Mantel

“ A mantel-piece is like a lady's bonnet. It's the headpiece of a room, and if that be pleasing the rest is a good deal taken for granted. Then, you see, our parlor is all of a warm color,—crimson carpet, crimson curtains,—everything warm and glowing. And so long as you have the color it isn't a bit of matter whether your carpet cost three dollars and a half a yard or eighty-seven cents, and whether your curtains are damask or Turkey red. Color is color, and will produce its effects, no matter in what material. ”

“ Marble mantel pieces, to be good, must be expensive. A simple pine mantel piece with a little incised ornament is far better than white or cold gray marble. Raised, stuck-on ornament is objectionable, whether in wood or stone, but mantel pieces, book-cases and cabinets give a fine opportunity for domestic carving, and one can but wonder that more home ingenuity is not expended on the construction and carving of mantels and other woodwork in our rooms, such as doors and windows. ”

“ Placed upon it are a beautiful old clock and two vases, correct as to line and colour.
Always be careful not to spoil a beautiful mantel or beautiful ornaments by having them out of proportion one with the other. Plate XXIV shows a mantel which fails as a composition because the bust, an original by Behnes, beautiful in itself, is too heavy for the mantel it stands on and too large for the mirror which reflects it and serves as its background. ”

“ A sack made of small pieces of bright-colored plush or silk in crazy work may be flung across the table, the ends drooping very low. The mantelpiece may be covered with a corresponding sash, over which place a small clock as centerpiece and arrange ornaments on each side—statuettes, bannerets, flower-holders, small Japanese fans, pieces of odd china, painted candles in small scenes, may all find a place on the mantel. ”

“ THE BOY AND THE MANTLE, AS REVISED AND ALTERED BY A MODERN HAND.
Mr. Warton, in his ingenious Observations on Spenser, has given his opinion, that the fiction of the Boy and the Mantle is taken from an old French piece intitled Le court mantel, quoted by M. de St. ”

“ The decoration of a mantel, however, does not present the same difficulties as the decoration of a piano, because there are fewer restrictions to bear in mind, and there is perhaps more danger of overdoing mantel decoration on this account. ”

“ You may knit a tidy for the back of an arm-chair, but by no means make the money wherewith to buy the chair. You may with a delicate brush beautify a mantel ornament, but die rather than earn enough to buy a marble mantel. ”

“ Should the clock stand on the mantel it is not essential to have balancing ornaments on either side. The choicest treasures of the house should indeed adorn the mantel piece, but it is never necessary to have two of a kind standing at equal distances from the center. ”

“ Our mantels are suitable for any kind of a room, the selection depending upon the size, the color, the amount of ornamentation, etc. They are substantial and durable, and look just as well in after years as when new. ”

“ A Plank Mantel
A and B are two half logs, or puncheons, which run from the floor to the ceiling on each side of the fireplace. S, S, S are the logs of the cabin walls. C is the puncheon supporting the mantel and D is the mantel. Fig. 279 shows a section or a view of the mantel looking down on it from the top, a topographical view of it. Fig. 278 is the same sort of a view showing the puncheon A at the other end of the mantel before the mantel is put in place between the two puncheons A and B. In Fig. ”

“ Rarely are three mantels of such attractive design, good proportion, distinctive detail and dainty appearance to be found in a single house. Seldom are three mantels to be found which are so similar and yet so different. ”

“ If the mantelpiece is covered with cloth or velvet, the shelves and back might be covered with the same, and this would be very becoming to the ornaments. Tunisian or point lace forms a very good edging to a mantelboard, and when a foot deep, or nearly so, it is extremely handsome. Water-colour sketches should abound in a bed-room, souvenirs of places we have visited, or of friends who have made the drawings, being doubly enjoyed when we are recovering from illness, or when we are awake early in the summer morning. ”

“ The word is derived from the Latin mantellum or mantelum, a cloak, and is probably the same as, or another form of, mantelium or mantele, a table-napkin or table-cloth, from manus, hand, and tela, a cloth. ”

“ The modern home along Colonial lines is perhaps the commonest problem, and incidentally the easiest, for the old models of delicately detailed white-painted wood mantels are so well known and so universally admired that modern reproductions along good lines and reasonable cost are easily obtained. ”

“ Then the Hollow Tree People thought their time had come, and they wanted to make a jump, and run for the door, only they were afraid to try it. Mr. Bear yawned a long yawn, and stretched himself, and rubbed his eyes open, and looked over at the fire and down at the candle on the table and up at the clock on the mantel. The 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old Black Crow thought, of course, he'd know somebody had been there by all those things being set going, and they expected him to roar out something terrible and start for the pantry first thing. ”

“ In the south, under the sunshine, dress is for the greater part of the year only needed for decency and beauty. The flowing and delicate cottons and silks and fine woollens, are shaped to cover and adorn the beautiful forms, which for entire isolation take refuge in the never-failing mantle. The mantle was the great opportunity for the embroiderer’s craft. ”

“ It is woven from strong wool and can be described as a fine, durable fabric of a somewhat hard handle, but smooth in appearance and ornamented by the introduction of a figure, pattern, or design produced either by means of an extra thread or by combination of warp and weft threads.
Woollen Lastings, Plain.—A plain twill or kindred weave fabric firmly woven from hard-twisted yarns. It is woven from strong wool and can be described as a fine, durable fabric of a somewhat hard handle, smooth in appearance, and free from any ornamentation produced either by weaving or printing. ”

“ Weaving.—Every woven piece of cloth is made up of two distinct systems of threads, known as the warp and the filling (this latter is also known as weft) , which are interlaced with each other to form a fabric. The warp threads run lengthways of the piece of cloth, and the filling, or weft, threads run across from side to side. The manner in which the warp and filling interlace with each other constitutes the weave. ”

“ The "slashings," which may be regarded as ornament in relief, presented as many variations as did the flat ornament of the earlier period on the plain surface of the leg. The garment was either slashed downwards, horizontally, or diagonally, and occasionally slashed to such an extent that it appeared merely as a system of ribbons. Variety of colour was arrived at either by the under-garment, stocking, or hose being of a different hue to the upper; or by a system of puffing, in which another or third colour was introduced. ”

“ Until lately these mountain people made nearly all the clothes they wore. They had hand-looms which they built themselves, and it was the occupation of the women at all spare moments to spin the flax or the wool, to dye the yarn and weave the cloth. ”

“ On many of the fragments of the large pans in my collection the impressions of the cloth are perfect delineations of the fabrics used. Though differing greatly in pattern and in fineness of texture, they are all, with one single exception, made woven in the same manner—that is, by twisting two threads of warp around the single thread of the woof, precisely as the wire faces of laid moulds for forming paper are now made. The coarsest fabric that I find the impression of has warps about one and a half inch apart, with about five threads of woof to the inch. ”

“ The days of mahogany and rose-wood were also the days of handicraft of both needle and loom; and many were the beautiful articles of needlework and textiles that added grandeur and dignity to the tester—the chef d’oeuvre of the mechanic’s art. ”

“ One can not but wonder at the perfection of workmanship wrought by stone tools—knives and daggers exquisitely carved out of wood or the bones of the cassowary, bracelets, frontlets, and necklaces of shells, mother-of-pearl, dogs' teeth, and straw braids finely woven. ”

“ Can one be made of wood without the aid of iron? The cloth or web must be cut into lengths for the tailor. Can this be done without knife or scissors? Can the tailor sew together any garments without a needle? ”

“ There is much weaving of the most exquisite fabrics done in the East, and even among savages, almost entirely by hand; that is to say, the threads are simply attached to a rod, while the woof is worked in with a needle. ”

“ The rest of the costume of these figures is equally characteristic of the thirteenth century; the loose robe confined at the waist by a narrow strap and buckle, and falling so low as to envelope the feet entirely in its folds, the mantle kept in its place by a narrow strap crossing the breast and held in the left hand, the square cushion under the head, are all fashions observable in the monuments of that period. ”

“ A study of textiles is often subdivided into tapestry, carpet-weaving, mechanical weaving of fabrics of a lighter weight, and embroidery. These headings are useful to observe in our researches in the mediæval processes connected with the loom and the needle. ”

“ The ground material is of the finest woven wool, of a deep violet or purple colour, enriched with application of another fine woollen fabric of a most brilliant green, worked down, outlined and embroidered in white, black, and gold-coloured wool, apparently in stem stitches. ”

“ Other ornamental devices consist of interlaced bands, strapwork, shells, lyres, bell-flowers, the acanthus, arch panels, branches and leaves in large flowing designs, besides a great variety of mouldings, panels and pierced scrolls. Turned work is rapidly superseding carving, which, however, is never quite driven away. ”

“ The Firmness of Cloth.—The number of ends and picks per inch which can advantageously be put into a fabric depends upon the number of intersections per inch in the pattern or weave, and on the counts or diameters of the yarns used. In a plain cloth woven with 32’s twist and 32’s weft, the number of threads per inch which could be put into the cloth without undue compression would be a little more than one-half the number which could be laid side by side touching each other. ”

“ CLOTH, properly a covering, especially for the body, clothing, then the material of which such a covering is made; hence any material woven of wool or hair, cotton, flax or vegetable fibre. In commercial usage, the word is particularly applied to a fabric made of wool. ”

“ Speaking generally of the character of ornament, we find that whereas in the furniture of the Middle Ages, the subjects for carving were taken from the lives of the saints or from metrical romance, the Renaissance carvers illustrated scenes from classical mythology and allegories, such as representations of the elements, seasons, months, the cardinal virtues, or the battle scenes and triumphal processions of earlier times. ”

“ The women also wear a shirt or chemise of thick wool or cotton, over which they throw a mantle of coarse, heavy wool, striped with bright colours, and retained on the chest by a sort of spoon of silver or copper, the slender handle serving as a pin. ”

“ Almost every fabric that is good of its kind is suitable for a ground for needlework, and any thread of silk, linen, cotton, or wool, is suitable for laying on a web, with the purpose of decorating it. ”

“ We notice with what art the painter has arranged the draperies. From the right shoulder the garment falls in delicate, radiating folds across the figure. Over the garment is thrown a stiff, rose-colored brocade mantle, contrasting pleasantly with the former both in color and texture. ”

“ Spanish Stripes, Cotton.—A plain-woven all-cotton fabric, sometimes woven from dyed yarns, but oftenest met with as a piece-dyed material woven with a simple one-over and one-under weave. The selvedge is often woven with black warp threads to the width of about 1 inch. The filling weft threads are soft and full, the warp threads are much finer and hard-twisted. ”

“ The wooden moulds are carefully covered with silk by machinery, guided by boys, and on this fine slight tissue the patterns are worked with a needle and silk, or twist, the hard under ground rendering strong hands indispensable to a first-rate buttoner. ”

“ When resting after their daily labors, whether at noon or in the evening, they will invariably take from their deep side-pockets a ball of thread or yarn, and with the short knitting needle, or the long ones of steel, continue their work on an unfinished stocking, cap or other article of wearing apparel.
The prevailing foot-covering for men, women and children is a heavy woolen stocking ”

“ The formation of a cloth having the novel quality of allowing for a greater woven length at the outer edge of the collar than at the band, properly graded throughout so as to meet all the requirements of a collar in comfort and fit, at the same time providing for the insertion of the scarf so that it will run easily, and also allowing for the production of a variety of styles, calls for features in manufacturing that are different in many respects from the making of a flat fabric. ”