Art crafts for amateurs (1901) (14783031813)

Identifier: artcraftsforamat00mill (find matches)
Title: Art crafts for amateurs
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Miller, Fred, decorative artist
Subjects: Decorative arts Decoration and ornament
Publisher: New York, London, Truslove, Hanson & Comba, Ld.
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute



Text Appearing Before Image:
t as to thedesign he beats out, because anything looks fairly wellwhen wrought in repousse. We might paraphrase thatcouplet of Longfellows— Lend to the words of the poetthe music of thy voice, lend to the skill and tasteful inge-nuity of the designer the preciousness of beaten metal. An appropriate design is one in which the peculiarqualities of beaten metal are brought into well-consideredprominence, for a design should always be conditioned bythe method of reproduction. Now, in repousse we producethe design partly by beating out from the back and partlyby work from the front. One can, for instance, start by BEATEN METAL WORK OR REPOUSSE. outlining the design by punching from the front, and havingdone this, bed the metal in pitch, and beat up some portionsof the design from the back, so as to obtain more or lessrelief. The amount of relief depends upon the amount ofbeating, for it is possible to hammer up copper into con-siderable relief—from half-an-inch to an inch from the flat
Text Appearing After Image:
No. 26.—Original Design for Tray or Plaque, suggested by LiliumSpeciosum. The foliage in low relief, while the flowers areintended to be beaten up. The leaves might be merely out-lined, and the basket-work background punched on. is possible, but there is always the danger of breakingthrough the metal when you beat it up to this extent. Thedesign can swell out and retire (one might liken it to the ebband flow of the sea), find itself and lose itself, and by thusjudiciously beating up the metal we give it variety andaccent. We must exercise selection in settling what part 46 ART CRAFTS FOR AMATEURS. of our scheme we beat up in high relief, for the effect of acompleted work largely depends upon the way we leavesome portions in very low relief, while we bring out others,and to one or two features in our design we give consider-able prominence by beating up into still higher relief. In