CHAPTER IX.
THE BACKGROUND.
A good background is a necessity. It is the frame of your picture. Many goods, desirable in themselves, need a color effect to throw them out properly. Practical window trimmers devote much study to designing their backgrounds, frequently relying upon them to arrest the eye of the passing throng and so direct attention to the goods themselves.
No matter how artistic a window display may be, it loses more than half its attraction if not suitably backed. The background affords relief to the trim, and is as necessary as the scenery to a stage setting or the sky line to a landscape. It completes your picture, and, frequently, attracts the eye sooner than the goods.
Therefore too much attention cannot be given backgrounds, and were there a school of window trimming, the proper use of the background would be one of the first things taught.
STOCK BACKGROUNDS.
Many trimmers construct their backgrounds in the windows, which takes considerable time, and when completed, they hurry in the goods to be shown, not giving themselves time to show them properly, feeling they have spent too much time on the background. Consequently, the window is not what it should be. To obviate this I would advise the using of portable stock backgrounds. They are not expensive, and are easily constructed. The time saved in trimming a window is a very important factor. A few frames made of light strips, covered with cheap muslin, forms an excellent groundwork. They can be decorated with cheesecloth in sunbursts, pleating—or, in fact, there is no limit to the variety of ways to treat them. The frames can be made in convenient sizes to fit your windows, so that they can be easily handled and put together quickly in the window. Both sides of the frames should be decorated, so that after you have used one you can turn your frame, showing a different style and color entirely.
These backgrounds are also to be commended as examples of good taste and elegance of design without being elaborately ornate. A very great mistake is not infrequently made in trying to gain a great effect by using an overdone and complicated background which results in distracting the eye from the rest of the display, just as an extremely simple and beautiful picture is often killed because it has been put into a huge gilded Rococo frame.
There are almost countless materials which may be used in making backgrounds, which will give just the finishing touch needed to complete a harmonious window; for instance, Japanese Grass Cloth, which can be procured from most of the large wall paper houses. This is a combination of thread and fine straw, woven together, and backed with tough paper. It comes in just the colors which will harmonize with any other color without predomination,—rich olive green and golden browns, or even beautiful dull reds.
The Oriental mattings and cloths of unique weave and pattern may also be used.
The accompanying plates illustrate how quickly these backgrounds can be put together.
STANDARD BACKGROUNDS—PLATES 1 AND 2.
STANDARD BACKGROUNDS—PLATE 3.
Plate No. 1.—The pleated frames explain themselves. Palms add much to the finish of almost any background.
Plate No. 2.—Shows some excellent sunburst effects.
Plate No. 3.—Gives an excellent idea of the utility of frames, with the addition of a few palms. This represents an Easter egg, made of strips covered with heavy paper; the outside in white cheesecloth, the inside with lavender China silk, with baby dressed in white. There are dozens of other ideas that will suggest themselves to you, suitable to the season. The egg is only one suggestion.
STANDARD BACKGROUNDS—PLATE 4.
Plate No. 4.—The lattice work can be made with white tape, ribbon or strips of wood painted. A hoop nailed to the outer strips will make a good frame. Any style of ornament can be cut out of heavy cardboard, or wood ornaments obtained from almost any saw mill at a little cost. A plain box with blocks nailed top and bottom, covered with cloth in any color desired, with a panel of gilt picture moldings, makes a good pedestal.
Plate No. 5.—Shows how one frame can be used in front of another to an advantage, and good effects obtained.
Plate No. 6—Suggests an excellent background for windows. The bottom of the pillars is covered with a strip of lincrusta, painted white and touched up with bronze. A plain cap can be used instead of the fancy ones, either square or round, with a band of lincrusta to match the bottom.
These backgrounds can be produced at little cost, and are a great help to the trimmer who has many windows. With a little ingenuity and adaptation one can form an endless variety of artistic backgrounds.
The backgrounds shown were designed by Charles W. Morton.
AN OPEN BACKGROUND.
STANDARD BACKGROUNDS—PLATE 5.
STANDARD BACKGROUNDS—PLATE 6.
Where it is desirable to admit light to the store, the window may be draped in a style that is called “an open background.” At the back of the window tack a width or double width of cheesecloth or other material to the top and bottom of the window; not too tightly, but with slack enough to allow for gathering at the middle, as is shown in the illustration. It is not necessary to pleat the material at the top and bottom, as the gathering gives an effect of fullness, but if a single width is used it gives a fuller appearance when pleated. Tie the centers together with bows of bright ribbon. Hanging baskets of flowers and vines suspended in the center of the spaces add to the effect. This style of backing is very neat, and much better than no background at all for drug and jewelry displays.
LATTICE WORK.
For lattice work erect a light framework, wind with cloth, and use strips of curtain cloth, white tape or ribbon for lattice. Run all the strips one way before you put in the cross strips, and these should run back of the first, before the next, and so alternating until you have reached the end. The next strip should reverse the order, running before the first.