and the fine wire, necessary for the permanent stem, is 
attached, coated with glass, and the leaf is ready to be 
attached to the branch; this last I could not see, as it 
took from about three till half after five to color just 
three leaves and put ribs and veins in one, and then 
anneal it. 
A green leaf would be made of green glass; the method 
of coloring would be the same for both. 
The colors are made of powdered glass mixed (mois- 
tened) with a few drops of turpentine or. . . . carefully 
added to the powder in little china saucers and stirred 
with a fine camel’s hair brush, which, finely pointed in 
the moist paint, is used to administer the color to the 
leaf also. 
The undulations of the leaf have already been made in 
the white glass so the buff or yellow paint is brushed on 
perfectly smooth, several times, and, before it has wholly 
dried, a strip of pointed whale bone marks the main vein 
down the centre, and the pointed quill of one of the 
brushes is used to mark each rib. Then a little of the 
powdered glass is dusted on by a camel’s hair brush, 
shaken off and dusted on again in spots. If the leaf is 
partially healthy, faintly colored green glass is applied 
to the healthy parts. The camel’s hair brushes, larger or 
finer, then are drawn down the vein and the ribs over and 
over and over again to give the necessary strength to the 
vein of size and color and to emphasize, as needed, the 
ribs. Many, many times the delicate tip of the brush 
would only touch tiny spots on the lines which needed 
a thought more of color. 
Then, with the most delicate touch of the finest pointed 
brush, the cob-web veins were drawn into the texture of 
the leaf, between and at the end of each rib, like fine 
etching perhaps, but almost more delicate, like a breath 
rather than a touch and absolutely exhausting to nerves 
[ 134 | 
