Timbre

“ In the older sections, the timber has been fantastically turned, much of its splendid grain being lost in convolutions of pillar and balustrade; but modern architects have utilized the timber in all its beauty of rich gold, mahogany-red, maple-tints, and darker shades, with sympathetic display of its traceries that sometimes take the form of ships at sea, heads of animals, or landscapes. ”

“ Oh, there's little room for weaklings where the timber ranges rise.
When above the welcome shingles lazy smoke, all curling blue,
With the forest hazes mingles, and the long day's toil is through;
When across the little clearing children race with greeting cries—
No man asks for further cheering where the timber ranges rise? ”

“ Above timber-line are many bright blossoms that are familiar to us, but dwarfed to small size. One needs to get down and lie upon the ground and search carefully with a magnifying-glass, or he will overlook many of these brave bright but tiny flowers. ”

“ The adaptation by which a limb, originally destined to grow free and bear foliage, has been converted into a living stick of timber, is a strange one, and affords a new illustration of the power of nature to fit itself to circumstances. ”

“ Crooked wooden crosses, or even a single upright{63} stake, were the landmarks of the dead; perhaps in a country where trees take more trouble to preserve than game, and are far more rare, a piece of timber is felt to be more honourable than the stone that lies profusely ready to the hand. ”

“ In extreme cases, especially in the limbs, a ring is frequently conspicuous on one side, and almost or entirely lost to view on the other. Where the rings are extremely narrow, the dark portion of the ring is often wanting, the color being quite uniform and light. The greater regularity or irregularity of the annual rings has much to do with the technical qualities of the timber. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The reds and creams of the background, the lyres and harps and urns and skulls, the protuberances of plaster, the fringes of scarlet plush, the sinking and blazing of innumerable electric lights, could scarcely have been surpassed for decorative effect by any craftsman of the ancient or modern world. ”

“ The structure and properties of wood should be thoroughly understood by every joiner. The man who has made the nature of timber his study has always a decided advantage over those who have neglected this. Timber shrinks considerably in the width, but not appreciably in the length. ”

“ There's a lot of timber that there ain't much expected of—an' a lot of humans, too. They're the stuff that works up into rough boards, an' cull stuff, an' lath, an' pulp wood, an' cordwood an' the like of that—an' so it goes, folks an' timber runnin' about alike. ”

“ The first requisite of all education and discipline should be man-timber. Tough timber must come from well grown, sturdy trees. Such wood can be turned into a mast, can be fashioned into a piano or an exquisite carving. But it must become timber first. Time and patience develop the sapling into the tree. ”

“ The timber retains its aromatic fragrance to a great age. On a transverse section the wood is marked by large pores, which are more numerous and larger in the spring wood, or the inner belt of each annual ring, while they are less numerous and smaller in the autumn wood or outer belt. ”

“ Pushing her love of artificial flowers and flashy ribbons to an extreme, she turned the modistes' shops topsy turvy, unrolling all the ribbons, upsetting all the reels of trimming, bathing in a sea of feathers, ribbons, marabou and ostrich plumes. ”

“ Gird′er, one of the principal pieces of timber in a floor binding the others together: in engineering, any simple or compound beam of wood, iron, or steel used to support joisting, walls, arches, &c., in various kinds of bridges.—Gird one's self, to tuck up loose garments under the girdle: to brace the mind for any trial or effort. ”

“ Ring follows ring till a pendant is formed like a pipestem. The pipestems thicken to the size of candles, and often grow as large as tree-trunks. Occasionally they broaden into elegant drapery, or are twisted into fantastic shapes. ”

“ The needles are about an inch and a half long, slightly curved, elastic, and glossily polished, so that the sunshine sifting through them makes them burn with a fine silvery luster, while their number and elastic temper tell delightfully in the singing winds. ”

“ On nails driven into the walls are hung singular-shaped instruments, all keen or pointed with points as fine as a needle and edges as sharp as a razor; some shine like mirrors; others, on the contrary, are of a dull gray or murky blue. ”

“ Students of the Art of Wood Carving will find a mine of inexhaustible treasures in this series of illustrations of French Wood Carvings.... Each plate is a work of art in itself; the distribution of light and shade is admirably managed, and the differences in relief are faithfully indicated, while every detail is reproduced with a clearness that will prove invaluable to the student. ”

“ But there would be nothing disrespectful in the symbol, considered as a symbol; for wood is the most sacred of all substances: it typifies the divine trade of the carpenter, and men count themselves fortunate to touch it. ”

“ An ornament greatly appreciated on the chimney-piece is a glass vessel full of miraculous water in which swims a reduction of the tools of the Passion, the cross, the ladder, the hammer, the nails, and the crown of thorns. ”

“ My father used to say that the cry of Timber!' was ringing in the country's ears, that the loggers had given the warning, that the last of our trees were commencing to fall—but we haven't heard! Our ears are shut to the cry, our backs are turned and unless we look sharp we'll be caught! ”

“ If a book is folio, and two pages of type have been composed, they are placed in proper position upon the imposing stone, and enclosed within an iron or steel frame called a ‘chase’, small wedges of hard wood termed ‘coigns’ or ‘quoins’ being driven in at opposite sides to make all tight. ”

“ When nicely managed, nothing is better than a ground in one shade and a design in a deeper tone of the same colour.
1341.
Silk and Gold Damask; ground, fawn-coloured silk; design, pomegranates piled together in threes, all gold, and flowers in silk alternately crimson and green. Spanish, 16th century. 161⁄4 inches by 12 inches.
The rich ground of this fine stuff has a well-designed and rather raised diapering of geometrical scroll-work; the pomegranates are wrought in pure gold thread, and the tones of the flowers are bright.
1342.
Worsted Work; ground, black; design, flowers. ”

“ It is curious to add that some of the tiles which have been found tell a silent tale, which they were never intended to carry, of the dress or hand or foot of the maker, which have become accidentally impressed upon their surface while in a soft state, and are afterwards rendered imperishable by firing in the kiln. One example of this kind of accidental ornamentation (Fig. 207) , which exhibits the impress of a man’s feet, or, rather, shoes thickly studded with nails,—like the “hob-nailed” boots of our own day,—will suffice as an illustration. ”

“ A rude sort of ornamentation is produced by pinching up the soft clay of the surface between the nails of the fingers and thumb. Relief ornament consists chiefly of applied fillets of clay, arranged to form vertical ribs. Rows of nodes are sometimes seen, and in a few cases the whole body is covered with rude nodes. ”

“ One timber is composed of several pieces. (See Frame.) —Cant or square timbers, are those which are placed obliquely on the keel towards the extremities of a ship, forming the dead solid wood of the gripe, and of the after heel.—Filling timbers. Those which are put up between the frames. One mould serves for two timbers, the fore-side of the one being supposed to unite with the after-side of the one before it, and so make only one line.—Knuckle-timbers are the foremost cant-timbers on a ship's bow: the hindmost on the quarter are termed fashion-pieces. ”

“ All the inner wood-work is of pine, smoothly planed, and left unpolished, set at points of junction with sumptuously sculptured nails; while mats are of the finest kind, trimmed white and red with the imperial braid. ”

“ Patterns have to be constructed strongly. They are generally of wood, and they thus require skill in the use of woodworking tools and the making of timber joints, together with a knowledge of the behaviour of timber, &c. ”

“ Other timber we have, as the Iron-wood, and another sort, which are excellent good to endure wet and drie; and of those we make Shingles, which being such a kinde of wood, as will not warpe nor rive, are the best coverings for a house that can be, full out as good as Tiles, and lie lighter upon the Rafters. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A NARROW beam of yellow light against the satin surface of purplish gray wood, wood become soft of texture, touched with these delicate shades of color. The light from above falls straight down the face of a great heavy beam of the wood. ”

“ A character in the Lord Mayor’s show in 1664 is described as ‘habited like a grave citizen—gold girdle and gloves hung thereon, rings on his fingers, and a seal-ring on his thumb.’
In Labartes ‘Hand-book of the Fine Arts in the Middle [Pg 89] Ages’ is a representation of a fine thumb-ring, of Hindoo workmanship, cut out of a single piece of jade, decorated with gold filagree, and incrusted with rubies. ”

“ PROOF TIMBER. In naval architecture, an imaginary timber, expressed by vertical lines in the sheer-draught, to prove the fairness of the body.
PROPELLER. This term generally alludes to the Archimedean screw, or screw-propeller.
PROPER MOTION OF THE STARS. A movement which some stars are found to possess, independent of the apparent change of place due to the precession of the equinoxes, the accounting for which is as yet only ingenious conjecture. ”

“ Use spikes to fasten the larger timbers together, and smaller nails for the braces and ornamental work of the design. Speaking of ornamental work reminds me to say that the more crooked, gnarled, and twisted limbs and branches you can secure, the better will be the effect, as a general thing, for formality must be avoided as far as possible. We are not working according to a plan of Nature's but we are using Nature's material, and we must use it as it comes from Nature's hand in order to make it most effective. ”

“ Fig. 409. Architectural Knop or Boss.
Knop and Flower Pattern. An ornament of remote antiquity, original basis of a great branch of decorative art in all nations, common on early Indian monuments, and with different variations in the art of Assyria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The variations are regulated according to the flora of the various countries, the knop (or bud) and flower being always the radical idea. ”

“ Properly constructed, and with timber adapted to its purposes, it will stand securely against the fury of the elements, and answer every purpose that an old fashioned timber frame is calculated to fulfill. ”

“ The mixture of colours, the flowing grace of treatment, the blending of statuary with rare marbles, the exquisite easy manipulation, in times, too, before marble-machinery was known, all join to make it a most astonishing work. ”

“ Piece of Silk Damask; ground, rose-coloured; pattern, peacocks, eagles, a small nondescript animal, and a lyre-shaped ornament, all in green, touched with white. Italian, late 14th century. 11 inches by 101⁄2 inches.
A curious design, in which the birds are boldly and freely drawn. Each horn of the lyre-shaped ornament ends, bending outwardly with what to herald’s eyes seems to be two wings conjoined erect. ”

“ I Is one of the diverse methods of treating the large tree stems in a design. Within the fan-like outlines traced down on the linen is a solid filling of satin stitches, varying row by row from pale fawn at the foot to dark chestnut brown round the top, the direction of the stitches is shewn in the drawing.
II Here we have a fancy lattice of three strands of laid wool couched with small French knots at the intersecting points, the outline is in stem stitch and fanciful back stitches are used as fillings. ”

“ Glass rings are universally worn by the women of the Decan, as an ornament on the wrists; and their applying closely to the arm is considered as a mark of delicacy {157} and beauty, for they must of course be past over the hand. ”

“ Grotesque masks of wood, paddles, knife handles of bone, bodkins, combs, and other personal ornaments, chiefly of walrus ivory, are all carved with great variety of design, though scarcely in a style of high art. ”

“ Stone is usually of large and wood of small scantling, yet in the front of a stone building with arched openings the wooden door-head is often made a continuation of the stone impost, though the mouldings of the wood-work should be finer and the ornament different. ”

“ There is a force both in color and design. On a deep blue field rests a medallion in rather strong colors, red, blue, green, and ivory. Heavily ornamented corner areas in the same shades give to the whole design a certain symmetry, and a wide floral border with much ivory gives an air of solidity. ”

“ Fig. 477.—Ornament derived through the modification of handles.
Functional features.—Functional features of art products liable to influence ornament comprise handles, legs, feet, rims, bands, and other peculiarities of shape originating in utility. Handles, for instance, may have been indigenous to a number of arts; they are coeval and coextensive with culture. The first load, weapon, or vessel transported by man may have been suspended by a vine or filament. Such arts as have fallen heir to handles have used them according to the capacities of the material employed. ”