Take the picture from the water, dry a little between blotters, place the engraving—picture side downwards—on the varnished wood and smooth it nicely. If the picture entirely covers the wood after the margin has been cut off so that no varnish is exposed, lay over it a thin board, on which place a heavy weight, and leave it for twenty-four hours. If you wish but a small picture in the center of the surface of the wood, apply the varnish only to a space the size of the picture. Dip your finger in the solution of salt and water and commence rubbing off the paper; the nearer you come to the engraving the more careful you must be, as a hole in it will spoil your work. Rub slowly and patiently until you have taken off every bit of the paper and left only the black lines and touches of your picture on the wood, in an inverted direction. Finish up with two or three coats of copal varnish.
TO TRANSFER ON SILK.
Apply a coating of mastic varnish to the design and allow it to dry; then with a brush wash the paper surrounding the design carefully; this removes from the paper the preparation, which would otherwise soil the silk. Apply a second coating of the same varnish, and when this is slightly dried place the design upon the silk or other fabric to be decorated, and with the roller press it well down. With the brush wet the back of the paper covering the design, when the paper may be at once lifted off. Another method is to cut out the design carefully and cover it with a thin coating of mastic varnish, and lay it upon the silk or other fabric (which should be dampened) and roll thoroughly with a rubber roller; dampen the back of the paper with the brush and lift it off as previously directed.
TO MAKE WAX FLOWERS.
The following articles will be required to commence waxwork: Two pounds white wax, one quarter pound hair wire, one bottle carmine, one bottle ultramarine blue, one bottle chrome yellow, two bottles chrome green No. 1, one bottle each of rose pink, royal purple, scarlet powder, and balsam fir; two dozen sheets white wax. This will do to begin with. Now have a clean tin dish, and pour therein a quart or two of water; then put in about one pound of the white wax and let it boil. When cool enough so the bubbles will not form on top it is ready to sheet, which is done as follows: Take half of a window pane, 7 × 9, and, after having washed it clean, dip into a dish containing weak soapsuds; then dip into the wax, and draw it out steadily and plunge it into the suds, when the sheet will readily come off. Lay it on a cloth or clean paper to dry. Proceed in like manner until you have enough of the white; then add enough of the green powder to make a bright color, and heat and stir thoroughly until the color is evenly distributed, then proceed as for sheeting white wax. The other colors are rubbed into the leaves after they are cut out, rubbing light or heavy according to shade.
For patterns you can use any natural leaf, forming the creases in wax with the thumb nail or a needle. To put the flowers together, or the leaves on to the stem, hold in the hand until warm enough to stick. If the sheeted wax is to be used in summer, put in a little balsam of fir to make it hard. If for winter, none will be required.
You can make many flowers without a teacher, but one to assist in the commencement would be a great help, though the most particular thing about it is to get the wax sheeted. The materials I have suggested can be procured at any drug store, and will cost from $3.00 to $4.50.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Dear lady subscriber, if you are a housekeeper, or ever intend to be one, this chapter will more than repay you for what you have given for this book. It will tell you how to save a large percentage of your household expenses, and also how to have a great many of the articles you use in your daily household work of a superior quality—vastly better than the ones you are using at the present time.
It is a fact not generally known that a great many of the articles used in daily household work cost little more than one-tenth of the price the consumer pays for them. We propose to show the ladies of our great Continent how to have, in most instances, better articles than those they are in the habit of purchasing, and at a small percentage of the cost. To do this, we have, by our own personal investigation, gathered a number of valuable recipes together, and have paid for the privilege of using them. Remember, these are not common recipes, but a full explanation of the manufacture of different articles needed in every household; and they combine the embodied wisdom of practical and successful men and women of the past and present.