Chapter IV: Part 4

Then introduce a small amount of orange, perhaps not enough to cause the effect to be perceived by the children when the wheel is in motion, and rotate. Ask if they see any difference between the small disk at the center and the larger surface. Add more orange till they see a difference, and continue to add orange to the red until nearly one-half the disk is orange or till it may be questionable whether the color made by rotation is more nearly orange or red. This point will be reached before the orange nearly equals the red, because the orange is more luminous. Explain that all these colors which the children have been seeing are orange-reds and ask the pupils to select that color from their papers which is orange-red, or most like the orange and red. In the meantime set the orange and red disks to the proportion of R. 85, O. 15, which nearly or exactly matches the orange-red paper. When the children have selected the paper which they think is orange-red, put the wheel in motion and ask them if their selection is like the color on the wheel. If not, see that all understand and have selected the orange-red paper to place next the red sample. When this has been done remove the disks from the wheel and readjust the larger ones so as to show a combination that is nearly all orange; then replace them and substitute in front a small orange disk instead of the red one and proceed to show a series of red-orange colors from the orange toward the red, as previously shown from the red toward the orange. With experiments before adults this break in the order of proceeding and the change of disks would be unnecessary, but with children it is desirable to mark a distinction between the orange-red and the red-orange colors, a fact which is emphasized by the mechanical manipulation. When the children have been asked to place their red-orange paper in its proper position the disks may be set to R. 50, O. 50, and an imitation of their red-orange paper shown.

If the school is provided with color tops their use may be begun at this point by allowing the children to attempt to repeat the wheel experiments with the tops and thus produce for themselves an imitation of the two intermediate spectrum hues in the papers. In all combinations of colors by disks as well as pigments there is some loss of purity and hence the colors of papers in the intermediate hues may be a little brighter in some cases than the results of two disks in combination.

This suggestion for the presentation of one pair of the intermediate spectrum hues may serve to illustrate all the others, and the time which can be devoted to the whole subject must determine the detail with which each pair is treated.

If the tops are provided in a school but no color wheel then the teacher must begin with a top as a substitute for the wheel and let the children follow her with their tops by dictation. At first this will be much more difficult than if the wheel could be used, but after the children have become somewhat familiar with the handling of the top by dictation the result will be quite surprising. There will be in every school some children who are exceedingly awkward in the manipulation of the top, until the happy day arrives when all school children are graduates of kindergartens. At present the average kindergarten pupil will handle the top better than the children in the lowest primary grades who have not had the advantages of kindergarten instruction.

When all the hues except the red-violet and violet-red have been located, the teacher should be prepared with a chart made by pasting the eighteen paper samples, including standards and intermediate hues, in their order on a strip of paper, so that by bringing the ends together the children may see that when they place the violet-red at one end of their row and the red-violet at the other they are really completing a spectrum circuit and forming a chart of natural colors. Ever since Newton's day it has been fashionable to speak of the spectrum as nature's chart of colors. This expression is but partially true and is entirely false if we mean that it contains examples of all the colors in nature. The spectrum is valuable in color study only from the fact that it enables us to establish permanent standard colors from which all colors in nature and the arts may be named and by the combinations of which such colors may be imitated.

Unless the standard colors in a system of color instruction are the closest possible imitations of corresponding spectrum colors there is no logical relation between such a system and a chart of colors based on the spectrum, because the spectrum does not furnish a complete circuit of colors and its only value is, as before stated, in furnishing a permanent standard on which to found a nomenclature of colors.

Up to this time we have not suggested the practice of introducing any natural objects or calling the attention of the children to various colors found in their surroundings. Each teacher must use her judgment regarding this matter, but as soon as miscellaneous colors are to be considered the two questions of hues and tones are necessarily involved, and experienced teachers have been divided in their opinions as to which should be first considered, tone or hue. When it was thought necessary to occupy a long time in presenting all the spectrum colors this question assumed greater importance than at present, but very many teachers have become convinced that we have not been giving the children credit for nearly as much ability in the recognition of colors as they deserve, and that with the methods at present in use the six standard colors and twelve hues can be learned in a few weeks, during which time it may not be necessary to discuss the complicated combinations of colors in nature and our domestic surroundings. This is not intended to mean that the child will in this time be able to name the various hues when seen separately, but that having the eighteen paper tablets he may feel their relations to each other to such an extent as to be able to lay them in their spectrum order. Those pupils who seem to have no natural perception of the proper relationship of colors will require more experience than the rest of the class before they can be sure of their colors and the teacher must exercise her judgment in deciding how long to hold the class to this subject of spectrum hues on their account.

As in other class work it is not necessary that the dull children perfectly comprehend all that is told them at each step, because there will always be some in a class who will comprehend and thus the others may learn by observation, and in this subject particularly every step in advance must necessarily include a continual review of all that has preceded.

Consequently when a teacher has given as much time to the study of hues in the arrangement of the papers as she deems profitable, considering the entire time that can be devoted to the subject during the year, she may well proceed to tones.

The Study of Tones.

It is unnecessary at the beginning to use the word tones with the children, as "light and dark" colors will be understood more clearly. The first lesson in light and shade may be given with some book bound in a bright color, as red for example, which is common in cloth bindings. For this experiment partially open the book and hold it vertically, with back toward the class, in such position that a strong light from one side of the room will fall directly on one cover while the other is in the shade. If properly manipulated this simple experiment may be made effective to an entire class by moving the book in various directions to accommodate the several members, so that at different times all the pupils may get very clearly the idea of light and dark colors in the same scale.

This idea can be more clearly shown by means of a simple model very easily made for the purpose. Take, for example, three pieces of standard red paper, 4×4 inches, and mount them on a piece of cardboard side by side, in a row. Trim the card parallel to the edges of the papers, leaving a margin of uniform width, and with the point of a knife "score" a line partially through the card from the front, at the joining of the papers, so that it can be neatly bent to the form shown in Fig. 16 which represents the model as seen by the class. By holding one of the rear edges with each hand the faces can be folded to different angles with each other and the model turned to different positions with relation to the children. Possibly the windows at the rear of the room may be partially darkened to advantage; they certainly can be if they have a sunny exposure at the time. The object is to give a fair daylight on the central surface for the standard, a strong light on one side to form a tint of the standard and a shadow on the other for a shade of the same color.

By a trial before school, in company with some other teacher perhaps, the best positions for different parts of the room as well as best lighting of the room may be determined in advance and thus such a success achieved with the first experiment that the whole idea of tint and shade may be impressed on each child for all time and definitions firmly fixed in his mind for these two most abused words in our every day vocabulary. Added interest may be excited by showing similar models in several other colors during the same lesson, thus avoiding the possible impression on any mind that the term tint and shade apply to any special color.

Tints and shades may also be shown very beautifully by some kinds of colored materials. Colored satin ribbons, folded or crumpled, and velvets and plushes give good object lessons. One of the most effective exhibitions of tints and shades may be found in a material used for upholstering furniture and technically called "crushed plush," which is a worsted plush embossed in figures and very changeable in its effects as its relation to the light is changed, giving at the same time very light tints and very dark shades in different portions.

Having thus shown how real tints and shades in nature are produced, the color wheel may be introduced with advantage. If it were practicable to use opaque colors in the school they could be employed to show that the effect of a tint is produced in pigments by mixing white with the standard color and a shade by mixing black with it, but while the mixture of white may produce the best imitations of some tints in nature, the same result does not hold good in the use of black to form shades, and black pigments are rarely used for this purpose, because they impart various untruthful hues, according to the colors with which they are mixed.

For this reason, and others which will appear later, the white and black disks of the color wheel are found to be better than any other single method for representing tones. In shades the black disk produces by far the best imitation of nature, and so does the white disk for more than half of the colors. But, as previously stated, there is an effect which has never been satisfactorily explained by which the tints of red and blue especially receive an unexpected violet gray tinge by rotation. Therefore in showing tints on the wheel it is well not to show very light tints of red or blue until the class has received some impressions of tones in other colors. In the orange and violet the tints seem to be practically perfect, and in the yellow and green not far from correct, but in the green they run a trifle toward the blue and in the yellow become a little gray or broken. But in the shades the black disk has done wonders for color instruction, particularly in making standard neutral grays which cannot be imitated by white and black pigments, and in determining the shades of yellow, as has been explained. See Page 36.

Therefore, after having shown actual tints and shades with the folded models, and perhaps the other materials suggested, place a colored disk combined with a white disk on the wheel, and in front of them a smaller colored disk of the same color as the larger one for comparison, and by changing the relative proportions show various tints. Then substitute a black disk for the white and show shades. If, for example, orange is taken, all proportions of both tints and shades may be shown very truthfully, the deeper shades being very rich browns. Having in this way impressed on the children the terms tints and shades, give them the paper tablets, Selection No. 2, in the deepest tints and the lightest shades, reserving the lightest tints and deepest shades found in Selection No. 4 for later use.

Let each member of the class lay the spectrum in the normal colors and then select the six tints corresponding to the six standards. When all of them think they have done this, tell them to choose the corresponding shades. If a number fail in the attempt it may be well to set up three sizes of disks on the color wheel in shade, standard and tint of red. In showing a tint of red with the disks it is not a good plan to make a tint lighter than R. 95, W. 5, which is about R. T. 1. If the wheel is not available samples of papers may be held up in the three tones so that the class can get the correct idea. There is no best method of reaching all pupils in any class, but in some way at this point in color education every pupil ought to acquire such knowledge of the subject as to be able to select at least the six standard scales in three tones, and this should be practically accomplished before much time is devoted to the consideration of such materials as flowers, fabrics and miscellaneous papers, because until the child understands both hues and tones he can do nothing in either analyzing or naming colors.

As soon as these six scales are familiar to the pupil the selecting of various objects and placing them in general families may be very valuable work, but until that time the classification of colors cannot be carried out very accurately, or at best the families will be very likely to include some uncles, and cousins and aunts, and yet, on the other hand, if even the distant relatives are recognized in preference to strangers the choice will give evidence of a sympathetic feeling for color relations, favorable to future progress and indicating something of the natural color sense of the child.

If such occupations as paper cutting and pasting, or weaving of mats have a place in the school, combinations in two or three tones of the six standards can now be made. At this stage names are of little importance, but they will come in play early, as it is natural to give names to everything, and as soon as the child knows the definite names which belong to colors they will be used.

Neutral Grays.

Immediately following the first idea of tints and shades or tones, the grays should have attention, because in the occupations with papers they will play an important part. For this purpose white, black and the neutral gray papers are included in Selection No. 2 of the paper tablets and should be made familiar to the children while the tints and shades are being studied. The suggestion that a neutral gray is a tint of black or a shade of white may or may not aid a child to better understand the relation of the neutral grays to the color chart, but it is a thought worthy of the attention of the teacher, as expressing a fact important in the consideration of color impressions. This gray may also be illustrated on the wheel by the union of white and black disks, and should be early presented in this way, because this is the only means by which we can secure standards for pigmentary neutral grays, and the fact that this special and peculiar gray is so important in all color investigation furnishes sufficient argument for making it prominent before the other grays.

Even at this early period in his color education a child may be shown that white in shadow is a gray, and the fact that it is a neutral gray is not essential to him, as he has no knowledge of any other gray and probably it may not be desirable to call attention to the various classes of grays until after the broken colors have been studied. A sheet of white card or heavy paper may serve to show that white in shade or shadow is a gray.

For this experiment fold the card or paper very sharply and hold it with the folded edge vertical and projecting toward the class, and in such a position relative to the windows that half of the paper is in very full light and the other in shadow.

A comparison of neutral gray paper No. 1 with a true shade of white or white in shadow, as explained on Page 36, will serve to connect the gray papers with the shades of white. After the idea of tones is made clear to the children, so that they can readily form the six standard scales in three tones, the completing of the Chart of Spectrum Scales in three tones will be merely a matter of drill, as no new principles are involved.

When the pupils can lay the Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales in three tones correctly, the thoughtful teacher will naturally ask herself what is the next logical step, and it may at first seem as though the completion of the chart in five tones ought to immediately follow. But it is very desirable that the pupils begin as early as possible to make a practical application of their knowledge of colors to the familiar objects around them; and it is evident that before any very accurate comparison of miscellaneous colors can be intelligently undertaken the child should be able to recognize the effect of mixing gray with a color, in distinction from the pure tints and shades of that color.

Explanation of Broken Colors.

Very few of the common colors seen in fabrics and house furnishings are either full pure colors or their tints and shades, but nearly all are broken colors. Therefore it seems desirable to introduce the study of broken colors, before considering the extreme tones of the pure colors as represented in tints and shades No. 2 in the Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales in five tones.

This order of presentation seems specially advisable, because the distinguishing of the extreme tones where the color is lost to so great a degree is more difficult than anything connected with the subject of broken colors. Therefore at this point paper tablets, Selection No. 3 are introduced. From this collection of tablets when properly arranged a Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales of twelve colors in three tones may be made, and in addition there are tablets illustrating the several classes of grays other than neutral grays.

The first result desired is a definite distinction in the mind of each pupil between a broken color and any tint or shade of the same color. In order that the explanation of this distinction shall be intelligently comprehended each child must have such a clear idea of the meaning of the terms "tints" and "shades" that he shall not fail to readily understand any statement regarding them because of confusion as to the definite meaning of these terms. The child should know clearly that a "tint" is a color in a strong light or mixed with white either in pigments or disks, while a "shade" is a color in shade or shadow, i.e. with less than the normal illumination, or mixed with black. When this has been fixed in the mind of a pupil, and he has also been shown that neutral gray, the only gray he has learned anything of, is the result of the combination of white and black, it will not be difficult for him to see that a broken color is produced by the mixture of both white and black with the pure color. Much later it will be possible for him to think of a broken color as a tint thrown into a shade or shadow, as may be observed by casting a strong shade or shadow on to a piece of colored paper in some one of the _tints_ of the spectrum scales.

The color wheel and tops furnish the simplest and most effective means for the presentation of broken colors, because they automatically analyze every color shown, so that the pupil sees for himself just what has been done.

An Exercise in Broken Colors.

After having refreshed the minds of the class as to tints and shades and grays by a brief restatement of the conditions involved in these terms, the idea of broken colors may be shown with disks on the color wheel or top. For this experiment place on the spindle, for example, a combination of orange, white and black disks, and in front of these disks put combined orange and black disks of smaller size. Make the proportions of the larger disks, O. 15, W. 4, N. 81, and the smaller, O. 26, N. 74. In rotation the larger ring will show a dark broken orange and the inner one a dark shade of orange, and the difference in quality will be readily seen and felt. The effect is more valuable as a lesson if the tones of the two are nearly equal, although this is not necessary.

A very much lighter pair of colors is secured by using the following formulas, O. 43, W. 26, N. 31, and O. 77, W. 23.

Both these experiments may be made with the primary color wheel or color top. If the High School Color Wheel is in use so that the four rings of color can be shown at one time, the two larger rings may show two tones of broken color and the smaller rings a tint and shade of pure color.

In the use of tops two may be spun at once as near together as possible, the two broken tones on one top and the tint and shade on another.

In green similar experiments may be tried, with the following formulas:--

G. 20, W. 6, N. 74.
G. 36, W. 13, N. 51.
G. 34, N. 66.
G. 82, W. 18.

Practically the same methods may be adopted in the study of broken colors as were employed with the pure colors.

The paper tablets contained in Selection No. 3, comprising broken colors and grays, will now come into use to accompany experiments with disks in broken colors. The tablets in the broken spectrum colors number thirty-six, comprising twelve scales of three tones each, thus producing but one intermediate hue between each two standards, instead of two, as in the chart of pure colors.

Exercises in selection and arrangement of these tablets to form a chart may be employed to familiarize the pupils with the new kind of colors. The colors are not so pronounced as in the pure scales, and for this reason the arranging may be more difficult, but the smaller number of hues simplifies it somewhat, so that, with the better-trained color perception which the child will have acquired at this stage, no greater effort will be required than in the earlier lessons.

When the Chart of Broken Scales can be laid with reasonable accuracy by the majority of the class the two charts as far as studied, each in three tones, may be laid on the desk at the same time for comparison and thus the difference in quality or character emphasized.

All kinds of materials may now be considered and classified, and great interest inspired in the subject generally. Flowers, autumn leaves, dress goods and anything with color can be studied and the colors analyzed. Before the study of broken colors was taken up some few flowers could be quite accurately matched with the disks and analyzed, but now very many more of the flowers and plants as well as other material can be accurately analyzed and a definite nomenclature given to each sample.

Selection No. 3 of tablets contains, in addition to the twelve scales of broken colors, six colored grays, which must at some stage be considered in connection with gray colors or broken colors, to which they are closely related. As has already been stated, there is a point where by the continued addition of gray to a color, the color is so far obscured that its identity is practically lost and the result becomes a colored gray.

Although the line between gray colors and colored grays cannot be definitely drawn there are so many grades visible beyond the point where the exact color used with the gray can be determined, that the term "colored gray," which covers the three classes, warm, cool and green grays, is convenient for common use.

It is very desirable that a distinction be observed between the terms "colored grays" and "gray colors," and therefore broken colors may be a better term to apply to the gray colors because a distinction is thus more strongly emphasized between these two classes of colors.

The following table furnishes formulas from which the colors of the Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales may be very nearly imitated on the High School Color Wheel. Each scale should be shown by the three smaller sets of disks, namely, the smallest for light tone, next size for standard or medium, and the third size for darkest tone.

This list of disk combinations is furnished here for the convenience of teachers who may have occasion to illustrate the compositions of the various classes of colors comprised in the Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales, which covers the entire range of the æsthetic colors and from which by modifications every subdued color in material substances can be analyzed and definitely named.

Owing to the color usually found on the interior of a schoolroom and the lack of pure white light from outside it is not probable that these proportions will exactly match the papers, but the formulas will enable the teacher to approximate the color, and then the more accurate match in conformity to the conditions in each case may be secured by making changes in accordance with suggestions from a majority of the class, an exercise which will afford valuable practice for the pupils.

Formulas for a Chart of Broken Spectrum Scales.

LIGHT. MEDIUM. DARK.

RED.
R.68, W.18, N.14. R.59, W.5, N.35. R.22-1/2, W.5, N.72-1/2.

ORANGE RED.
R.51, O.17-1/2, W.23, N.8-1/2. R.47, O.16, W.8-1/2, N.28-1/2. R.15, O.7-1/2, W.7-1/2, N.70.

ORANGE.
O.43, W.22-1/2, N.24-1/2. O.34-1/2, W.10, N.55. O.15, W.5, N.79-1/2.

YELLOW ORANGE.
O.23, Y.15, W.27, N.35. O.24-1/2, Y.17-1/2, W.15, N.43. O.10, Y.4-1/2, W.6, N.79-1/2.

YELLOW.
Y.34, W.30-1/2, N.35-1/2. Y.24, W.12-1/2, N.63-1/2. Y.12-1/2, W.5, N.82-1/2.

GREEN YELLOW.
Y.24, G.13, W.28, N.35. Y.25, G.10, W.17, N.48. Y.11, G.13, W.10, N.66.

GREEN.
G.16, W.9, N.75. G.34, W.19, N.49. G.23, W.41, N.36.

BLUE GREEN.
G.8-1/2, B.7-1/2, W.7, N.77. G.22, B.18, W.12, N.48. G.24, B.25, W.23, N.28.

BLUE.
B.22-1/2, W.6, N.71-1/2. B.38, W.13, N.49. B.36, W.29, N.35.

BLUE VIOLET.
B.13, V.9-1/2, W.6-1/2, N.71. B.13, V.25, W.15, N.47. B.20, V.15, W.29, N.39.

VIOLET.
V.20, W.13, N.67. V.51, W.24, N.25. V.61, W.32, N.7.

RED VIOLET.
R.17, V.10, W.5, N.68. R.16-1/2, V.45, W.13, N.25-1/2. R.23, V.40, W.26, N.11.

In preparing the papers for the Chart of Broken Spectrum Colors the selection of the tones of the several colors has been made in accordance with the æsthetic color feeling of those to whom the matter was intrusted, but the hues of the colors are based on the standards of the pure spectrum colors.

If these colors are considered independently of their relation to a general system of color education, it may seem that a stronger and purer line of colors would be more beautiful; but the more broken or subdued colors have been chosen after very careful consideration, because they are intended for elementary instruction and therefore should be so far removed from the pure color scales as to impress themselves on the minds of the children as a distinct and representative class of colors. When the color sense of the pupils has been sufficiently cultivated to observe smaller distinctions, a variety of color scales much less broken may be shown with the disks.

Different selections for a score of charts could be made, all beautiful and representing broken colors, but after much consideration these thirty-six were selected from a very large number of hand-painted samples made for the purpose, as furnishing a sufficient number of typical broken colors for elementary color instruction, and in such hues and tones as to form a harmonious chart for comparison with the Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales.

Certain "Color Puzzles."

When the children have advanced far enough to understand the analysis of a color, i.e., to correctly name a color, exercises which may be called color puzzles can be introduced from time to time with great interest and profit.

The idea is simply to suddenly show to the class a series of disks in rapid rotation and ask them to guess what colors it is composed of, i.e., what the definite name of the color is.

The following is a suggestion for this exercise, supposing that a broken green yellow is to be shown:--

Select a green, a yellow, a white and a black disk of medium size and combine them as follows: Y.20, G.10, W.10, N.60. Then, having previously removed the nut from the spindle of the wheel and laid it in a convenient place, take the combined disks and lay on the top of them any other disk of a larger size, with the center holes of all corresponding with each other and place all these disks on the spindle of the wheel with the larger disk still covering the face of the others. Having previously furnished an assistant with a sheet of cardboard of sufficient size to conceal the disks from the class have it held in front of the wheel while the disk which conceals the combination is removed, the nut screwed to place and the disks put into rapid rotation; then order the card taken away and ask the class what color they see, still continuing the rotation.

The correct answer should be broken green-yellow, and not a shade of green-yellow, a broken yellow-green, a tint of yellow or a yellow shade; for there is but one true name and that should be stated. Definite expressions of color are as possible as the terms used regarding other scientific subjects, and should be encouraged.

Much interest can be inspired and valuable instruction imparted to the children by experiments with the color wheel, but whenever color analysis is the object in view, if disks of more than one of the standard colors are used in the same combination they must be of colors adjacent to each other in the spectrum.

For example, if a blue and a yellow disk are united and placed in rotation the result may be a blue gray, a yellow gray, or perhaps very nearly a neutral gray, because blue and yellow are so nearly complementary to each other. But a nomenclature of the resulting color effect expressed in terms of blue and yellow is not of practical value, because it is evident that in the analysis of a gray-blue, yellow has no logical place. If in an attempt to match a color which seems to be a broken blue, something else besides the blue, white and black is required, it must be either green or violet, i.e., one of the two standard colors adjacent to the blue in the spectrum. In other words, every color in nature is a spectrum color, i.e., either a pure spectrum color, a tint or a shade of a spectrum color, or a broken spectrum color. Hence every color can be matched, and therefore analyzed by the combination of one disk of a standard color with a white disk, a black disk or both, or else by two adjacent spectrum standards with white and black or both.

There are many combinations of disks outside the limitations above named which are valuable and interesting in color investigation when not used for simple analysis, but if they are presented as pleasing experiments before the pupils can understand their logical relation to the subject of color education, the result may be entirely misleading rather than instructive.

In making experiments in broken colors with the wheel the most satisfactory results are secured in orange, violet, green and yellow, while the red is fairly good and the blue less satisfactory than the others because of the slight effect of gray or violet which comes into the lighter tones by rotation, to which reference has already been made.

As explained on Page 54, the so-called tertiary colors, russets, citrines and olives were formerly supposed to be classes of peculiar colors to which these names were given. The fact that these are all broken spectrum colors was first demonstrated by the use of the color wheel and they are now quite generally accepted as such by those who have given heed to modern methods of color instruction.

As already shown the disks have also seemed to correctly define the several scales of colors, so that in contrast to the color charts of a dozen years ago a distinction is clearly drawn between the colors in the yellow and the orange scales, or even between the yellow-orange and the orange-yellow scales, so accurately do the disks determine the hue of a color.

When the pupils have progressed so far that they can arrange the paper tablets to form the Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales in three tones and also the Chart of Broken Scales, they will be prepared to intelligently begin the use of papers in cutting and pasting designs in the several classes of harmonies, but before most effective results can be produced the lightest tints and deepest shades of the full chart of pure scales in five tones must be considered.

Chart of Pure Spectrum Scales Completed.

The entire mastery of these extreme tones will be quite difficult because they are so far removed from the standards, and the children can hardly be expected to recognize and name them when seen separately. If a pupil is able to correctly arrange them in connection with the other tones of the chart, his accomplishment will show a high grade of color perception. But these extreme tones are introduced because their use in the more advanced work of paper cutting and pasting produces stronger and more beautiful harmonies and a higher degree of color training than would result were the tints and shades nearer the standards in tone.

No detailed rehearsal of the lessons for this work is necessary to enable a teacher who has pursued the course of instruction thus far to complete it in a logical way, and relatively little time will be required by the pupils to become sufficiently familiar with these tones for practical purposes, because of their more acute color perception which will be developed at this period.

The Work of Cutting and Pasting.

In the study of color the work of cutting and pasting designs in educational colored papers affords the earliest and best practical expression of the color feeling which has been acquired and stimulates the further development of color perception. The order in which the use of these papers can be most profitably taken up in the occupations of cutting and pasting may be determined by a careful consideration of the subject of harmonies as explained quite fully in the foregoing section entitled "Practical Experiments," Pages 67 to 73.

The first in order is Contrasted Harmony, in which cut papers in one color may be mounted on a ground of some passive color as white or gray. In selecting the gray, analogy is usually preferable to contrast, while neutral gray is fairly safe for all colors. According to this suggestion the warm grays may be used with the warm colors and the cool grays with the cool colors, and in a majority of the cases the lightest tone of gray is preferable.

Without question Dominant Harmonies or the arrangement in families are the most profitable and safe for early practice. In this class a light tint may be used for the background on which to mount any of the other tones of the same scale. Beyond these two classes of harmonies the order of presentation must be determined by the teacher. If the complementary is attempted with simple geometrical forms a light tint may most safely be selected for a background in the least aggressive of the two colors and the design or pasted forms in some of the complementary tones other than the normal color. Do not attempt to combine full complementary colors in elementary work.

The Analogous Harmony may be used in simple designs with beautiful effects when judicious selections are made, but owing to the latitude necessarily involved in the definition of this class of combinations the children cannot very early be trusted to make their own selections.

It is evident that nothing can be attempted in the Perfected Harmonies in any of the ready-cut forms, but beautiful results can be produced in this class with well-drawn and accurately cut ornamental designs in colored papers, which may even surpass in strength and beauty any effects which can be produced in water colors such as can be used by the children.

For earliest practice in making designs in colored papers the ready cut forms of the kindergarten, technically called "parquetry papers" are very convenient and may be procured either with or without gum on the back. These are prepared in various geometrical forms based on the one-inch standard, among which the most useful for pasting decorative designs are the circle, half-circle, square, half-square and equilateral triangle. Where models and tablets are used in form study the tablets may serve as patterns from which the children can mark out the papers which they can then cut for themselves, and thus the oval and ellipse may be added to the forms, and also practice in accurate cutting secured.

In the use of tablets as patterns the outlines should be made on the backside of the paper, by holding the tablet in place with one finger and working carefully around it with a well-pointed pencil. The marking to the pattern and cutting to the line provides valuable elementary practice in manual training. As it is the prime object of these papers to treat of color no attempt is here made to give directions for designing units of ornament or for folding and cutting designs. All such exercises furnish the best possible practice in both designing and manual work, but they belong more directly to the department of drawing and are fully treated in the hand books explaining modern systems of drawing. We offer here a number of simple arrangements of such forms as may be found in ready-cut papers or may be marked from the form study tablets as before mentioned, with the addition of a few other figures which involve some very simple designs for free-hand cutting.

A Variety of Designs.

The accompanying illustrations show a number of simple arrangements of such forms as are found in ready-cut papers or may be marked from the form study tablets already mentioned, with the addition of a few other figures which include some very simple forms requiring free-hand cutting. Suggestions for more elaborate designs and specific directions for paper cutting can be found in elementary books treating of decorative drawing and those devoted solely to paper cutting.

Figs. 17 to 25 show arrangements of one-inch kindergarten parquetry papers in one color, used as units to form border designs in contrasted harmony on a white or a gray ground, in all of which there is repetition of form as well as color. A narrow strip of paper in the same color as the units may be used at top and bottom to finish the design.

Figs. 26 to 37 show border designs, each of which is made with one form in two colors or tones in alternation.

Figs. 38 and 39 show border designs in one color, with forms marked from the elliptical and oval tablets and cut by hand. In Fig. 39 borders are made by combining half-squares which may be used with or without narrow strips of the same color.

Figs. 40 and 41 are made by using one form with alternation of tone and of position. Fig. 41 is derived from Fig. 40 by laying the dark squares with the corners in contact and placing the light squares over them.

Fig. 42 shows alternation of form and color or tone, which is also the scheme employed in Fig. 43 in a design less simple with the addition of the half-circles.

Figs. 44 and 45 show two other simple and pleasing designs with alternation of both form and tone or color.

Figs. 46, 47, 48, and 49 comprise designs in two forms and two tones or colors, in which some hand cutting is necessary on the part of the pupils.

Figs. 50 to 54 are rosettes made from parquetry papers with the addition of a small circle or square at the center cut by hand.

Figs. 55 to 60 are principally hand-cut forms, and 61, 62 and 63 show surface patterns made from parquetry squares and half-squares.

Colored papers can be used more advantageously in decorative designs than in imitations of natural objects, for which water colors are much better suited, but some copies of natural flowers and autumn leaves have been made in colored papers which were exceedingly close imitations of water color paintings when seen at a little distance, rivaling in the case of the autumn leaves the best water color effects in brilliancy and depth of color.

There need be no definite rules governing the continuation of color study from this point by a teacher who is interested in the subject and has tried the experiments suggested in the preceding pages. The work will become very interesting at this stage, because now all sorts of material may be introduced for analysis and classification and from this point forward, to the highest achievements of the artist, nature will furnish abundant stimulus to color thought and investigation, if the foundation has been laid according to the true theory of color perception which it is the object of this system to explain.

Analysis of Color Materials.

A valuable and interesting phase of color investigation and color training may be found in the analysis and naming of the natural colors found in flowers, minerals and the plumage of birds. The necessity for a definite and adequate nomenclature which naturalists experience in this department of education has been emphasized by the publication within a few years of a book entitled "A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists, and a Compendium of useful knowledge for Ornithologists."

This book has been prepared with great care by Robert Ridgway of the United States National Museum, and contains a large number of hand-painted plates showing nearly two hundred colors which represent selections from three hundred and fifty names of colors which are given in English, Latin, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian or Danish.[D]

[D] A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists and Compendium of useful Knowledge for Ornithologists by Robert Ridgway, Curator, Department of Birds, National Museum. Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1886.

The fact that a book involving so much technical knowledge and the expenditure of so much time and money was deemed justifiable is an evidence of the great need for some definite nomenclature.

In the introduction the author says: "Undoubtedly one of the chief desiderata of naturalists, both professional and amateur, is a means of identifying the various shades of colors named in descriptions, and of being able to determine exactly what name to apply to a particular tint which it is desired to designate in an original description. No modern work of this character it appears, is extant,--the latest publication of its kind which the author has been able to consult being Syme's edition of 'Werner's Nomenclature of Colors,' published in Edinburgh in 1821. It is found, however, that in Syme's 'nomenclature' that the colors have become so modified by time, that in very few cases do they correspond with the tints they were intended to represent."

The following are the opening sentences of the preface: "The want of a nomenclature of colors adapted particularly to the use of naturalists has ever been more or less an obstacle to the study of Nature; and although there have been many works published on the subject of color, they either pertain exclusively to the purely scientific or technical aspects of the case or to the manufacturing industries, or are otherwise unsuited to the special purposes of the zoologist, the botanist and the mineralogist."

In the same book the Chapter on Principles of Color opens with the following sentences: "The popular nomenclature of colors has of late years, especially since the introduction of aniline dyes and pigments, become involved in almost chaotic confusion through the coinage of a multitude of new names, many of them synonymous, and still more of them vague or variable in their meaning. These new names are far too numerous to be of any practical utility, even were each one identifiable with a particular fixed tint. Many of them are invented at the caprice of the dyer or manufacturer of fabrics, and are as capricious in their meaning as in their origin; among them being such fanciful names as 'Zulu,' 'Crushed Strawberry,' 'Baby Blue,' 'Woodbine-berry,' 'Night Green,' etc., besides such nonsensical names as 'Ashes of Roses' and 'Elephant's Breath.'"

These extracts from this valuable and interesting book by an author of large experience are quoted here to emphasize the practical necessity for more definite color education based on analysis and nomenclature.

With the color wheel or color top, the colors of flowers and leaves as well as all other objects in nature and art may be analyzed and named, and the names definitely recorded in the terms of a nomenclature based on permanent standards.

The following list of flowers and leaves of plants and trees with their analyses in terms of our nomenclature is taken from a recently published paper entitled "On the Color Description of Flowers," by Prof. J. H. Pillsbury, to whom the writer is indebted for some of the earliest suggestions regarding the practical application of the scientific facts of color to color teaching, and also for valuable scientific work which he has done including the exact location of the six color standards in the solar spectrum by their wave lengths:--

"With these standards to work from, I undertook to determine the color analysis of certain of our common flowers. The following results, will, I think, be interesting to botanists. The numbers given indicate per cent. of color required to produce the hue of the flower:--

Common forsythia, F. viridissima: Pure spectrum yellow.
Fringed polygala, P. paucifolia: R. 48, V. 52.
Wistaria, W. frutescens, wings: R. 11, V. 89.
Wistaria, W. frutescens, standard: R. 9, V. 79, W. 12.
Flowering quince, Cydonia japonica: R. 95, V. 2, W. 3.
Wild cranesbill, Geranium maculatum: R. 28, V. 66, W. 6.

The variations of color in the early summer foliage is also interesting. The following analyses are for the upper side of fresh and well developed healthy leaves. It is not impossible that a little attention to these variations in the color of foliage on the part of artists would save us the annoyance of some of the abominable green which we so often see in the pictures of artists of good reputation:--

White oak: Y. 7.5, G. 11.5, N. 81.
Apple: Y. 5, G. 13, W. 2, N. 80.
Copper beech: R. 17, V. 2, N. 81.
Hemlock: Y. 2, G. 9, N. 89.
White pine: Y. 2.5, G. 11, N. 86.5.
White birch: Y. 5.5, G. 11.5, W. 1, N. 82.
Hornbeam: Y. 5.5, G. 12.5, N. 82.
Shagbark hickory: Y. 4.5, G. 9.5, N. 86.

These analyses were made in a moderately strong diffused light with Maxwell disks of the standard hues referred to above."

These are but a few of the numerous flowers the colors of which may be perfectly imitated and consequently analyzed and named with the color wheel or the top. In fact for individual work in natural history the top is more convenient than the wheel and sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes, while it is a very fascinating occupation for child or adult.

In the use of disks for analyzing colors it must be remembered that every material color is some quality of some color in the spectrum circuit, and therefore may be matched with not more than two standard disks, either alone or with white or black or both. If more than two color disks, besides white and black, are used they will neutralize each other more or less, and a neutral gray or a gray and some spectrum color will be the result. For example, if yellow and blue in nearly equal parts are introduced in connection with red and orange, the yellow and blue being nearly complimentary to each other will produce practically a neutral gray, and the result will be the same as if only red, orange, white and black were used.

Owing to the recent advances in the art of dyeing there are some textile goods which are too intense in color to be exactly imitated by the disk standards, but this fact need not prevent a practical analysis of such colors, because by very slightly reducing with white the color to be examined the same color is retained, the modification making it, of course, somewhat lighter. Fig. 64, showing a small circle representing a disk of the material mounted on thick paper, illustrates this statement. Suppose we have a piece of rich brown cloth, so intense in color that when red, orange and black are combined in the proportions of R. 22, O. 16, N. 62, the material is still a little richer in color than can be made with the disks of the color wheel. If we introduce a small amount of white into the brown of the material we may hope to match it with the disks and this may be done by cutting a bit of fairly heavy white paper in the form shown in the diagram and loosening the nut of the color wheel slightly, after which we insert the point of the triangle under the nut so that when tightened the white paper may be held in front of the brown disk, as in the illustration. Trim the outer end even with the disk and then rotate. If the effect of the white is too great trim off a little from the side of the white paper to make it narrower, until a perfect match is secured.

The small disk in rotation is then of the same color but not quite so intense as before, or in other words, is a very deep tint of the color. In this way the Nomenclature can be recorded as follows: Brown 95, W. 5, = R. 22, O. 16, N. 62.

This result does not often occur, but the subject is noticed here in detail that no one may be in doubt when such cases do come to light, as they will sooner or later.

The aniline colors give some purples which are much more brilliant than either the violet or red which otherwise should by combination produce them, so that with these standards they cannot be made, but must be reduced with white, or possibly with white and black.

If a color wheel is not available many of these experiments may be tried on the color top, but not as satisfactorily, because of the accuracy necessary in cutting so small a disk in a woven material. In using the top for analysis of all ordinary colors, the best plan is lay the material on a table or other level surface and spin the top on it. If quite an accurate test is desired the cardboard disk of the top may be trimmed down to the size of the largest paper disk, so that there will be no intervening ring of light color to separate the color of the rotating disks from the material on which it is spun.