A NICE FRAME FOR THE ABOVE.
Procure a strip of board, half an inch thick and three inches wide; take the dimensions of your drawing or impression picture, and subtracting half an inch from both length and width, make the remainder the inner dimensions of your frame. For instance, suppose your picture was twelve inches wide and fourteen inches long, the inner dimensions of your frame would be eleven and one-half by thirteen and one-half inches. The two upright strips would be cut just thirteen and one-half inches long, but the top and bottom would be eleven and one-half inches plus six inches, the width of the two sides, which is seventeen and one-half inches. So the two sides would be thirteen and one-half inches and the top and bottom seventeen and one-half inches each. Great care must be taken to cut the pieces so that their ends will be at exact right angles to their sides. If you are not expert in such work, it would be well to get a carpenter to cut the pieces for you. In selecting your stock for this frame, procure a board with a rough, unplaned surface, if possible, as the result is much better than with a perfectly smooth satin finish. Next take a lath and cut from it two strips three inches longer than the side-pieces, in this instance sixteen and one-half inches, and two other strips one-half inch longer than the inner dimensions of top and bottom, being twelve inches for the frame we are making. With good hot glue join the parts of the frame, and tie it with a cord to keep its form till the glue is dry; then lay the laths upon the back of the frame, one-fourth of an inch from the inner edge, and with small brads nail them in place. At this stage it is well to have your glass fitted, as it saves marring the frame when finished. After it is fitted—any glazier will do that for you—lay the glass carefully away till needed. Find some prettily shaped larch twigs with their little cones attached, or if they are not to be had, pine twigs will do, and with the hot glue and two or three slender brads, place them in graceful bunches over the points of joining. With a bottle of gold paint and a soft brush you can very soon change this rough, unpretending affair into a very artistic frame, one of which, if every step of the process of construction has been carefully taken, you may justly be proud. The glass is next put in place, then the picture carefully laid upon that, face downward, and a piece of cardboard—an old paper-box cover will do—cut the exact size of the glass, laid upon both; these are caught in place by brad-nails driven into the edges of the laths, and extending over the edges of the cardboard. When the picture is firmly fixed in its place, paste a piece of strong brown paper over the whole back of the picture and frame, covering the laths as well. This will exclude all dust and dampness and make the whole thing neater in appearance. Last of all, put in two screw-eyes a little above the middle line of the frame and attach a wire or cord for hanging it in its place upon the wall.
[Note.—Before pasting on the brown paper, dampen it well to avoid its wrinkling.]
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PAPIER-MACHÉ BOATS.
In a preceding article, I alluded to boats as being good subjects for papier-maché, and remembering how much pleasure every boy takes in constructing a boat, I will give a few more explicit directions for the benefit of those of my readers who have ponds and brooks within easy access of their homes.
Having cut from soft wood a good model for the hull, smear it well over with sweet-oil or lard, and rub it well into the wood; then cut your paper into strips an inch or so wide, and paste them longitudinally around the model from stem to stern, in very much the same manner that the boards are put on a real boat, but not so evenly, as the arrangement will not show when the boat is completed. Continue this process until the coating of paper is as thick as very heavy pasteboard, and let it remain until perfectly dry; then with a sharp knife cut off the edge evenly at the top, and sand-paper the whole surface till it is smooth and hard.
Cover both inside and out with two good coats of oil paint, making sure that every point is protected by this medium from the invasion of the water, which would soon ruin it if allowed to reach the paper surface.
Now cut two supports or braces out of 7/8-inch board, which will just fit into the body of the boat, across it from side to side. These are to give proper strength and, at the same time, form supports for the masts; while into a post at the stern two small iron sockets can be driven from the outside through the paper, for holding the rudder in place. The others are placed, one fore and the other aft, in the position the masts are finally to occupy.
As these boats are necessarily very light, some ballast or a keel is indispensable for their sailing well. If a ballast is used, it must be fastened in place by wires on the inside; but as a keel is most satisfactory in the end, I should strongly advise its use. As it is molded from lead, you will be obliged to construct your own mold, which can be done by digging out a piece of wood in the proper shape, or, what is easier, by nailing on a flat piece of board two narrow strips at a suitable distance from each other, and closing the form by nailing other and shorter strips across the ends of the first. A little trough, as you will see, will be the result, and if after passing into this your melted lead you place two sharp nails with their heads imbedded in the mass, at the same distance from each other, and in the same relative positions as your wooden supports, your keel will, when hard, require only a few blows with the hammer to fix it in place. Care must be taken to place the nails so that they will enter the supports after passing through the paper bottom; as the keel would not otherwise hold in place. Next cut from the cigar-box wood a deck for your craft; this is easiest done by simply laying the model upon the wood bottom upward, and marking around the edge with a sharp-pointed lead-pencil. This deck must necessarily fit in your boat if your lines are followed in the cutting. Mark upon the deck the positions of the supports, and bore holes through it and into them, for the accommodation of the masts, which should be two in number for a schooner, or three for a full-rigged ship; fasten a bowsprit in its place, and arrange your sails and stays to suit the style of your boat.