The Paducah daily sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1896-1898, 1898-05-07
THE NEW METHOD.
improved Process for the Manufacture q
Mosaics

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Mosaics.
The earliest specimens Of mosaic
work, known respectively as the Rom
an and the Florentine, are so familiar
to collectors as to require no descrip-
ton. Their period was followed by
the encaustic tiles, Of the so-cslled
Italian Renaissance, in which the sur
face Of the clay slab was carved or en-
graved in such manner that the
lines and surfaces to bs executed in
color in the design were sunken and
then filled with the required colored
clays. When the composition became
hard, the tiles were finished by shaw
ing the surface, and the design was
thus exposed in clear and sharp lines
A process subsequently introduced
by the English potters consisted in
preparing plaster mold having the
design raised upon its surface. Into
this mold the clay was pressed and the
tile was thus obtained at once with the
design sunken in the surface, without
the labor Of carving it out by hand
The laborious inlaying of the colored
clays and the shaving down Of the
surface was, however, still necessary,
This method, which is still in use in
England and the United States, has
the disadvantage of being tedious Of
execution and expensive, and with il
is difficult to secure product suffi.
GENTLY true for floor use, especially
when several colors are inlaid in the
same piece. In new process the
drawbacks attendant on the earlier
methods are said to be removed. II
affords a simple and ingenious me-
chanical means of making inlaid de-
signs Of various colored clays, repro
ducing the form and color OF any
original at comparatively low cost.
1t also renders possible theembodi.
ment Of such unique artistic charac-
teristics as to give promise of greatly
extending the field Of indestructible
polychromatic paving, flooring and
interior and exterior mural decoration
in modern architecture. The colored
clays are distributed TO the compart-
ments Of the frames by sitting them
through prepared stencils OF stiff
paper, and an improved cecil frame"
is used for holding the body Of the
pulverized clays distributed through
the stencils. BY these means any de-
sign or part Of the design Of large area,
falling on a single tile, can be exc.
cuted without the use of a special CON-
partment frame, which made the old
processes excessively costly. To il
lustrate the great saving in cost it may
be stated that wherein the oldermeth-
DDS Reconstruction of compartment
frames for given piece of work would
require $500 working days of the
services Of a skilled mechanic, the
paper stencils for the same product by
the new system would occupy a girl
for only 20 working days. The gen
eral effect produced by the new
work has been compared with that of
designs in woven fabrics, made upon
the jacquard loom. In fact it adapts
the principle of the jacquard inven-
ton to the art of mosaic work. This
invention is intended for the produc-
ton of mural tablets, friezes, mosaic
foorings, etc, and for interiors and
exteriors, to be viewed at a consider
able distance from the eye. Its place
in the architecture of the future is
said to be assured. st. Louis Globe
Democrat.