Basketry
Media
Part of Philippine Craftsman
- Title
- Basketry
- Language
- English
- Source
- The Philippine Craftsman Volume V (Issue No. 7) January 1917
- Year
- 1917
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- 488 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN definite assignments for each day’s lessons, otherwise not only time but also materials may be wasted. The instructor should require every teacher to continue on one design until she can weave it independently, and until she has completed 10 centimeters correctly. Defective models should be destroyed. It is worse for a teacher to carry home wrong models and introduce them into a school than it is for her to have none at all. Practice classes are as necessary in presenting this work at normal institutes as they are in academic subjects. By means of these, the best methods in the teaching of bobbin lace may be demonstrated. Economy of material, time and energy, and the securing of excellent workmanship should be the principal aims in the conduct of a model class. The following points should be emphasized: The orderly marching of pupils to and from their seats in getting their materials or pillows; arrange ment of pupils in correct positions with relation to the light; training girls to weave by using only the forearm and wrist movements so as to avoid useless motion; the best way to keep the class quiet and busy during the industrial period; and proper methods of keeping work firm, white and clean. The teachers observing should be required to hand in written criticisms, and afterwards they should discuss the management of the class. BASKETRY. By Benjamin F. Bennington, Division Industrial Supervisor, Cebu. For the best results, it is frequently advisable to have at least two instructors in charge of each class in basketry; one should keep the attendance and other records, while the other should be free to devote his entire time to individuals of the class. Great care should be exercised in selecting the instruc tors. Many teachers are able to make baskets themselves, but fail in showing others how to do the work. In general, the teacher who is able to turn out from his school a large number of first-class baskets will make a success of basketry at the normal institute. Attendance at the vacation assembly should be required of all who expect to act as instructors at institutes. The number in each class should not exceed twenty. What teachers are to be enrolled and the kind of basket each of them is to make, should be determined in advance by the industrial supervisor or the division superintendent. It is generally considered more satisfactory for the normal institute to furnish all raw materials and for teachers to prepare METHODS OF TEACHING AT NORMAL INSTITUTES 489 them under the supervision of the instructors, than it is for teachers to supply finished materials from home. The output of the class will be greater if previously prepared materials are brought, but the quality may not be so good, as it will be more difficult to make articles of the same design uniform. Teachers are also more likely to request a change in assignment when materials from home are required, as they often fail to provide these. A blue print and a form supplied to each teacher will often prevent delay and thus have a tendency to bring about greater efficiency. When the low cost of this additional equipment is compared with the greater results attainable by its use, it will be readily seen that it is false economy to try to get along with out it. In normal institute work the study of the blue print to the point of understanding it perfectly, is considered almost as valuable as the actual making of a basket. The teacher who has mastered one blue print and is able to follow the directions which it bears, will have little difficulty in making articles without the aid of models from any blue print which he will have occasion to use in school work. A careful study of blue prints will prove especially valuable in those cases where it is likely to become necessary to change the work of a school during the year. Model baskets are valuable, but they should not be used to the exclusion of blue prints. It should.be realized that the model and the blue print are complementary, the one of the other. The holding of practice classes in basketry is perhaps not so necessary at normal institutes as at the vacation assembly where only the best qualified teachers, who are frequently already familiar with the technic, are to be found. But since so many teachers at the institutes lack the necessary technical knowl edge of basketry, it is considered best for the instructor in most cases to confine his attention wholly to teaching the making of baskets, and to allowing the student teachers to gather such ideas as they may regarding methods, from the way in which the instructor handles the class at the institute. Wherever it seems inadvisable to hold practice classes in basketry it is evidently all the more necessary that the class be as nearly a model in the matter of methods, materials, equipment and order, as careful planning and supervision can make it. A daily period of not more than 120 minutes should be quite sufficient for the basketry work at an institute. Some teachers will be able to finish the required work in a shorter period, but many will need the entire time. If all plans are properly matured it should be possible for each teacher while at the 490 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN institute, to complete at least one of the more difficult or two of the easier baskets of Bureau of Education design. EMBROIDERY, By G. Glenn Lyman, Principal, Industrial Department, Philippine Normal School. The success of embroidery classes at division normal institutes depends upon the thoroughness with which preparations are made before the date of opening. One of the first things to be considered when planning for the work is the rooms that are to be occupied. Those selected should be well ventilated and lighted; but the direct rays of the sun should not enter. Other industrial work ought not to be carried on where embroidery classes are in session. The equipment provided must be suitable. Ordinary school desks are not to be used unless it is absolutely impossible to secure better seats. Chairs or stools should be of different heights to suit individual workers. The following should be provided: Rigid racks on which to rest the work, and substantial embroidery frames for large articles; at least one large table for stamping designs, and a case with drawers in which to store supplies and finished work; several washbasins with plenty of clean water and ivory soap; a can of talcum powder for pre venting excessive perspiration of the hands; a flatiron and a small tub for laundering. A sewing machine is a requisite where garments are to be made up. Each teacher assigned to embroidery should be definitely in formed several months previous to the time of the institute as to just what supplies she will be expected to bring. Ordinarily she should furnish a standard embroidery frame made of smooth straight pieces of wood other than bamboo, crossed at the corners and joined with half-lap joints; four sticks for fastening work in the frame, these being long enough to rest against the sides of the frames; a tape measure preferably graduated in both metric and English scales; a thimble that fits; a pair of sharp-pointed embroidery scissors; an emery bag; a stiletto; an individual towel; and a notebook. Materials should be furnished by the province or purchased with funds obtained from fees. The most unsatisfactory method is to require teachers to supply them. The goods and equipment needed will depend upon the number of teachers enrolled, the designs and articles prescribed for the division, and the general advancement of the class. Needles, embroidery thread, and material for samplers, ought generally to be supplied by the