Fig. 86. A stencilled bag
Water colours or crayons can be used when a piece is not desired to be washed. The latter works in as smoothly as paints.
Scrim, cheese cloth, linen, crash, burlap, monk's cloth, and Arras cloth can be used for curtains or portières. The cost of them varies from seven cents to one dollar a yard.
Sometimes a small motif is taken and stencilled all over the material. This gives the effect of a printed pattern.
Five tubes of paint will produce almost any shade under the sun. They should be blue, yellow, red, black, and white. Blue and yellow make green; blue and red, purple; lavender, yellow and red make orange. A little black will soften the colours while white lightens the shade. Other combinations can be made by mixing three colours together. Enough of the paint should be mixed at one time to stencil the entire piece, as it is extremely difficult to mix a new batch of colour that will be the exact shade as the first. Ultramarine blue is the shade of the deep sea. Crimson lake is a bright red. Venetian red is a terra cotta. Emerald green is a blue green. Sap green is yellow green. Ivory or lamp black are the two blacks to be had in oil paints; the former is shiny while the latter is dull. Flake white is the term for white in oil paints.
Of course, you can buy ready mixed in tubes almost any shade you desire, but it is lots more fun to make your own colour combinations, as well as very much cheaper. Diamond dyes can be used for stencilling by letting one package of dye serve for one pint. The dyes will have to be boiled in the manner stated in their directions.
You will find that stencilling is the most delightful of the home crafts. Those who are not fond of needlework will find this a real wholesome pleasure.