Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CHRISTMAS GIFTS.
Summer has gone, with all its delightful outings, but the amateur photographer, if he has been wise, has not only many photographic souvenirs as reminders of his vacation, but has also abundant material for making his friends glad at holiday-time.
A dozen, or even six or seven, finely finished prints, mounted in an attractive way, make a most acceptable gift, and one which the recipient is sure not to have duplicated.
Blue prints, which are the cheapest and easiest form of photographic printing, are just the thing for waterscapes. If one's outing has been by the lake or seashore, select six or eight of the prettiest waterscapes, something which would make a sort of series. Do not print them all the same uniform size, but select different-shaped mats for each one. One picture may look better vigneted, another would not be pretty printed except in a circle, and still another would need to be printed in a long narrow oblong to make an attractive picture. Choose the mat which best fits the picture. All styles and sizes may be bought at the dealer in photographic goods, or one may make the mats himself. A pretty mat is made by taking a piece of post-office paper and marking an irregular opening large enough to take in the picture; tear the paper on the pencilled lines, peeling it so as to leave it thinner at the edges. Any-shaped opening may be made, and a picture which has a spot or scratch which would mar it if shown in the print may be blocked out in this way. Pictures printed in this way are very pretty, and something out of the ordinary way of printing.
Having the pictures printed, the selection of the card mount is the next consideration. The mount should show at least an inch or more margin all round, and one may buy the plain mounts and punch eyelet-holes in the edges to fasten them with, or else the regular album leaves, which have holes for fastening together. The album leaves are really better than the cards, as the edges having the eyelet-holes are finished with cloth, which prevents the card from breaking.
Under each picture letter a title or an appropriate quotation, using either ultramarine or cobalt blue water-color. Either corresponds with the color of the finished print.
The cover may be of rough water-color paper, and decorated with the brush in blue, or an opening may be cut in the cover, and a tiny blue print set back of it like a picture in a frame. In such a case there would need to be two pieces for the front cover, glued at the edges. Tie the whole together with a heavy blue silk cord the color of the blue prints, or with two-inch-wide blue ribbon with a butterfly bow.