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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS, AND GOSSIP 
ABOUT HOME AFFAIRS. 
A. M. L.—As your “ handsome ” table-cloth has 
lain away so long, the best way to remove the fruit 
stains will be to take some tartaric acid, and, putting 
it on the places, gather them up and tie each one into 
a little bag with the add within, then put into boiling 
hot water, one after another, holding each place until 
it disappears; then wash and rinse. Wine stains 
you may remove by rubbing with salt and soft soap, 
or if claret, by at once rubbing salt on the spots. 
Floor Covering. —Mrs. Anderson.—Matting 
would be the best material for covering your floor; 
with a few mats placed before each large piece of 
furniture, and a large one, or a piece of drugget, in 
the middle of the floor. 
Stippling in. —MissN. M.Merrill.—1st. By “stip¬ 
pling in ” is meant introducing the colors by means of 
certain manipulations with the brush held in a per¬ 
pendicular position and applied by innumerable light 
taps upon the surface to be painted, this produced a 
soft velvet-like appearance, very different from sweep¬ 
ing strokes. The best brushes to be used in your 
case are the stiff round bristle brushes, with flatly- 
cut bottom. 
2d. No pearling is done by means of foil, but with 
thin pieces of mother-of-pearl, cut into shape, and 
fitted into spaces cut for them. 
A “ set finished,” as you suggest, 
: ebony 
and ivory ” would be beautiful. We would suggest 
your applying simple designs, as by this means it will 
appear more like the genuine inlaid work. 
4th. Put gilding on after you finish up the entire 
work, staining, painting, etc. 
5th. If you expect to stain your wood in imitation 
of walnut or ebony, plain pine will answer as well as 
any, and be very much cheaper than chestnut. 
6th. Rub your wood first with emery paper, then 
stain ; dry well, then varnish : rub down with pow¬ 
dered pumice stone, rinse thoroughly; dry, varnish 
again ; and repeat as before until you have a surface 
as close and solid as ebony, though many only give 
the one varnishing and polishing which will make a 
surface fairly smooth, but not solid. 
7th. We should advise for an organ, to finish in 
ebony, then send to Chas. Moller, 36 Maiden Lane, 
N. Y., for his Decalcomanie Catalogue, and select a 
set of musical characters, or devices, with antique 
borders, with which we would embellish any panels 
or flat spaces, or if you have talent and artistic skill, 
sketch for yourself; before staining and having your 
characters arranged, paint them yourself with oil 
colors. We are pursuing this pretty work, of paint¬ 
ing on wood panels, largely in our own family this 
winter, and are delighted with it, but a few speci¬ 
mens in decalcomanie are also so exceedingly elegant, 
that one feels inclined to pursue the easier and less 
artistic method sometimes. 
8th. As regards the patterns, you may copy from 
various things ; sometimes a border in a book, a fron¬ 
tispiece or title-page; designs on wall-paper, fret¬ 
sawing patterns, etc., which you can easily mark off 
on paper by means of colored tracing paper, then 
prick the outlines, and, tying a little powdered chalk 
in a piece of thin muslin, pounce the pattern by dust¬ 
ing the powder on the paper; then upon lifting it 
you will find the entire design in minute dots, and, 
having a soft pencil or crayon, mark it carefully out 
upon the wood. 
Wax Crosses. —Mrs. Alfred Maxwell.—You will 
find full directions for making various wax crosses in 
“ Ladies’ Fancy Work ; ” it need not be an expensive 
art, for you may make various colors for “blooming” 
by the following method : Obtain aniline dyes, a 
few cents’ worth of various colors, also a package of 
corn-starch, or arrow root, as preferred; put a tea¬ 
spoonful of the latter into a saucer, and having dis¬ 
solved the dye, unless you use the liquid kinds, pour 
on enough to color the starch, mixing it quite smooth. 
They allow it to become quite dry, when powder it 
quite fine, then sift through fine Swiss muslin, and 
bottle, when you will find it quite as nice as the ex¬ 
pensive colors sold in the stores. The liquid dyes of 
Leainon’s may be had in all colors, and by diluting 
with water, several shades of the same colors may be 
made. These dry colors are much the finest for wax 
flowers. Scarlet geraniums should be made of yellow 
wax covered with dry carmine. This for the Mrs. 
Pollock type, but for crimson reds, in geraniums, roses, 
Euphorbia, Amaryllis, etc., pure powdered carmine is 
best, as giving the richest, clearest tint. The most 
natural patterns are obtained by cutting them from 
dissected flowers, which practice we have successfully 
followed for many years. Such flowers as the Passion 
Flower, Pond Lily, Amaryllis, etc., may be easily cut 
in this way, and the entire formation understood by 
examining an entire flower. After cutting the paper- 
pattern by placing each petal on it, marking round 
with a lead pencil, and then carefully cutting, it is 
best to take another pattern from thin Bristol board, 
marking each petal 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.; put them in a lit¬ 
tle envelope, and, writing the name of the flower on 
the back, make any notes necessary, as the number 
of stamens and pistils, etc. 
For minute flowers, the tin-cutters are indispensa¬ 
ble. In “ blooming ” do not color the lower end or 
the wax will not adhere to the calyx, or ovary. All 
leaves may be copied by taking a natural leaf, laying 
it face downward on a table, then wetting the wrong 
side, and, placing a piece of warm green wax upon it, 
press it on every part, then with a small knife or 
large needle cut round the edges, place a slip of wax 
down the centre, lay on a piece of fine wire, for the 
stem, lay on another piece of wax covering the wire, 
then cover with wax a shade lighter for the back; 
press it firmly, out off the edges, lift the whole and 
carefully remove the natural leaf. You will find a 
perfect impression. We like the gilt leaf-moulds, but 
often wish a leaf of some plant that cannot be obtained, 
or cannot wait, perhaps, or wish to save the expense, 
then we are glad to be able to make our own impres¬ 
sions. Stamens and pistils are made of finest wire, 
covered with wax, wax rolled between the fingers, or 
thread waxed and colored. 
Some thick leaves, like Begonias, Water (Pond) 
Lilies, etc., are best made in a mould, thus : Make a 
little case of paper, which place round the leaf on a 
wet or oiled pane of glass ; make a batter by mixing 
fine French plaster, such as dentists use, with water 
in which a little salt has been dissolved, which pour 
over the leaf until well covered ; allow to “set,” then 
lift the cake of plaster, and, picking out the leaf, you 
will have a neat mould, which varnish with shellac, 
dissolved in alcohol, to make it durable and give an 
enamelled surface. 
Moulds of fruit, tiny cucumbers, etc., are made by 
embedding the one-half of the fruit in fine sand en¬ 
cased with a card frame, then liquid plaster poured 
over; first oil the fruit. This operation must be 
rapidly performed, or the plaster will harden before 
putting it on the leaf or fruit. Lift out the fruit, trim 
off flatly, and cut three grooves across them ; take a 
mould of the other half in like manner. For petals 
that require a shimmering sparkle on their surface, 
arrow root is required, and where a cross is wanted to 
look like marble, add a little diamond dust to the ar¬ 
row root, which imparts a brilliant marble-like sur¬ 
face. Further inquiries will be cheerfully answered. 
Miss Annie M. A., New Orleans.—Thanks for your 
kind and appreciative answer. Be assured it will al¬ 
ways give us pleasure to answer any questions you or 
any reader of the Cabinet may desire to ask, and we 
hope you will feel no hesitation in doing so. 
Diaphanie. —A housekeeper, with some skill and 
small means, who loves to make home beautiful, 
would make some inquiries through the Cabinet, if 
site can gain a hearing. Will “Aunt Carrie” ex¬ 
plain more fully to a country housewife what vitro- 
mania or diaphenie plates are, and will she give more 
complete instructions as to how the work of ornament¬ 
ing is done ? My sitting-room has two windows look¬ 
ing east, one north and one south, opening to the floor 
like doors; now should the two windows that do not 
open to the floor, be curtained like those that do ? 
Also will Augusta Larned tell the readers of the 
Cabinet how those curtains of Canton flannel may 
be made to look like something so much richer. The 
idea is entirely novel to me ; any light on these sub¬ 
jects will be gratefully received. 
Answer. —1st. Vitromania or diaphenie plates may 
be obtained at the office of the Floral Cabinet. 
Mr. Williams will select suitable ones if the size of the 
glass and class of subject desired be described. Or 
you may by sending stamp obtain a catalogue, con¬ 
taining illustrations of all varieties of subjeots from 
copies of windows in XIVth, XVtb, XVIth, and Re¬ 
naissance styles, scenes in Europe, figures, or floral, 
with suitable borderings, groundings, corners, etc. All 
the materials necessary for this beautiful art-work, as 
well as full descriptions of the work, and extracts 
from foreign papers concerning its beauty, will be 
found in the catalogue. In “ Household Elegancies ” 
we have given many different methods for making 
transparencies by means of transferred engravings, 
colored or plain ; painting with transparent colors; 
imitation of statuary, and many other really artistic 
modes. We have made several windows, desired to 
be private, extremely elegant, by the following meth¬ 
ods : Cut from Swiss muslin or tarletan any designs 
of some geometrical style, perhaps, or a regular diaper 
pattern, diamonds, stars, circles, etc., united at cer¬ 
tain points, but with open spaces, showing the glass 
between. Paint these on one side with Datnar varn¬ 
ish, and apply them to the glass, pressing it very 
closely against the glass. Allow to dry, then wash 
with a hot saturated solution of Glauber’s salts, sal- 
ammonia, or Epsom, salts, which will give different 
forms of crystallization. The one will give minute, 
scintillated stars of eccentric forms, the next six-sided 
prisms, broken into thousands of tbread-like rays, the 
third four-sided prisms, crossing and recrossing each 
other in brilliant confusion. Apply with a varnish 
brush and keep the solutions hot during the process, 
then allow to dry. By a saturated solution is meant, 
to allow the water to take up all that it can possibly 
dissolve. 2d. Drape all the windows to correspond. 
Nothing gives such a “ one-sided ” appearance to a 
room as to see two windows with long and two with 
short curtains. The best arranginent for you, if your 
windows open in the “French style,” with hinges like 
doors, is to hang your drapei-y to run on a rod of wood 
or strong wire. If you use a cornice, let the wire 
extend behind it, but if large fancy rings are used, 
support the heavy pole on brackets fastened at each 
end of the window frame. 
