158 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1907 



of heating and mix- 

 ing. 



Copper, brass, 

 red metal, tin and 

 pewter, are all sold 

 in sheets for re- 

 pousse work. The 

 sheets of brass are 

 from six to twelve 

 inches in size, and 

 can be had in all 

 thicknesses from 

 that of note paper 

 up to half an inch. 

 Number twenty-five 

 is best suited for be- 

 ginners, as it can be 

 cut with the shears. 

 Select metal which is 

 free from spots, 

 holes or scales. Brass 

 can be smoothed out 

 for work with a 

 common flat-iron. 

 The surface is then 

 rubbed with fine 



sand-paper, or with pumice-stone, or emery-paper. It must 

 then be screwed to the board or applied to the pitch. 



The patterns must first be drawn on thin, strong paper, 

 with a very black, soft lead-pencil. Lay this face downward 

 on the brass. It may be held in place by gumming the edges 

 to the metal. Now rub the back with a paper-knife, flat- 

 iron, or agate burnisher, and the pattern will be transferred. 

 It will be safer to go over it again with pencil or ink. 



Another means of transferring the design, is to lay a sheet 

 of carbon paper on the brass, 

 and over this the design, going 

 over the lines with a knitting- 

 needle or any instrument with a 

 blunt point. A dressmaker's 

 prick-wheel is sometimes used. 

 After the pattern is laid on the 

 brass, go ox er it with the prick- 

 M'heel, which will lea\'e lines of 



Metal-work Exhibited at an Arts and Crafts Exhibition 



Copper and Oak Fire-screen 



small dots in the metal. These 

 must be remarked with pencil 

 or ink. Having applied your 

 pattern successfully to the 

 metal, it must next be outlined 

 with the tracer, which must be 

 done with great care and ac- 

 curacy. Then a pick must be 

 used for making a series of in- 



dentations in the 

 background. A 1 1 

 kinds of lines can be 

 executed with mats 

 and tracers, accord- 

 ing to the require- 

 ments of the design. 



In this craft more 

 than any other, the 

 individuality of the 

 worker can be felt. 

 At recent Arts and 

 Crafts exhibitions 

 bowls, casseroles, 

 trays, panels, book- 

 racks, buckles, and 

 receptacles for logs, 

 seemed to be mostly 

 in evidence, but the 

 wider field for ma- 

 terials suitable for il- 

 luminating the home 

 seems to have been 

 entirely overlooked, 

 with the exception 

 of bowls and shades 

 tor lamps: objects readily available for creation in this work. 



With the development of electric lighting, decorative 

 bands and circles could be evolved for clusters of electric 

 lights, and these may then be done with the combination of 

 metals. 



Take, for instance, a circle twenty-four inches in diameter, 

 one-eighth of an inch thick, and two inches wide. This could be 

 made of lead with eight hammered bow-shaped excrescences, 

 through each of which a hole must be drilled. The electric 

 wire can be drawn through the holes. This 

 could be attached to the ceiling for a 

 center ornament for electricity. A small 

 inverted bowl of copper with a well-de- 

 signed decoration could then be placed in 

 the center of the pewter circle, and should 

 contain at the bottom a large hole, 

 through which eight or ten electric wires 

 could pass. 



Goblet in Brass Repousse. The Vessel is Made 

 of One Sheet of Brass, Only the Handles 

 Being Riveted in Place 



A Well-designed Bowl 



A broad band some four or five inches 

 deep could then be made of copper with 

 repousse work in high relief. This should 

 be the same size as the pewter circle, and 

 should be suspended about three feet 

 below. The wires hanging straight from 

 the pewter circle would be threaded 

 through receptacles placed for the pur- 

 pose, and hanging down ready for the 



