For any one kind of vase, only one ground color is necessary. A
pair of very fine pointed scissors will also be required. Then proceed
to cut out your figures with great care ; if you can cut a trifle within
your figures, all the better, for no white edge must be visible. When
they are all cut, arrange them on a sheet of paper in the order in which
they are placed in the vase, and gum them very evenly and carefully on
the colored side ; let them lay until the gum rather thickens and the
paper on which they are colored softens ; then take them up carefully
and place them in their proper places in the inside of your vase ; press
them carefully with a bit of old linen tight to the glass, excluding all
air between them and the glass, otherwise bubbles will be formed and
the work will be spoiled. When all the pictures are arranged, wipe the
glass clean, except where it is covered by the pictures. After the work
is dry and clean, varnish the back of the prints and paint the inside of
the vase with the ground color. Some persons pour it in the vase and
let it run around, and then carefully brush it on ; some put it on near
the picture by gently tapping the glass with the brush. Great care
must be taken not to let the paint run under the paintings.
The antennae of butterflies and other minute objects may be imitated
in gold, or by drawing them on the glass with gum water and sprink-
ling them with gold bronze powder. This must be done before the
ground paint is laid. Gold stars scattered over some kinds of vases
improve them. You can buy, in these days of transfer pictures,
almost any design you wish. Gold bands and gaily colored bands
are also for sale ; vines, birds, mythological and Egyptian figures, drag-
ons, flowers, castles ; in fact, all designs imaginable can be had, and
cheaply, too. If you prefer to color them yourself, be sure and have
the colors clean and bright — the brighter they are the better they will
appear. When gold is introduced it is better to use the shell, or pre-
pared gold. It is applied in the same manner as water colors, and may
be used with good effect in borders, single ornaments, flowers, insects,
and to fill up where no other color is introduced.
This work may be used in various ways to decorate your homes. The
inside of your vase should be varnished, to give it the smoothness of
china, and you can have the rim gilded. If several coats of sizing are
applied, the vase may be filled with water without injury to the paint ;
but you can fit cups or bottles to the vase in which to put water for
flowers. Hall lamps, windows, etc., ate decorated in the same manner
except that no ground color is used. Cabinet boxes, tables, and a great
variety of other articles, both useful and ornamental, may, with a little
ingenuity and taste, be rendered extremely elegant.
20
306 PAINTING.
ROMAN PICTURES.
Page 271
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
For any one kind of vase, only one ground color is necessary. A pair of very fine pointed scissors will also be required. Then proceed to cut out your figures with great care ; if you can cut a trifle within your figures, all the better, for no white edge must be visible. When they are all cut, arrange them on a sheet of paper in the order in which they are placed in the vase, and gum them very evenly and carefully on the colored side ; let them lay until the gum rather thickens and the paper on which they are colored softens ; then take them up carefully and place them in their proper places in the inside of your vase ; press them carefully with a bit of old linen tight to the glass, excluding all air between them and the glass, otherwise bubbles will be formed and the work will be spoiled. When all the pictures are arranged, wipe the glass clean, except where it is covered by the pictures. After the work is dry and clean, varnish the back of the prints and paint the inside of the vase with the ground color. Some persons pour it in the vase and let it run around, and then carefully brush it on ; some put it on near the picture by gently tapping the glass with the brush. Great care must be taken not to let the paint run under the paintings.
The antennae of butterflies and other minute objects may be imitated in gold, or by drawing them on the glass with gum water and sprinkling them with gold bronze powder. This must be done before the ground paint is laid. Gold stars scattered over some kinds of vases improve them. You can buy, in these days of transfer pictures, almost any design you wish. Gold bands and gaily colored bands are also for sale ; vines, birds, mythological and Egyptian figures, dragons, flowers, castles ; in fact, all designs imaginable can be had, and cheaply, too. If you prefer to color them yourself, be sure and have the colors clean and bright — the brighter they are the better they will appear. When gold is introduced it is better to use the shell, or prepared gold. It is applied in the same manner as water colors, and may be used with good effect in borders, single ornaments, flowers, insects, and to fill up where no other color is introduced.
This work may be used in various ways to decorate your homes. The inside of your vase should be varnished, to give it the smoothness of china, and you can have the rim gilded. If several coats of sizing are applied, the vase may be filled with water without injury to the paint ; but you can fit cups or bottles to the vase in which to put water for flowers. Hall lamps, windows, etc., ate decorated in the same manner except that no ground color is used. Cabinet boxes, tables, and a great variety of other articles, both useful and ornamental, may, with a little ingenuity and taste, be rendered extremely elegant.
ROMAN PICTURES.