A Study of the Textile Art in its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament | Page 7

the example given in Fig.
297 the series of filaments interlace, not by passing over and under
alternate strands, as in the preceding set of examples, but by extending
over and under a number of the opposing series at each step and in such
order as to give wide horizontal ridges ribbed diagonally.
[Illustration: FIG. 297. Diagonal combination, giving herring bone
effect.]
[Illustration: FIG. 298. Elaboration of diagonal combination, giving
triangular figures.]
This example is from an ancient work basket obtained at Ancon, Peru,
and shown in Fig. 299. The surface features are in strong relief, giving
a pronounced herring bone effect.
[Illustration: FIG. 299. Peruvian work basket of reeds, with strongly
relieved ridges.]
Slight changes in the succession of parts enable the workman to
produce a great variety of decorative patterns, an example of which is
shown in Fig. 298. A good illustration is also seen in Fig. 286, and
another piece, said to be of Seminole workmanship, is given in Fig. 300.
These and similar relieved results are fruitful sources of primitive
decorative motives. They are employed not only within the art itself,
but in many other arts less liberally supplied with suggestions of
embellishment.
[Illustration: FIG. 300. Effects produced by varying the order of
intersection. Seminole work--1/8.]
Taking a second type of combination, we have a family of resultant
patterns in the main distinguishable from the preceding.
[Illustration: FIG. 301. Surface effect in open twined combination.]

[Illustration: FIG. 302. Surface effect of twined, lattice combination in
basketry of the Clallam Indians of Washington Territory--1/8.]
Fig. 301 illustrates the simplest form of what Dr. O.T. Mason has
called the twined combination, a favorite one with many of our native
tribes. The strands of the woof series are arranged in twos and in
weaving are twisted half around at each intersection, inclosing the
opposing fillets. The resulting open work has much the appearance of
ordinary netting, and when of pliable materials and distended or
strained over an earthen or gourd vessel the pattern exhibited is
strikingly suggestive of decoration. The result of this combination upon
a lattice foundation of rigid materials is well shown in the large basket
presented in Fig. 302. Other variants of this type are given in the three
succeeding figures.
[Illustration: FIG. 303. Surface effect in impacted work of twined
combination.]
The result seen in Fig. 303 is obtained by impacting the horizontal or
twined series of threads. The surface is nearly identical with that of the
closely impacted example of the preceding type (Fig. 292). The
peculiarities are more marked when colors are used. When the doubled
and twisted series of strands are placed far apart and the opposing
series are laid side by side a pleasing result is given, as shown in Fig.
304 and in the body of the conical basket illustrated in Fig. 307.
[Illustration: FIG. 304. Surface effect obtained by placing the warp
strands close together and the woof cables far apart.]
[Illustration: FIG. 305. Surface effect obtained by crossing the warp
series in open twined work.]
In Fig. 305 we have a peculiar diagonally crossed arrangement of the
untwisted series of filaments, giving a lattice work effect.
[Illustration: FIG. 306. Decorative effects produced by variations in the
radiate or warp series in an open work tray. Klamath work--1/4.]

Fig. 306 serves to show how readily this style of weaving lends itself to
the production of decorative modification, especially in the direction of
the concentric zonal arrangement so universal in vessel-making arts.
The examples given serve to indicate the unlimited decorative
resources possessed by the art without employing any but legitimate
constructive elements, and it will be seen that still wider results can be
obtained by combining two or more varieties or styles of binding in the
construction and the embellishment of a single object or in the same
piece of fabric. A good, though very simple, illustration of this is
shown in the tray or mat presented in Fig. 286. In this case a border,
varying from the center portion in appearance, is obtained by changing
one series of the filaments from a multiple to a single arrangement.
[Illustration: FIG. 307. Conical basket of the Klamath Indians of
Oregon, showing peculiar twined effect and an open work border--1/8.]
The conical basket shown in Fig. 307 serves to illustrate the same point.
In this case a rudely worked, though effective, border is secured by
changing the angle of the upright series near the top and combining
them by plaiting, and in such a way as to leave a border of open work.
Now the two types of construction, the interlaced and the twined, some
primitive phases of which have been reviewed and illustrated, as they
are carried forward in the technical progress of the art, exhibit many
new features of combination and