Fig. 13
Fig. 14
The Weaving of the Apron is Done in the Same Manner as in Making a Basket, with the Break Down to Form the Edge
In weaving, the weavers should be kept wet, but not the spokes. Do not put the reed in water and leave it for any length of time, as it will become discolored. About 15 minutes will be sufficient to make the reed pliable, then it is best to have a sponge and bucket of water at hand, to dampen long weavers frequently by drawing the reed across the wet sponge. Besides being more workable, the wet reed, held in place until dry, stays curved in the form woven much better. Some workmen leave the reed in water for a long time and depend on bleaching to whiten it, but so much of the bleached work looks like a poor job of painting that it is much better to keep it white from the start. In case bleaching is found necessary, a little chloride of lime in water makes a good bleacher. Avoid making the solution too strong. It should be put on with a brush, so as to get it into the interstices of the weaving, whereupon the work is placed in the sunshine to dry.
Any kind of reed used will have some of the small hairlike fibers sticking out after the weaving is complete, and this should be singed off with a gas flame. A blowtorch is good for this purpose. Be careful not to scorch the weaving.
A Homemade Ellipsograph
By J. A. SHELLY
The instrument illustrated was designed to take the place of the two nails and a piece of string for drawing ellipses of different sizes. It is made of hard wood, preferably maple or beech, and consists of a bar with one fixed and one sliding head, the latter having a wedge clamp to hold it at any point desired on the bar.
In the ends of the heads are driven two coarse needles that have been broken off about ⁵⁄₈ in. from the eye end. These ends should be placed ¹⁄₈ in. from the inside of each head and the same distance from the bottom, and driven in until the eyes are each ¹⁄₈ in. from the surface. A piece of linen thread is run through the eye of the needle that is in the end of the sliding head and knotted to prevent its pulling out, and the free end is run through the needle eye on the fixed head. The thumb tack in the fixed head is to secure the free end of the thread. The tack is driven in at an angle so that one edge sticks up enough to allow the thread to be pulled under it.
