar; finally they
are placed in the dye-vats. The simple
colorss are obtained by iplunging the
skeins several times in the vat.a Each
tint has its scale (gamme) of "a tones,
which pass from the deepest to the
lightest shade, and the. ightest of al
are obtained when the solution is the
weakest 1t is practice rather thar
theory that guides the dyer in obtain.
ing these various shades. When tht
color is composite one the dyer mus
know, how to, restore TO the mixture
that ingredient which is most rapidly
absorbed, in order to keep it as even aE
possible; ..5 T.-s z..z.
The greatest difficulty Of the art d
dyeing is ito obtain neutral tints Oft
good shade. / believe they have sue
ceeded in entirely overcoming this diff
Guilty out at the Gobelins. When the
woods are dyed they are washed anC
| semitic the warehouse, whence they are
distributed to the tapestry or carpe
weavers of the Gobelins or at Beauvais
| Formerly the woods were rolled up II
balls, but now they are wound on thl
spindles and then kept in drawers in :
dark room, so as to prevent the .discol
oring effect of light on the dyes. During
the reign of Louis XIV, when the artist
at the Gobelihs had to reproduce th,
pictnressof the painters of those days
in which delicate shades and neutra
tints predominated, the dyers made on1,
| such shades as were needed. Their
were about 1000 different tints regis
! tered, each tint comprising abou
| twelve tones, but the result was a con
4 fusion from which there was no escape
! The use of this infinite variety of shade
and natural tintsresulted in their rapi'
fading or discoIorization. and this j
the reason why so many of the tapes
| tries executed during the latter part 0
the eighteenth century have such
| washed-out, faded appearance. Pars
] Cor. San Fran cisco Chr0n6cJe. af5sa
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