66 DERBYSHIRE TAPESTRY. 



on which he is working, which is alwa)s the icrofig bide. After 

 each course he closes with the pointed end of his shuttle the 

 threads of the woof of that part of the web already completed, and 

 after a series of courses one above another, he strikes the woof at 

 the top with a heavy comb of ivory or wood, the teeth of which 

 penetrate between each thread of the warp, which in this way 

 becomes completely concealed by the coloured woof. 



" The number of threads of the warp to be included in a shoot 

 or a course depends upon the shades : in a plain horizontal part 

 the shoots are made as long as possible to accelerate the work ; 

 but it often happens that a shoot only takes in two or three threads 

 of the warp. The outlines of the drawing to be reproduced, and 

 the greater or less extent of the half tints, indicate the length of 

 the courses, as well as the number of them to be ranged one 

 above the other. In order to avoid the appearance of mosaic, 

 which would inevitably result from the simple juxtaposition of the 

 colours, the workman passes from one colour to another by shades 

 which partake of both, and which are graduated like hatching. 

 The right treatment of these stipples forms one of the greatest 

 difificulties of the work, and the practised eye of the workman can 

 alone determine wheie to begin or finish a shade. 



" In the outline of his figures, and in passing from one shade to 

 another, the workman is guided by a slight tracing [usually in 

 Indian ink] on the warp, which is done by means of tracing paper 

 [on which the outline has been taken from the cartoon], being 

 placed on the weaver's side of the warp, and then the design 

 traced therefrom on the threads of the warp This process, 

 having to be done in sections as the work advances, would inevi- 

 tably mislead the workman in the general effect, if he were not 

 careful to indicate certain leading points or guiding lines on the 

 copy, and to mark them on the warp. But all these precautions 

 and niceties would be of little use if the workman were not 

 specially educated so as to be able to supply the insufficiency of 

 the outline by his own intelligence, and by the resources of his 

 art. . . It takes from twelve to fifteen years to train a work- 

 man in the Gobelins manufactory." 



