Take a piece of green muslin or calico and size it well with isinglass, then take the natural leaf, lay the sized piece of muslin over it on the under or veined side of the leaf, let the muslin remain on it till almost dry and the impression is set; then with a pair of sharp scissors cut the muslin around the leaf, either plain or serrated.
The impression may be taken of any leaf or flower in this way. The use of muslin leaves tends to make the work more durable and is found very convenient for the artist.
THE ART OF MAKING EXOTIC LEAVES.
The begonia rex makes a beautiful parlor plant. Five or seven leaves make a nice-sized plant: Select five or seven healthy begonia leaves of different sizes, as no two leaves of the rex are of one size on the same plant. Cut the leaves closely off the stem and immerse them in a solution of cold water and castile soap. Leave them in this twelve hours before using. Melt the wax to the consistency of cream, in chrome green, permanent green, dark olive-green, and verdigris-green. Now take a leaf out of the soapsuds and lay it on a marble slab, keeping the under surface or veined side uppermost; then with a camel's-hair brush lay on the melted wax in different shades, following the shades of the natural leaf. The soapsuds having made the leaf transparent, all the shades and spots can be plainly seen on the veined side, which is the side the waxen leaf has to be formed on. The belt of light green over the silvery markings of the leaf should be put on with verdigris-green. Begin the leaf in the center and continue on each side of the midrib till the edge is reached and the leaf has a thick coating of wax. Then lay a wire along the midrib or center of the leaf, fasten it in the wax by pressing, care being taken to leave it long enough for eight or nine inches of stem. Wire must also be laid on all the side ribs or veins leading to the midrib. These small wires are all brought to the center wire and laid evenly by its side till they all come to the stem, where they are all twisted around it to form one long, thick stem. Give the leaf another coating of dark olive-green wax (this covers the wires), then finish with a thin coating of burnt umber tinted with Vandyke brown, and the under surface of the leaf is finished. Remove the natural leaf from the waxen and tint the veins lightly with carmine. Brush a little carmine loosely on the darkest shade in the center of the leaf, and before it sticks blow off as much as possible, when enough will be left to give it that reddish-green tint peculiar to the begonia rex leaf. The next is to finish the silver belt or silvery leaf-markings midway between the center and the edge of the leaf. This strip must be rubbed with spirits of turpentine; then with the tinting brush apply a coating of silver bronze (Nos. 4000 and 6000), care being taken that the bronze does not scatter over the leaf. Now the leaf is finished.
If the work is done according to directions, the waxen leaf will be a true copy of the original. Continue in the same way till all the leaves are made, then wax the stems and run them through the begonia stemming, when they may be arranged in their natural growing manner in a flowerpot filled with moss; or, if preferred, the flowerpot may be filled with wax, in terre-verte green, and the stems must be placed in it before the wax gets hard.
HOW TO MAKE BEGONIA STEMMING.
Procure the bristles of a very young pig, five or six weeks old. After washing, put them in a very strong solution of chloride of lime and let them remain in it till whitened; then rinse well in warm water till free from chlorine. Color them while damp, some in different shades of green and some in different shades of brown. After the bristles are ready, the next thing is to make the stemming. Take a square piece of cambric and fasten it in a stretcher, then give it a thick coating of mastic varnish, and when the varnish is dry cut the cambric on a true bias into straight strips of different widths, from an inch to two inches, and half a yard in length. Lay one of these strips on a table or some smooth surface, add another coat of varnish, then cover it with glaucous green flock, care being taken to leave a narrow margin bare on one side to lap under the other when the piping is being made. Dip the bristles in mastic varnish, sprinkle them thickly over the flock, and leave for twenty-four hours to dry; when thoroughly dry, revarnish the bare edge, and turn it in underneath the other edge, thus forming the strip into a pipe, ready to receive the wire stems of the leaves. Brown and crimson flock may be used.
For begonia rex, use crimson flock; for the rubra, use glaucous flock; and for the palmata, use brown flock. Very good stemming may be made by tinting canton flannel, which has a very long nap or pile.
GERANIUM LEAVES—ROSE GERANIUM.
This leaf is of a dark chrome green. Prepare the wax in two shades, dark chrome green and light; immerse the leaves in soapsuds for six hours; take out of the soapsuds and lay it on the marble slab. As there is neither shading nor marking on the leaf, all that is required is to give it a coat of dark chrome green, thick enough to prevent the wires from showing; then lay the wires over the veins and coat them over with a light shade of green. Remove the natural leaf, and as the texture of the rose geranium leaf is rather rough, rub it over with green flock mixed with hair powder. The stems may be left in different lengths.