CHAPTER XXXII 
GENESIS 
" But what shall I do ? I can't design things myself." Such seems to be the prevalent impression among beginners in any of the artistic crafts. And yet " those who have been through the mill " know that, if he is but shown the way to set about it, the beginner can design things for himself. The difficulty is not so much in deciding whether a certain shape, or arrangement, or effect appeals to him, but rather in the lack of knowledge as to how to begin. This is not the place to enter upon a long dissertation on those alterations in the conditions of labour which have changed the fifteenth-century craftsman, who found by the wayside and in the hedges the decorative " motifs " which he was able to put into his work, into his twentieth-century brother, who, without emotion or interest, carries out the work according to " the drawing." The change is a great one, and artisti cally the loss has been enormous. Designer and craftsman are now two different persons. No longer in the work do we get " Hints of the proper craft, Tricks of the tool's true play," for the more machine-like it can be turned out the better it is considered to be. But things were at their worst about the middle of the nineteenth century. In our own times the tide has turned and, though the pig set with diamonds, the chain brooch, the silver goblet which looks like an enlarged egg cup, are still popular,—and for more important work the ideas suggested are lamentably scarce and weak—yet there is a steady and increasing demand for work which is able to show that the man who made it was really interested in it. 

But work which shows traces of this personal feeling is not produced unless the craftsman has a share in the designing of it, or, at least, has done some original work. It is with men such as these that hope for the future rests. To encourage in our younger craftsmen this personal share in the designing has been the aim of many of our craft schools and instructors. In Birmingham, as part of the course of training for boys who propose to enter the jewellery and metal trades, Mr. Catterson Smith, Director for Art for the city, and Head Master of the Municipal School of Art, intro duced a system by which lads of fourteen are encouraged to design from the first day that they touch the tools. The method is at first an adaptation for metalwork of the stamped decoration used at all times on pottery, book-covers, etc. Illustrations Figs. 339 to 358, which show a few out of thousands of examples, all different, carried out in the school, give some ideaas to the course followed. The lad is given two or three repousse tools, and shown that it is possible to make a number of interesting patterns on a piece of sheet metal by simply arranging the tool marks in groups. After one or two arrangements have been made beforehiseyesheis anxioustotry some forhimself, andvery soon finds that he can make patterns at will, and that their variety is almost endless. It may be objected that to learn to make little patterns with punches will not carry a boy very far, will not make a designer of him. But short and simple though the step may be, it takes the boys past the sticking place. They know how to set about the work. That is a great point gained. Their interest is aroused, and the road to more important work then lies open before them. 

In the illustrationsFigs. 339to 357 there is no break between the simple tool patterns and the more advanced work. The samplers, Figs. 339 and 340, were executed inthinmetal on pitch. The face of the work shown in the illustration was, of course, in contact with the pitch, and the work done from the back. Parallel lines were ruled on the metal to facilitate the regular working of the patterns. The whole of the work on these two samplers was done with straight and curved tracers, oval, round and triangular bossing tools, the impression showing in each case the exact shape of the tool. The curved lines in the larger sampler were ingeniously built up by the use of curved tracers of different radii. The number of good patterns which can be made in this way, with a little thought and a few tools, is very considerable. Similar stamped patterns have been used in different parts oftheworldeversinceanearlypotter madearowofthumb­marks round the rim of a pot—because they pleased him. On book-covers and in many other kinds of work stamped diapers are to be met with; and similar designs may be employed now for the decoration of boxes, finger-plates, photograph frames and metal book-covers. 

The next stage is shown in the two oblong plaques and in the three buttons. The impressions here still show the exact shape of the tools used. The experience gained in the planning of it—thinking out the width of the borders and spaces, the units of design to be used—makes this a valuable piece of training. Not just for the result attained in the plaques, but for the habit begun of looking for the proportion in things. 

At the top of the next page the simple tool marks are beginning to be left behind. The three plaques in the first row, though the work is still done entirely from the back, show some attempt at modelling the form. When a student has got as far as this his interest is thoroughly aroused, and he will require but little encouragement to carry the work 
further. 

Soldering is another stage. Patterns are formed from wire, plain or twisted. Grains and little bosses of metal aresoonaddedtogivevariety. No.351showsaningenious use of tiny metal bosses turned hollow side up and filed to represent flowers, the little grain in the centre forming the mass of the stamens. This plaque also shows the beginnings of scroll work—a " motif " which is carried further in some of the others. Fig. 357 shows the use of flattened grains as 
a contrast to bosses. Fig. 356 gives a combination of the earlier repousse with the wire and grain work. When a student has got thus far he will feel that design is not so hopeless a task as it looked at first. That he has much to learn he knows, but the way has opened out before him. And it looks interesting. 

Mr. Rathbone, in his valuable book on Simple Jewellery, shows another method of making a beginning. He takes, as units of design, grains or short lengths of wire. He gives an illustration of 700 different forms each made from an inch of fine wire, and shows how some of these forms can be combined to make interesting patterns. The grains he arranges in groups of 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, and then shows how a number of these groups may be combined. 

It is by simple methods such as these that a lad may be led on step by step both in design and in craftsmanship. In the workshop alone may the true use of the material be learnt and applied.