Process for Reproducing Tapestry Paintings.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Oct., 1897-Accepted, 20th Nov., 1897
Process for Reproducing Tapestry Paintings.
°
I, DUGALD CLERK, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent of 18 Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for Process for Reproducing Tapestry Paintings, (a communication
from abroad by The Winters Company, of West High Street, Springfield, Clark
County, Ohio, United States of America, a Body Corporate), and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My invention relates to the process for reproducing pictures or paintings upon
ribbed fabrics generally known as tapestry.
It has become common in the art to produce on ribbed fabrics called tapestry
works of art by hand painting; the peculiar surface of the fabric in connection
with the colors employed giving to the picture a soft and distinctive effect which
characterizes it as a tapestry painting. In producing paintings of this character,
the colors employed are more in the nature of washes and of a less consistency
The result is that
than the ordinary oil colors employed in paintings on canvas.
the colors follow the fibres of the fabric into the ridges and valleys between the
ridges as well as on the ridges themselves, which to a large extent gives the
finished picture the soft pleasing effect which characterizes tapestry paintings.
In carrying out my invention I have sought to reproduce all of these effects
The ribbed fabric or tapestry
mechanically and this I accomplish as follows:
is first treated with a filler applied in the form of a liquid, which filler has an
affinity for the colors to be employed and it preferably has the quality of drying
into the fabric so as to become a part thereof, or of evaporating out of the same
after the picture has been reproduced, the last quality being preferable.
When the fabric is thus treated the picture or painting is reproduced thereon
by printing from flat surfaces, preferably stones or plates, properly treated by
the employment of colors which have an affinity for the surface from which the
These
printing is done and also for the filler with which the fabric is treated.
colors are usually applied by successive operations and while the fabric is still
wet and softened by the filler or filling compound. /
A more detailed description of my improved process is as follows: I take the
ordinary tapestry or ribbed fabric which is used as the ground for tapestry paint-
ing. To this I apply a filler which has an affinity for the colors to be employed.
The colors which I preferably employ are those which are generally used in the
lithographic process having an affinity for the lithographic stone.
employ a filler which has an affinity for colors or paints of this character. For
I therefore

page_text: this purpose it is desirable as before stated that the filler have the quality not only
of absorbing and conveying the colors for which it has affinity, but also should
have the quality of drying into the fabric or of evaporating out of the same, and
the most successful filler which I so far have employed is paraffine oil, thinned
slightly with kerosene or coal oil. I have found also that linseed oil, castor oil,
and similar substances can be employed witlr more or less perfect results, the
heavier substances generally producing better results when they are thinned by
the addition of kerosene or some other thin or volatile liquids.
In applying the filler, I preferably employ a stone or plate of the same character-
istics as those from which the printing is done, except in this instance the plate
is perfectly plain and the filler is applied to the entire surface thereof. This
stone or plate is put into a press in the ordinary manner and the fabric run
through until it has taken up a sufficient quantity to be well saturated therewith.
By this process the filler is applied-evenly and uniformly to the fabric and the
exact.condition desirable may be attained by a greater or less number of impressions
upon the press. After the application of the filler and while the fabric is still
wet and pliable, it is treated successively to the color plates and by reason of the
soft and pliable condition of the fabric and the affinity which the fabric has for
the colors used, the colors are readily absorbed by the fabric and pass into the
valleys as well as onto the ridges of the cloth and thus produce in all the minute-
ness of 'detail the effects produced by hand paintings with, the colors and washes
employed in this branch of the art.
Where a number of colors are employed, and therefore a number of successively
impressions are required, it may be desirable to make a second or even a third
application of the filler, which can be done in the manner first described, that is,
by passing the fabric through a press with the filler plate at any stage of the
operation, it being essential however, to the process that the fabric should be
properly saturated by the filler before and during the process of reproducing or
transferring the colors to the fabric.
When stones are employed for applying the colors the process is substantially
the same as the ordinary lithographic process now in use, modified only as to the
conditions of printing and colors which experience may dictate to adapt them to
a fabric instead of to the ordinary lithographic paper.
By following out carefully the process thus described I have found it possible
to reproduce mechanically upon tapestry pictures which have all the characteristics
of hand-painted tapestry.
While the lithographic stone is preferable in carrying out the process it is possible
to use metallic plates when the surfaces are treated in a manner known in the
art so as to have affinity for the colors employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. The process for producing artistic effects on tapestry which consists in treat-
ing the tapestry fabric to a filler having affinity for the colors to be employed
and applying said colors to said fabric while wet by impressions from flat surfaces,
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
"
2. The process of producing artistic effects on fabrics or tapestries which con-
sists in treating said fabrics to an application of a filler having an affinity for the
colors and applying said colors to said fabric by impressions from plates having
an affinity for the colors, substantially as specified.
3. The process of producing artistic effects upon ribbed fabric or tapestry which
consists in treating such fabric by a filler of paraffine oil and kerosene, of employing
colors having an affinity for the filler; applying said colors to flat surfaces having
an affinity for the colors and making impressions between the flat surfaces and the
fabric while the same is wet with the filler, substantially as specified.
4. An article of manufacture consisting of a tapestry having artistic effects

page_text: produced thereon in colours by impressions from flat surfaces while the fabric is
wet by a filler having an affinity for the colors, substantially as specified.
Dated this 2nd day of October 1897.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents.