INDUSTRIAL ART 



2984 



INDUSTRIAL ART 



Problem 8; A Door Stop Made from a 

 Painted Brick. In these days of improved 

 habits of living, we have learned of the bene- 

 fits of fresh air and sunshine. Whether we 

 live in the city or in the country, open win- 

 dows and doors are necessary to insure good 

 ventilation. A banging door is an irritation to 

 nerves. Door stops, or door porters, as they 

 are sometimes called, fill a real need, in hold- 

 ing a door back against the wall or open at 

 any angle desired. A door stop must be heavy 

 in weight, not easily upset, simple in lines of 

 construction, and decorative in appearance. A 

 common brick answers all the purposes of use, 

 and a pressed brick is still better. Its straight, 

 sharp edges will not easily chip, and its smooth, 

 hard surface readily takes paint. 



A door stop such as shown in Fig. 47 illus- 

 trates both rhythm and balance. The elephant 

 shapes used for the decoration of the top are 

 balanced on each side of an axis. They are 

 large and simple in shape, and they are de- 

 cidedly "heavy" in suggestion. The design 

 used on the sides is a border rhythm of sim- 

 ple units, so spaced as to create interesting 

 background shapes. Another principle of de- 

 sign is illustrated by this object the principle 

 of harmony. Harmony is the agreement of all 

 parts in a design, in expressing the complete 

 idea. The doorstop is fitted for the use for 

 which it is intended; it is attractive in shape 

 and color; its decorations are well balanced 

 and rhythmic, and it is a complete, unified and 

 harmonious project. It may well be cited, 

 then, as an example of three fundamental de- 

 sign principles rhythm, balance and harmony. 



The working out of this problem is as fol- 

 lows: The brick is first covered with a coat 

 of white underlay as a filler. Then a coat of 

 orange enamel paint is applied and allowed to 

 dry thoroughly. The rhythmic decoration for 

 the sides is then planned. A piece of paper 

 I"x2" is folded on its long diameter (Fig. 48), 

 and a simple "half shape" is traced upon the 

 fold. The cut-out shape is shown in Fig. 49. 

 This unit of design is spaced and traced on 

 the sides and ends of the brick, to form the 

 border rhythm in Fig. 47. For the decoration 

 of the top, a piece of paper exactly the size 

 of the largest face of the brick is cut and 

 folded on the short diameter. A marginal 

 line is drawn on all sides of this folded paper, 

 about a quarter-inch from the edges. Within 

 this space, the elephant shape is sketched 

 (Fig. 50). This shape is cut from the folded 

 paper, leaving the margins, and resulting in 



the balanced design in Fig. 51. The tracing 

 of this design on the top face of the painted 

 brick is an easy matter. The~*blanket shapes 

 are next drawn. These are painted white, 



Fig. 48 Fig.49 

 Paper folded on long 

 diameter and design 

 unit cut with scissors 



Fig. 50 



Fig. 51 



leaving a border of orange, and the elephant 

 shapes are painted black. White tusks and a 

 white spot to suggest a sagacious eye are the 

 finishing touches. The marginal bands which 

 reach the edge of the brick are painted black. 

 In the border rhythm the use of black and 

 white enamel paints is plainly shown in Fig. 47. 

 Problem 9; The Possibilities of Olive Bot- 

 tles. You will begin to think that art can 

 transform any worthless thing into something 

 useful and attractive. This is not wholly true, 

 for some objects are made in proportions that 

 are not esthetic, although these proportions 

 may be necessary or best for the use or func- 

 tion of the object, and therefore are in a sense 

 beautiful. The ordinary Mason fruit jar used 

 for home canning is a case in point. No 

 amount of decoration could change the com- 

 monplace proportions of this jar nor make it 

 a suitable receptacle for flowers, nor give it 

 the right to bo called ;i "valise;" but with 

 olive bottles the case is different, for there we 

 see refinement of proportion and contours 



