4. Lamp shades.—Lamp shades may be individual class problems if the pupils have real need for them. If made in class the educational value comes through planning the size and shape, choosing suitable and inexpensive materials, and adapting appropriate designs to them.
5. Lettering.—Since in many real situations in life one is requested to print one's name, it would seem desirable to include some very simple straight-line printing problems.
6. Marbleized paper.—This is a possible class exercise which involves the handling of colors. Such papers may be utilized as wrapping for gifts, book covers, desk sets, or portfolios.
7. Painting furniture.—There will probably be little opportunity or need for the actual carrying out of such a laboratory problem in the beginning course in art related to the home, but it may be used successfully in a later unit in home furnishing or in a home project. The educational value in painting furniture is confined to the choice of finish and color and in learning the manipulative processes. The actual painting of many pieces is too time consuming to be done at school and too laborious for young girls to do unassisted at home.
8. Place cards.—The choice of size and shape of card and the placing of the name on it are the important factors in using plain place cards. Here is an opportunity for girls to make use of straight-line letters. In selecting and making decorated place cards, suitability to purpose and kind and amount of decoration are other factors that need to be considered.
9. Portfolios.—Simple portfolios may be appropriately used as class problems provided the pupils have a need for them. They afford opportunity for the application of the principles of proportion, emphasis, and harmony as well as of color. If decoration is to be used, it should be simple and suited to the material of which the portfolio is made and to its intended use.
10. Posters.—When the need for posters arises, a related art class may profit by applying their knowledge of color, emphasis, and space arrangement in making them. For a simple yet attractive poster, a well-mounted picture which suggests the story with one or two lines of lettering may be grouped to form a unit. This takes but a short time. For those students having difficulty in making the straight-line letters in crayon or ink, the gummed or cut letters may be used, or a school stamp lettering press may be utilized.
11. Rug hooking.—The educational value of this problem is in the selection and adaptation of designs and colors to the spaces and materials used. Beyond this point it is largely repetitive manipulation; and unless girls want to finish rugs outside of class, and will have an opportunity to do so, such work should be discouraged.
12. Tie dyeing.—If good dyes are procurable and the exercise is limited to using a few hues, tie dyeing may be desirable from the standpoint of developing ability to combine colors successfully and to the fitting of the design to the shape of the piece dyed. If used as a class problem, special attention needs to be given to the adaptation of design to the space. This means careful preparation of the material for the dye bath. Wise planning for the desired color effects is also essential.
Shaded dyeing offers an interesting opportunity for further use of color. The problem involves the recognition of interesting ranges of values and the determination of pleasing space relations for those values.