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MACRAME LACE, 
The using of Macrame lace, and making it into 
various articles of home furniture-ornament, has be¬ 
come in America a very popular form, of art-industry 
and a new kind of needlework for the ladies. 
It has long been a favorite occupation with ladies 
in England, and should be better known in this 
country. The implements required for the making 
of Macrame lace are an oblong cushion of muslin or 
ticking, covered with red or blue cashmere, and filled 
with sand; two sizes of large pins, and a large ball 
of fine flax thread. 
These balls weigh a pound each, and consist of 
thread of various sizes, from the thickness of a pin to 
that of a very thick and stout cord, also of a silver- 
gray or canvas color. 
In lace-work this flax thread is not generally 
known, having been brought to notice mainly by the 
fashionable furore for crewel embroidery upon linen, 
and the necessity for a durable and effective finish of 
the same kind. 
The whole art of Macrame lace is in knotting the 
threads to form a pattern. One thread is held firmly 
over the other as leader, and each single thread is 
knotted twice on to it. Whim a leaf is worked from 
right to left, the leader is Jielu in the left hand, and 
when a leaf is worked from left to right, the leader is 
held in the right hand. This is all there is to it; it 
is as easy as breathing. Yet it is astonishingly effec¬ 
tive as decorative of curtains, chairs, lambrequins, 
tables, “ Gypsy” tables, bureaus, and other articles, 
and can be utilized for mats, tidies, and bed-room 
sets. 
Of course the method of making is not confined to 
linen threads of different colors and different degrees 
of fineness; it may be applied to wool or silk with 
equal readiness, and the finer the material the more 
exquisite and beautiful the lace, with its fringed edge, 
becomes; also, of course, the longer it takes to ac¬ 
complish. It is an occupation which ladies can fol¬ 
low at odd moments at home, and is exceedingly 
! simple. 
TO MAKE ALUM-CRYSTALS. 
Sample Macrame Lace for Chairs, Martels, etc. 
Form a basket or vase of bonnet-wire, any fan¬ 
ciful shape. Wrap the wire neatly but not closely 
with nice white yarn, otherwise no crystals will ad¬ 
here to the wire. Suspend the wire basket in a 
wooden vessel sufficiently large not to touch the ar¬ 
ticle to be crystallized anywhere at all. Dissolve 
alum, to every quart of rain-water one pound. Have 
a sufficient quantity to cover the basket entirely. 
Make it scalding hot in a brass kettle, and then pour 
it over the wire basket in the wooden vessel. Be 
careful not to shake or move it, but let it stand over 
night. Examine it in the morning, and you will find 
a beautiful crystallized basket. Cool, frosty weather 
is the best time to crystallize. You can crystallize 
grasses in the same way, and by adding a little of 
Leamon’s aniline dye of any shade it will color the 
crystal; so, by using different colors, you can have a 
Melt a quarter of a pound of beeswax m any flat 
vessel; put in the American vermilion, the powder, 
until the color suits you. Dip the article in this 
while hot, take it out and hold it in the air a moment 
to cool, then dip again and again until the wax has 
covered every part. Do not take the cloth from the 
