Hour Glass Work Tables are covered with cretonne, or Swiss muslin
over colored cambric, with narrow pleatings around the edge. Handsome
banner screens are made of gilded morocco. Paint flowers in oil colors
in the center. The colors should be mixed with turpentine instead of
oil, and a few drops mastic varnish. Ornament the lower edge with
gold bullion fringe one and a half or two inches wide.
Cabinets are very pretty with the same hangings, only as they
require little material, silk or satin will be more advisable, being much
richer in effect. A novelty instead of the silk is to substitute fern leaves,
glued against the inside of the glass in a pretty design, and back of that
a very common-looking glass or Swiss muslin.
It is another very fashionable freak just now to remove the fret work
in the front of an upright piano, and in its place put a piece of satin, on
which is painted, in water-colors, a trail of Virginia creeper leaves, or a
large branch of wild roses and leaves. Cretonne figures, fastened on
black velvet, or cloth, are very effective.
Basket Pails can be had or made at any basket shop; these are
much lighter than the others, and can be easily carried about in the
hand. They are often used for carrying croquet balls on the lawn. A
piece of embroidered crash, sheeting or serge, or a broad band of patch-
work can be utilized for covering, or pretty cretonne. They are pretty,
also, for keeping wood in, by drawing-room or bed-room fire.
Banner Lamp Screens can be made of the silk hand-painted Japan-
ese screens (cost twenty-five cents), or very handsome though delicate
tidies are made of them. These want a lining of silk, with a band to
project beyond the screen about one and a half inches ; over this silk mar-
gin place a band of lace inserting and a wide, full frill of lace. These
screens can also be used for cabinet or library doors, as they come in
any size and are painted in designs of birds, grasses and flowers.
The Large Ox Horns, polished and undecorated, unless with hand
painting— never use a scrap-book picture on any of Nature's works, it
cheapens them — finished at top and bottom with a gilt or silver rim and
hung up with chain to match, or wide ribbon, are beautiful filled with
grasses or ferns and suspended from a chandelier or under a picture.
A Pretty Ornament for the Center of the Ceiling, where one has no
hanging lamp or chandelier, is an air castle made of tiny Japanese par-
asols. Take three of them, cut a slit in the handles, and put through
them a silk thread, suspending three of them below, then two above
that, then one. The least bit of air will sway them.
DECORATIVE FANCIES. 185
To Make an U?iique Work Basket : Take a basket, either oblong
or round, string cotton spools upon a strong iron wire, inserting the bot-
tom end of the wire into half of a wooden ball, and the upper ends are
finished off with wooden knobs. There should be four of these legs,
and a certain artistic grace is added, if the legs are made to curve in at
the center, almost meeting each other, and then out again. After
being painted and varnished this is a quaint and picturesque mounting
for the work basket.
Page 164
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Hour Glass Work Tables are covered with cretonne, or Swiss muslin over colored cambric, with narrow pleatings around the edge. Handsome banner screens are made of gilded morocco. Paint flowers in oil colors in the center. The colors should be mixed with turpentine instead of oil, and a few drops mastic varnish. Ornament the lower edge with gold bullion fringe one and a half or two inches wide.
Cabinets are very pretty with the same hangings, only as they require little material, silk or satin will be more advisable, being much richer in effect. A novelty instead of the silk is to substitute fern leaves, glued against the inside of the glass in a pretty design, and back of that a very common-looking glass or Swiss muslin.
It is another very fashionable freak just now to remove the fret work in the front of an upright piano, and in its place put a piece of satin, on which is painted, in water-colors, a trail of Virginia creeper leaves, or a large branch of wild roses and leaves. Cretonne figures, fastened on black velvet, or cloth, are very effective.
Basket Pails can be had or made at any basket shop; these are much lighter than the others, and can be easily carried about in the hand. They are often used for carrying croquet balls on the lawn. A piece of embroidered crash, sheeting or serge, or a broad band of patchwork can be utilized for covering, or pretty cretonne. They are pretty, also, for keeping wood in, by drawing-room or bed-room fire.
Banner Lamp Screens can be made of the silk hand-painted Japanese screens (cost twenty-five cents), or very handsome though delicate tidies are made of them. These want a lining of silk, with a band to project beyond the screen about one and a half inches ; over this silk margin place a band of lace inserting and a wide, full frill of lace. These screens can also be used for cabinet or library doors, as they come in any size and are painted in designs of birds, grasses and flowers.
The Large Ox Horns, polished and undecorated, unless with hand painting— never use a scrap-book picture on any of Nature's works, it cheapens them — finished at top and bottom with a gilt or silver rim and hung up with chain to match, or wide ribbon, are beautiful filled with grasses or ferns and suspended from a chandelier or under a picture.
A Pretty Ornament for the Center of the Ceiling, where one has no hanging lamp or chandelier, is an air castle made of tiny Japanese parasols. Take three of them, cut a slit in the handles, and put through them a silk thread, suspending three of them below, then two above that, then one. The least bit of air will sway them.
DECORATIVE FANCIES.
To Make an Unique Work Basket : Take a basket, either oblong or round, string cotton spools upon a strong iron wire, inserting the bottom end of the wire into half of a wooden ball, and the upper ends are finished off with wooden knobs. There should be four of these legs, and a certain artistic grace is added, if the legs are made to curve in at the center, almost meeting each other, and then out again. After being painted and varnished this is a quaint and picturesque mounting for the work basket.