Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-10-03

TAPESTRY AN OLD ART.

Anyone wishing to locate the origin
OF tapestry must go back to prehistoric
times. Its foundation was laid when
hbers were first woven into fabric at
right angles. like ordinary basket
work. one of the Oldest examples OF
the art of weaving cXtant is some
fiaXen stuff taken from Il lake dwell
ling in Switzerland.
The ancient Greeks were the first to
facilitate this weaving process ~
hanging 4 number of parallel strings
to a horizontal beam and w them
taut by weights hung from their lower
ends. These threads or strings are
called the warp, the whole being the
loom.
To assist in the passing in and out
of the woof. a reed was passed through
the warp. dividing the threads lheo
two sets, called the leaves and form
ing AN opening called the shred,
through which the threads of tho wool
were passed. unrolling from a bob
bin called the shuttle. Fabrics thus
formed arc called textile and form the
basis for tapestry and embroidery.
The difference in the treatment of
the fabrics result in embroidery. car
pets or real tapestry. Embroidery is
an additional pattern appliqued on the
fabric. Carpets and tapestries refer
to changes in the body of the goods
It5cli, CITDttS uSudlly uINIiiS a sep
arate wool and warp of flax to
strengthen the material. alternating
with warps and woofs OF colored wool.
or goats or camels' hair.
Tapestry differs from the above in
not having a visible wool running
completely across the loom. one or
more threads OF the warp being caught
up by short stitches, knotted across
the back and cut off. The pattern of
, any desired design is formed by diff
ferent cclored threads and the whole
represents a smoother surface than
carpets and embroidery. The wool
stitches are put in loosely and car
pets fully pressed home. hiding the
warp strings completely.
There is no doubt about tapestry
being a very old art. 1t being more
tina likely that many of the woven
Greece We're real tapestry. Still it
was very little cultivated, and until
after the Twentieth century, embroid-
cry on a woven ground was the chief
form Of decoration of this kind. For
instance the so called Bayeaux tapes
try being but an embroidery work In
crewels of various colors on a linen
cloth nineteen inche wide and 225
yards long.
People began to cover articles Of
furniture with textile work in the mid
die ages both carpets and tapestry be-
NE uSSN 81 tlid II - lISluCuOly u
flcult to distinguish them. For in
stance. tapestry of Baldikine was n
carpet inwrought with gold and silv-
err breads. In the Fourteenth CEN
fury tapestry began to be largely made
In Flanders. At that time twenty-sev-
en- whole streets in Client were given
up to the weavers; there were &c.
600 In I.ouvain and a larger number
in Ypress. The fifty years before ehe
beginning of the Sixteenth century
was a golden age. especially in BruSes
and Arrass. The work turned out
decorative effect n graceful in draw
ing. the best Of this period being WOW
ell with about twenty different colors
Of wool, and faithfully copying paint
ings designed by the great masters.
This copying. however. proved the
fatal blow to true art in tapestry
Raphael's cartoons. for example, In
tended to be put behind the wary
as models Tor the tapestry worker tc
run in the co!ors We're made withou,
the least reference to textile require.
ments. The same stiffness is observ-
Gobelin factory in Paris. This fac.
J tory Is now h property of the state
, England a tapestry factories a
, Mortlake Soho. Fulham and Wind.
sor. while Italy's works are situated
j, at Ferrara. Florence, Venice, Turf,
! n Rome.
81 The Japanese have recently invented
a tapestry called the tzuzure-ori ir
which the cross threads extend onl,
to the outlines of each figure, ever!
part II h pattern having a rim o
: minute holes. Ike the perforations II
: q sheet az postage stamps. and thu
t appearing to stand out from the bacl
ground.
An average II 5000 persons Ian,
n | each 0ay In New. YOrk citv Prov, ocno