328 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
tint. Where the design is continuous, as in the case of a 
frieze or portiére, see that the keys joining the design 
register exactly, and continue the stenciling with the first 
plate, and let the color dry thoroughly before applying 
the second. 
The choice of color mediums is very important, and it 
would be as well not to attempt the use of aniline dyes 
or coal-tar products, except in cases where the fabrics are 
not to be handled. Aniline dyes, in order to become fast 
colors, must be subjected to a high temperature or the 
fabrics boiled in their solutions. But when applied cold, 
some of the colors are apt to be treacherous and come off 
at the slightest touch. 
After much experimenting, I have found that ordinary 
house paint or tube colors in oils give the most satisfaction; 
but, in order to mix them thin enough to be used with the 
atomizer, they must be generously diluted with turpentine 
and gasoline, or benzine; the last, being very volatile, will 
soon evaporate, leaving the colors fast when dry. 
When the material to be stenciled has the consistency of 
canvas duck, matting, or grass goods, a regular stencil 
Fig. 5—An irregular design made partly 
with pieces of brown wrapping paper 
brush can be used with better effect, using a thicker color 
than that used through the blowpipe; but if the fabric has a 
nap or villous surface, the blowpipe, or atomizer, should be 
employed. The atomizer ejects the fluid in a more vaporous 
form and can be applied in varying proportions upon such 
villous materials as velvets, velours and satins. 
One of the cheapest, and at the same time one of the most 
satisfactory, materials to give artistic effects is the grass- 
woven Java mat. These mats can be procured from almost 
any of the large wholesale coffee-roasting houses for a 
nominal sum—about ten or fifteen cents apiece. They are 
the original mats, or sacks, woven by the natives of the 
island of Java and used for shipping the coffee beans to dif- 
ferent parts of the world. The sides of the bag are sewed 
together with rafha, and when these bindings have been cut 
it will be found that there is a strip of irregularly woven 
material about thirty inches wide by twelve feet long, the 
bags when made up being of double thickness, folded. The 
grasses in the weave are both rough and smooth, and when 
the lengths have been tacked to the walls and stained the 
irregularities become manifest, the rough fibers taking a 
Fig. 6—The body colors in this de- 
sign are blown on 
September, 1911 
much deeper tone than the smooth, giving an unusually 
pleasing effect. I have used these mats very successfully for 
wall-coverings in rooms of minor importance, as well as for 
the panels of the screen illustrated in this article, also for 
knockabout pillow-covers used on the porch swinging divan, 
and for friezes, and I have found the material durable as 
well as oddly ornamental. For a more expensive pillow- 
cover or coverings for chair-cushions or window-seats use 
sheepskins. ‘These skins can be procured from large book- 
binderies for about thirty-five cents a skin. They are soft 
as chamois and take the tints well, and they are practically 
indestructible. In making pillow-covers like those illustrated 
herewith, take a whole sheepskin and mark out the square 
for the size required; then stencil thereon the design before 
cutting off the margins. After this is done, cover over the 
whole surface of the stenciled square with paper or card- 
board, and spray the margins on both sides of the skin 
with any color or colors that will form a suitable contrast 
to the general scheme of your design. After you have laced 
the front and back of your pillowcase together by means of 
an upholsterer’s bodkin and some tinted strips of sheepskin 
Fig. 7—The design represents the ceremonial dance 
of the Alaska Indians 
about a quarter of an inch wide, cut the irregular margins 
into very narrow strips with shears, and your pillow is done. 
The same scheme may be carried out for the cushioned backs 
and seats of easy-chairs, only here the long-fringed margins 
should be trimmed up closer to the lacing. 
For a central decoration the ‘‘Swastika,” or good luck 
cross of the Indians, is very decorative. For unknown cen- 
turies this symbol has been used as a charm of fortune. His- 
torically, it first appeared on Greek coins of the year 315 
B.C., but it has been found among relics of races of a far 
more remote age. It is probably the oldest cross and the 
oldest emblem known. The shields of the ancient Britons in 
the British Museum bear this design. 
While each of the Indian designs here illustrated has been 
actually employed in stencil work, their adaptability as well 
as real interest should be apparent at a glance. They are 
offered more as types of what might be accomplished than 
as definite suggestions. They obviously point the way to 
much individual ingenuity. 
Fig. 1.—The framework of the screen is made of rustic 
white or silver birch with ball-bearing casters. The three 
