a£iaet an3 Pictorial Home ®ompartiofi. 
RUSTIC WORK, BRONZE WORK, Etc. 
It is a fact well known to ladies who love flowers, 
that nothing is so hard to obtain as suitable recep¬ 
tacles for them. Although fancy baskets, etc., are 
not very expensive, the money paid) for them issspent 
grudgingly, also the time when masculine muscle is 
pressed into service. That “ neoessityfis the mother 
of invention ” I have found to be a fact. Last smnj 
mer, while on a prairie farm, I made the discovery 
that fence willow was “just splendid” tor rustic 
work; and I “give in my experience” for the benefit 
of those who ruefully say: “ What can we have 
pretty away out here on the prairie ! ” The willow 
is easily worked, when taken in the spring peels 
readily, and is so pliable and soft that it can be made 
into any shape. My first attempt was a seat for 
croquet ground, which I made between two trees. I 
nailed willow poles on each side of the trees, from one 
to the other, and upon them, at each end, placed a 
short cross piece, and up on the cross pieces laid 
lengths of willow long enough to fill up the space 
between the trees. Two pieces twisted together and 
curved in proper shape, and braced with cross pieces, 
formed the back. An apple tree, which was blown 
down and demolished, formed the end piece of another 
and very pretty rustic seat, made on the same prin¬ 
ciple as the above. Also, rustic chairs and trellis for 
portico. It is the very best material I have ever tried 
for rustic work, out of doors or in. To make a plant 
stand, saw off the bottom of a barrel, leaving a tub 
five inches deep; also, two kegs of different sizes; 
with these form three baskets. For the first, peel the 
willows and cut into lengths a foot long ; bend and 
nail the ends at the bottom six inches apart; the 
curve extends above, forming a scallop. Allow each 
piece to lap half way over the other; then twist three 
slender pieces together and place around the bottom, 
which finishes quite a nice basket. 
Form the other two in like manner; nail legs 
braced with cross pieces to the largest, and inside the 
centre nail firmly a section of wood upon which to 
place the next in size, which forms a pyramid. Barrel 
heads can be used for a foundation of the frame work; 
and old tin pans of graduated size placed inside, knd 
the whole painted brown. 
A nice basket-stand can be made by only using the 
bottom part of the above, with the addition of a handle 
formed of willows twisted together. Paint and small 
nail kegs, finished in the same way, make pretty 
hanging baskets. 
To make a window-garden, procure a box as long 
as the width of the window, one made with semicir¬ 
cular front would look best; make in the same way as 
the baskets. Support each end with, a framework of 
fancy curves made in the willow; nail to each corner 
long willows; twist those at the ends together and 
form an arch above. One made the same way, with a 
very shallow box, and filled with pretty stones around 
the pots, makes a nice house rockery. Or one can be 
made by simply nailing a narrow strip on the edge of 
a board, placing the board on a stand, and pile rocks 
and shells around your pots, covering them. Place 
the tallest pot in the centre, having small pots of 
vines, the pots entirely bid. The Dewplant looks 
beautiful near the lower edge, and Cactus looks much 
better arranged this way than in any other. Miniature 
rockeries can be built around a pot or box, and 
cemented with plaster of Paris, or stuck on with 
putty. 
A corner what-not, made of three-cornered boards, 
suspended by cords, can be ornamented on the rounded 
front with a shallow basket-work ot willow, and 
painted brown. Brackets made in this way are nice 
for holding pots of plants. 
Twigs ot soft maple, cut in the spring, in a few days 
become very pliable and tough, and are good for rustic 
work. 
I must digress, and tell ot a cute little play-house, 
which would delight the heart of any little girl; he 
sides, it is quite ornamental to a yard. It is a neat 
little log cabin. I saw nothing new in the Centennial, 
in rustic work, but a hanging-basket in torm of a 
boat, made of sticks of uniform size, bent in shape, 
with three perpendicular ones in front, the centre one 
the longest. I saw there an oval’table made of pine, 
with wreath of leaves and ferns, in brown spatter 
work. 
I have bad a large frame made with flat Surface and 
moulding on each edge. The moulding I stained 
dark brown. On the flat surface I placed' leaves and 
ferns, and spattered with the same dye until a light 
brown ; then removed the ferns and spattered lightly. 
Spatter work is so well understood, I need only say 
that on wood the spatters should he large to give a 
mottled appearance; and, after going over lightly, 
should be allowed to dry, in order to keep the speckles 
from running together. But if too dry the leaves will 
curl. 
Among the novelties at the Centennial I saw a muff 
. I 
and cape, made from the cotton of the milk weed. I 
had often wondered if something nice could not he ' 
made of it. It can he taken in hunches and woven 
with fine wire, like hair or worsted flowers, then made 
into mats, fairy baskets, etc. I took down an item in 
hair flowers, which is, to put a gem picture, of the per¬ 
son of whose hair the flower is made, in the centre 
of it. 
Another idea was stones for holding doors open, 
painted scarlet, with a small picture upon them, for 
which the modest sum of five dollars was asked. 
These could be made with decalcomanic pictures, as 
could shells in imitation of hand painting. 
No ornaments are at present so popular and tasteful 
as those of bronze. Elaborate instructions have been 
given for imitating these with plaster figures. I have 
found that aniline, dissolved in alcohol, makes a beau¬ 
tiful greenish bronze, hut requires some experience to 
mix and apply : first, dissolve aniline in hot water, in 
which dip the plaster figure, and see that every part 
becomes colored; and when perfectly dry put a small 
quantity of aniline powder in a dish, and moisten with 
a few drops of alcohol, and apply with a small brush 
immediately. Where a smooth surface is not desired, 
articles can he painted brown and dusted with aniline 
powder before dyeing. The bronze used for dyeing 
shoes produces a bronze of a different hue, is easily 
applied, and will cover a multitude 'of deceptions, and 
with a supply of putty will produce a variety of hybrid 
articles, such as vases made of a lamp and bowl of a 
goblet—or a card receiver made of a cracked preserve 
dish on a stem of goblet. 
Covers of glass dishes often accumulate. These can 
be made into handsome card receivers by placing 
them on a stand made ot three short pieces of knotty 
wood, fastened together in the middle to form a rack 
(old parasol handles are good for the purpose), bronze 
both rack and dish ; a saucer can be used in place of 
the glass dish. 
Flat receivers for holding stereoscopic views are 
made of plates or soap dishes. Either bronze all over, 
or leave ovals by pasting on pieces of cloth, which are 
to be removed and fancy pictures stuck in their places. 
Lamp chimneys of vase-like form, fastened upon a 
wooden base and bronzed, make respectable vases. 
The base ot these may be ornamented with acorns, 
nuts and shells, put on with putty, or with figures 
made with putty alone. 
To- make crystal baskets, have pieces of window- 
glass cut into suitable shape ; paste a binding of mus¬ 
lin on each piece and sew together; then cover the 
muslin with ribbon. 
Something new in the way of wreaths of grasses 
and mussels is to make them up with flowers made of 
the different colored fungus which grow upon logs and 
stumps. These flowers, with the lichen which grows 
on hickory trees, make beautiful baskets, and can be 
made into frames, brackets, and cornucopise. Pretty 
little frames and card receivers are made by soaking 
in hot water rough-looking twigs of an evergreen (I 
cannot give the name), and braiding in a wide flat 
braid. 
Being a woman, I cannot help concluding with a 
tidy, and crochet rock. For the tidy, cut circular 
pieces of muslin, turn the edges and run a thread 
around and draw up, leaving a circular opening. 
Sew these wheels together into whatever shape desired. 
This tidy is not new, hut there has been improve¬ 
ments made; one is to sew tufts of zephyr in the 
circles. They are pretty, made in this way, of white 
paper muslin. Toilet mats can be made in the same 
way of colored cambric. I have seen a basket 
crocheted, of coarse brown cotton, the top crocheted in 
a shell pattern and stiffened with gum-arabic. A 
basket could he crocheted of any cord, stretched stiffly, 
painted and varnished. 
Little pitchers, knitted or crocheted, of fancy wools, 
and filled with candies, are nice for the children, and 
suitable for fancy fairs. Also, miniature boots made 
of coarse net cut iu shape, laid together and “ button¬ 
holed ” around, and filled with candies. A pretty tidy 
is made by crocheting strips of white cotton and sew¬ 
ing scarlet dress braid between, crocheting a border 
all around. 
A beautiful lamp mat is made of an ounce of 
shaded green and half an ounce of white zephyr. 
Wind a thread of zephyr around your hand three 
times; hold between thumb and finger, and proceed 
as in batting, making the stitches half an inch apart; 
then cut half way between, all except the strand which 
forms the stitch, and which leaves it tufted; sew these 
on a foundation leaving five spaces for the white, 
which is put on in hunches. Lee Ellis. 
How to i cL—-^3 Care of the Yellow Oxalis.— 
This is one of the most desirable of the Oxalis family, 
as the blossoms are large and in large clusters, and 
very enlivening and showy, and as abundant as the 
small pink and white. But it cannot he treated the 
same way as the others, and therefore many bulbs 
are lost in the time of summer rest. When the plants 
have done blooming take the little bulbs from the 
ground and put them into dry earth aud store them 
away safely in a dry atmosphere until about Septem¬ 
ber, when they may he potted, in rather deep pots, 
and set to growing for winter bloom. They will be¬ 
gin to throw out their robust looking flower stalks 
about the middle of January, and will continue bloom¬ 
ing for four months or more. Do not mix them in a 
pot with other plants, hut give them plenty of room, 
air and light and they will not fail .—Laws of Life. 
