CHAPTER IV.
COLOUR STANDARDIZATION.
49. Objects of Standardization in Colouring--50. Systems of Colour Standardization--51. Standardization by Selected Colours--52. Analysis of Standardization Scheme, Plate XII.--53. Use of Standards in Blending--54. Applications of the Scheme.
49. _Objects of Standardization in Colouring._--There are several difficulties in formulating a scheme of colour standardization applicable to any particular branch of woven design. This arises, firstly, from the tone of colouring which obtains in decorative, dress, suiting, and other fabrics. The manufacturer of each of these styles of textures should select standards of different degrees of brightness. In the second place, the colourist must have free scope--he should not on any account be fettered--in his work. Standardization may appear to impose restrictions. But on considering the several, branches of textiles, it is obvious that certain elemental ranges of shades are mainly used in the several departments of woven manufactures, as, for example, in fabrics for men’s wear, women’s wear, decorative and other purposes. This not only suggests the possibility, but renders it feasible--without placing limitation upon the originative faculty of the designer--of adopting in practice a standard set or series of selected colours from which other shades may, by the process of blending, be acquired.
This may be done with the object of (1) economy of colour production, a limited set of colours yielding an unlimited set of distinct shades; (2) the substitution of uncertainty of “colour” or “shade” due to independent dyeings, by certainty of result due to mixing; and (3) the manufacture of yarns by blending from a set of fixed colours which may be stocked, producing new shades as varied and solid in appearance as those obtainable in dyeing.
In the ordinary method of obtaining new shades by blending, there is an absence of a scale of fixed colours; neither in the blending is there a base of proportions, nor in the colours combined a standard scheme of colour gradation. But in standardization there is a distinct range of colours, each of which is toned or graded to the same degree.
50. _Systems of Colour Standardization._--There are two systems on which Colour Standardization may be effected, namely, (1) the primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries may be adopted as the initial colours; and (2) a series of initial colours may be determined upon, each colour being graded from light to dark, and forming a number of intermediate shades between the two extremes.
Defining the first system, the Primary and Secondary colours have each three distinctive hues, that is, the pure or spectrum hue, and the two obtained by modification.
Red, tinged with blue, forms crimson. Red, tinged with yellow, „ scarlet. Yellow, tinged with red, becomes slightly orange in tone. Yellow, tinged with blue, becomes slightly green in tone. Blue, tinged with red, becomes slightly purple in tone. Blue, tinged with yellow, becomes slightly green in tone.
thus changing the hue, but to such a small degree that the original colour predominates.
The Secondaries and Tertiaries are subjective to similar changes without eliminating the definite or spectrum colour.[10]
On this principle, eighteen base colours are obtained, all of which, by the addition of white in variable quantities, may form a series of tints, and by the addition of black, a series of tones; or they may be softened in brilliancy by the addition of neutral grey.
In such a scheme, it would probably only be found desirable to modify the Tertiaries by mixing with black and white respectively.
The question of the brilliance of the initial colours is one that has to be fixed according to the application of the scheme. To mix pure white with the colours described would give, in many instances, useful tints for the dress and decorative trades, and also, if mixed with black, suitable tones for the same fabrics; but for ordinary textile purposes the pure elemental colours are too bright. These would require to be dulled or subdued by adding neutral grey to a definite scale of gradation.
51. _Standardization by Selected Colours._--The second method of Standardization consists, as stated, in selecting a series of recognized workable colours and graduating them to six or more degrees. The principal colours are blue, green, and brown, with the addition of blue green, olive, and heliotrope, or colours which, with their gradations, are generally found most appropriate in fabrics for wearing purposes. (See series A to J, Plate XII.)
Having fixed upon the initial colour in each set, the question of toning or gradation is all-important. A uniform scale of gradation must be adhered to in each group. If this is departed from, mixing would result in a want of balance of gradation.
The base for the standard series of tones and tints are neutral greys (see Plate XII.). Here the mixing of black and white may be made to give ten or twelve or more tones with similar degrees of difference. A scheme of gradation formed in this way is, applicable to any type of blend composed of a dark and a light shade, corresponding to black and white in the grey. Between the two extreme colours, several shades may be introduced, and yet uniform toning maintained; for whichever series of colours is selected, it will be seen that the movement from a dark shade to a lighter, in any part of the series, is correct as to depth and tone. This must be an absolute law in mixing the same number of colours in any series, or any group, providing that the scale of tones has been accurately produced in each kind of colour.
52. _Analysis of Standardization Scheme, Plate XII._--The chart contains in specimens 1 to 6, series A to J, the simple or dyed colours which have been selected as the base or scale standards. These are varied in two ways, the specimens 7 and 8 being tinted with white, and 9 and 10 toned with black in the following proportions:--
Tint No. 7, 5 per cent., Standard No. 1. 95 „ White. Tint No. 8, 60 „ Standard No. 1. 40 „ White. Tone No. 9, 40 „ Standard No. 6. 60 „ Black. Tone No. 10, 5 „ Standard No. 6. 95 „ Black.
These tints and tones could be carried out to six in each, when suitable proportions would be as follows:--
Tints ⎧Colour 5 20 40 60 80 95 ⎩White 95 80 60 40 20 5
Tones ⎧Colour 95 80 60 40 20 5 ⎩Black 5 20 40 60 80 95
In the second method, the colours are blended crossways in equal proportions. No. 1, Series A, and No. 1, Series B, give No. 1, X_a_, X_b_, etc. Similarly, No. 1, Series B, and No. 1, Series C, equal No. 1, X_b_, so that whether blending shades in each series, 1 A, 2 A, etc., or blending two shades in adjacent series, 1 A, 1 B, etc., that is two shades of the same colour in the former, and two shades of contiguous colours in the latter, for practical purposes, solid shades would be acquired.
The chromatic scale is compiled as follows:--
A. Blue. B. Green blue. C. Blue green. D. Green. E. Yellow green. F. Yellow brown. G. Brown. H. Red brown. I. Purple. J. Red blue.
It will be observed that there is no such decided change in hue or tone between any two adjacent colours as to produce, when mingled in equal quantities, an apparent mixture. This is an important elemental feature of any scheme of Colour Standardization--the several colours must be accurately graded. If, for example, any two shades are too far apart in the chromatic scale, the blending of them would produce a mixture effect. In other words, if the difference in tone or the difference in hue is pronounced, mixtures and not solid shades are formed.
53. _Use of Standards in Blending._--In both the Woollen and Worsted trades, blending is an important department of yarn manufacture. Solid shades are obtainable in piece-dyes, but mixtures have to be acquired by the blending of coloured materials. The designer and colourist has resource to the combination of colour units in the blending of fibres in the production of shades and mixtures possessing novelty of tone. In this task he has two considerations: (1) the choice of the separate or distinct colours which, prior to blending, must form, in juxtaposition, harmony and contrast; and (2) the proportionate quantities in which they are to be combined. The latter, as every colourist has proved, may destroy the value of the former. Much of the success of colouring, whether in the material or the yarn, depends upon the relative weight, intensity, and proportions in which the colours are united. Now, when a scheme of standardization has been formed, and is used, the proportionate parts or quantities are according to a fixed mathematical scale, but the discovery of the correct colours to blend according to any series of these proportions is left to the trained faculty of the designer or expert, who must have regard to the fabrics and style of design to which they are to be applied.
The proportionate scale which is used does not affect the latitude for the exercise of the faculty for colour combination, but rather presents conditions which are so varied and yet definable, as to give a certainty of result as to depth and nature of colouring due to the process of blending.
There are two great principles on which the art of Colour Blending in the raw materials is accomplished, namely--
(1) The origination of blends or mixtures in which tone gradation is practised.
(2) The origination of mixtures composed of several Colours to produce different hues or shades, but these to be of the same weight or tone.
In both, it is a problem of how the colour modification is to be attained. From the explanation given, it is obvious that in the first principle of blending, a fixed scale of proportions may be practised, so that the real essence of the work consists in selecting colours which harmonize with each other and coincide with the proportions adopted; or, in other words, the relative contrasts of colour must be in accordance with the relative proportions. That is to say, if a bright colour, though harmonizing with other colours in the mixture, is used in too large a measure, the mixture will be unsatisfactory.
[Illustration: Plate XI
RED, GREEN AND BLUE COLOURING 1. Figured Pattern 2. Check „ ]
54. _Applications of the Scheme._--In this scheme there is ample scope for the colouring of many classes of woven fabrics. Bright or brilliant hues would be added as required. The scheme is, however, sufficiently complete for the ordinary styles of woollen, worsted, and other classes of fabrics. For costumes, vestings, cottons, and silks, richer colours would be desirable. If, for example, the principle of colouring was in relation to cottons and silks, then the “tints” of the standards would be found chiefly applicable, white and light grounds being mainly used; on the other hand, for fabrics with dark or medium grounds, the “tones” of the standards would be selected.
This standard scheme of colours, systematically toned, forms a practical workable base of colouring, one which, in the first place, in the use of the pure colours, makes it feasible, in the production of patterns, to obtain (_a_) ranges in which the contrast of colour in each pattern is absolutely uniform, and (_b_) ranges in which there may be perfect gradation from the dark to a light shade, and yet the same quality of contrast of colour in each pattern in the range.
In the second place, the scheme provides, by the mixture with black, grey, and white in succession, a means of acquiring a wide range of mixtures, each series of which runs by natural and constant degrees from a comparatively light to a dark result.
Third, it is possible by this system, in blending two or more colours, to acquire (_a_) graded series of mixtures of exactly corresponding depths of tone; and (_b_) varieties of mixtures in light, medium, and dark shades of similar depth of tone, but of different hues.
And lastly, the system is applicable to the production of distinct colours, such as would possess similar qualities to colours dyed in the wool, yarn, or piece.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] See also Pars. 8 and 9.