s of
distinctions in national decorative conceptions.

In addition to this apparently limitless capacity for expression,
lovers of textile illumination have the whole series of extraordinary
resources furnished by expedients not essential to ordinary
construction, the character and scope of which have been dwelt upon to
some extent in the preceding section.

I have already spoken of color in a general way, as to its necessary
presence in art, its artificial application to fabrics and fabric
materials, its symbolic characters, and its importance to esthetic
progress. My object in this section is to indicate the part it takes
in textile design, its methods of expression, the processes by which
it advances in elaboration, and the part it takes in all geometric
decoration.

It will be necessary, in the first place, to examine briefly the
normal tendencies of color combination while still under the direct
domination of constructive elaboration. In the way of illustration,
let us take first a series of filaments, say in the natural color of
the material, and pass through them in the simplest interlaced style a
second series having a distinct color. A very simple geometric pattern
is produced, as shown in Fig. 315. It is a sort of checker, an
emphasized presentation of the relievo pattern shown in Fig. 291, the
figures running horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Had these
filaments been accidentally associated in construction, the results
might have been the same, but it is unnecessary to indicate in detail
the possibilities of adventitious color combinations. So far as they
exhibit system at all it is identical with the relievo elaboration.

[Illustration: FIG. 315. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of
different colors.]

[Illustration: FIG. 316. Pattern produced by modifying the alternation
of fillets.]

[Illustration: FIG. 317. Isolated figures produced by modifying the
order of intersection.]

Assuming that the idea of developing these figures into something more
elaborate and striking is already conceived, let us study the
processes and tendencies of growth. A very slight degree of ingenuity
will enable the workman to vary the relation of the parts, producing a
succession of results such, perhaps, as indicated in Fig. 316. In
this example we have rows of isolated squares in white which may be
turned hither and thither at pleasure, within certain angles, but they
result in nothing more than monotonous