DESIGN, in the manufactories, expresses the figures wherewith the workman enriches his stuff or silk, and which he copies after some painter or eminent draughtsman, as in diaper, damask, and other flowered silk and tapestry, and the like.
In undertaking of such kinds of figured stuffs, it is necessary, says Monf. Savary, that before the first stroke of the shuttle, the whole design be represented on the threads of the warp, we do not mean in colours, but with an infinite number of little packthreads, which, being disposed so as to raise the threads of the warp, let the workmen see, from time to time, what kind of silk is to be put in the eye of the shuttle for woof. This method of preparing the work is called reading the design, and reading the figure, which is performed in the following manner: A paper is provided, considerably broader than the stuff, and of a length proportioned to what is intended to be represented thereon. This they divide lengthwise by as many black lines as there are intended threads in the warp; and cross these lines by others drawn breadthwise, which, with the former, make little equal squares; on the paper thus
squared, the draughtsman designs his figures, and heightens them with colours as he sees fit. When the design is finished, a workman reads it, while another lays it on the simplot.
To read the design, is to tell the person who manages the loom the number of squares or threads comprised in the space he is reading, intimating at the same time, whether it is ground or figure. To put what is read on the simplot, is to fasten little strings to the several packthreads, which are to raise the threads named: and this they continue to do till the whole design is read.
Every piece being composed of several repetitions of the same design, when the whole design is drawn, the drawer, to re-begin the design afresh, has nothing to do but to raise the little strings, with slip-knots, to the top of the simplot, which he had let down to the bottom; this he is to repeat as often as is necessary, till the whole be manufactured.
The ribbon-weavers have likewise a design, but far more simple than that now described. It is drawn on paper with lines and squares, representing the threads of the warp and woof. But instead of lines, whereof the figures of the former consist, these are constituted of points only, or dots, placed in certain of the little squares formed by the intersection of the lines. These points mark the threads of the warp that are to be raised, and the spaces left blank denote the threads that are to keep their situation; the rest is managed as in the former.
DESIGN is also used, in Painting, for the first idea of a large work, drawn roughly, and in little, with an intention to be executed and finished in large.
In this sense, it is the simple contour or outlines of the figures intended to be represented, or the lines that terminate and circumscribe them: such design is sometimes drawn in crayons or ink, without any shadows at all; sometimes it is hatched, that is, the shadows are expressed by sensible outlines, usually drawn across each other with the pen, crayon, or graver. Sometimes, again, the shadows are done with the crayon rubbed so as that there do not appear any lines; at other times, the grains or stroke of the crayon appear, as not being rubbed: sometimes the design is washed, that is, the shadows are done with a pencil in Indian ink, or some other liquor; and sometimes the design is coloured, that is, colours are laid on much like those intended for the grand work.