Popular Science Monthly 



a paste form with turpentine, working it 

 as smooth as butter. When ready to use, 

 thin out with more turpentine and add a 

 little boiled linseed oil, which is to keep 

 the paint from 'drying on the board. Do 

 not make the printing color too thin; use 

 plenty of it so that the sunken parts will 

 be filled level-full. Then with the scraper 

 spread the paint out evenly, pushing the 

 tool forward, using both hands to press it 

 down hard. This will leave the sunken 

 parts full and the high parts smooth. 



131 



An Improvised Stage for an Out of 

 Doors Fairy Play 



AUTOMOBILES, four on the right and 

 . two on the left, furnished most of the 

 light for a fairy play, "The Merman's 

 Pipe," produced under the direction of 

 Mrs. A. J. Commons, at Merrill Springs, 

 Wisconsin, for the benefit of a rural school 

 social center five miles away from any stage 

 machinery or electric lights. Each car 

 was so turned as to throw the rays of the 



The brilliant rays from the headlights of six automobiles and a number of lanterns furnished 

 the spotlights and footlights for a fairy play given at night in a far-from-the-city locality 



With everything ready and the impres- 

 sion-board filled with color, take the roller 

 in both hands and select a point on the 

 roller-surface at which to start. Place this 

 part down on the board, and with a firm, 

 even pressure roll it along over the surface 

 until one complete revolution is made. 

 Be careful to stop when the starting point 

 of the roller is reached. This is to avoid 

 making a lap. Carefully pick up the roller, 

 not permitting it to slip on the board, and 

 place it down on the surface to be grained. 



The first impressions from a new board 

 are seldom good and for this reason it is 

 better to make several on some other 

 surface until the board gets into proper 

 shape. When you have finished with the 

 board and roller clean them off with 

 benzine and a stiff brush. 



lamps on some important scene. In that 

 way they provided six areas of spotlight. 



For footlights the farmers brought their 

 lanterns. The producer arranged these 

 along the inside of a screen made out of 

 the finest poultry wire interwoven with 

 leafy branches. Sheets of tin reflected the 

 light upon the stage. One scene in the 

 foreground demanded stronger illumina- 

 tion. There a large carriage lamp was 

 used instead of a lantern. 



The lake shore was the background; 

 but that was not essential, for the play was 

 repeated later where there was no lake. 

 A green curtain hung on wires, with brush, 

 leaves, and rushes fastened to it, gave a 

 dense leafy drop that helped out wherever 

 Nature failed to provide the proper screens 

 of foliage. - 



