CHAPTER XXVII.
A CHAPTER ON FRAMES.
AFTER the foregoing chapters on drawing and painting, it is surely our duty to provide the means of framing the various pictures which we hope will be the result of their teachings. Unframed, a picture is apt to be tucked away out of sight, or it becomes rumpled and spoiled when left lying about, and a picture-frame, as a rule, is quite an expensive article; but with a little ingenuity and good taste almost any girl may manufacture frames, if not of equal finish, at least as durable and quite as artistic as any the dealer can produce.
The cost? The cost is the price of a wooden stretcher and a bottle of gold paint.
The first sketch shown here (Fig. 189) will give some idea of the appearance of a frame decorated appropriately for a marine picture. The articles necessary for this frame are a stretcher, some rope, a piece of fish-net, several dried starfish, and gold paint. The stretcher must first be gilded; then the rope, upon which the fish-net has been strung, should be fastened with small tacks around the outer edge, joining it at the corner, where the starfish will hide the ends. The net must be large enough to drape gracefully across one corner, along the top, and fall a short distance down the other side of the frame. When the starfish, graduating in size, are tacked around the draped corner, and they, as well as the rope and net, are given a coat of gilt, a pretty, unique, and substantial frame is the result.
If starfish are not to be had, sea-shells may be used instead (these of course will have to be glued in place), and if fish-net is also out of reach, a piece of fine netted hammock can be used as a substitute.
