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MAKING HOME ATTRACTIVE. 
We had been keeping house several years 
and keeping it rather plainly', so I told John one 
day I intended to get up some home-made ele¬ 
gancies myself this winter and make our home 
a little more attractive. 
He said for his part he thought he had about 
as attractive a home as any of the farmers around; 
“ for not one of them can beat my Durhams, 
Berkshires, or Southdowns.” 
“Oh ! I mean,’’ sold I, “to add a few rather inex¬ 
pensive ornaments to our rooms ; it always gives 
an air of elegance and refinement. ” 
Said John: “I don’t care about such airs; they 
will do for city folks : and besides I always looked 
on such gewgaws as tomfoolery; but just do as 
you please; it’s nothing to me; for you women 
folks, I suppose, feel as proud over such things as 
I do over my stock.” 
I had been reading of the rage for pottery deco¬ 
ration, so I thought I would try my hand on that 
first. 
I obtained some jars of good form in the style 
of the old Egyptian and Greek urns and vases, 
and painted their surface a pale color. Having 
several to decorate, I Had as many different 
colors—sea-green, friars-gray, pale blue, blue- 
gray, and buff. I got the embossed pictures 
sold at fancy stores, and after selecting such de¬ 
signs as are suited to the shape of the jar, ar¬ 
ranged them in good taste over the surface. One; 
of my prettiest was made of various kinds—a | 
few children’s heads, small sprays of flowers, 
birds, beetles, and butterflies, and little pictures 
of all kinds ; I pasted them upon the pot with 
mucilage, letting the vines and leaves of the 
flowers intertwine so that they almost became 
one ; while the butterflies, birds, heads, etc., were 
placed irregularly one here and another there. 
I took great care in pasting the edges down, 
securely pressing them with a soft cloth. After 
allowing all to dry, then with a large brush 
gave the entire surface a coat of Demar varnish, 
going all over the jar with bold strokes, but never 
touching any part a second time while wet; when 
dry gave a second coat. I made beautiful jars 
by painting the entire surface bright red and 
decorating with silhouette pictures, touched up 
with a little gold around the edge; also a band of 
gold around the jar where fancy dictated. 
I also made some very handsome vases and jar¬ 
dinieres in imitation of Wedgwood ware. I will 
here give a few hints. The color should be blue- 
gray, or Pallissy gray-green, sheet-lace note-paper 
with embossed figures, such as is used for valen¬ 
tines. Lay a little fine raw cotton or tissue- 
paper under each figure, which should be gummed 
on to the surface and varnished with Demar 
varnish. When one once begins there is no end 
to the different designs that suggest themselves. 
Having found an old three-legged centre-table in 
the attic, I at once set to work to turn it into a 
beautiful ornament for my parlor. I sandpapered 
and rubbed until I had it very smooth, then painted 
it jet black and left it to dry. When dry, 1 varnished 
it and rubbed it until it shone like ebony, then put 
Pattern for Card-board Cross. 
some ornaments made of leather on the legs and cen¬ 
tre piece, which I painted black, and varnished, and 
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med on, and a lambrequin of black satin hung grace¬ 
fully from the edge and ornamented with cretonne 
embroidery. My coal-vase I made of a high, square 
box with the front corners cut off. The lid sloped 
downward as a desk-lid. I tacked moulding «n 
the edges and around the lid, painted the whole 
black, varnished, and polished ; then transferred 
some decalcomanie pictures of winter and home 
scenes on the front, lid, and ends. 
Having a little knowledge of sketching and paint¬ 
ing, I thought I would turn my attention to mak¬ 
ing and coloring chromo photographs. I removed 
photos from the cardboard, immersing them in 
hot water, and when the paste was sufficiently 
softened separated them carefully to prevent in¬ 
jury to the print. Having removed all the paste 
from the print, cut it a trifle smaller than the 
glass on which it is to be mounted, laying it be¬ 
tween folds of blotting-paper until nearly dry. 
Having prepared some tragacanth paste, I coated 
the face of the print and concave surface of the 
glass with it. I lay the print on the glass, being 
careful to remove all air-bubbles and excess of 
paste with the fingers, working from the centre; 
after which, place several thicknesses of heavy pa¬ 
per on the print and work it quickly down with 
a moulding tool; when thoroughly dry it is ready 
to render transparent. Placing a cake of sperma¬ 
ceti in a tin tray, I set the latter in a vessel con¬ 
taining hot water, and when melted immersed 
the glass-mounted print and let it remain until the 
picture became transparent. Having removed 
it, let it drain and when cold rub off with a cloth. 
The colors I now applied directly on the print 
to the eyes, lips, jewelry, or parts that require no 
blending. I pasted narrow strips of cardboard to 
the concave edge on the top, bottom, and sides. 
Then lay another glass of same size with a con¬ 
vex surface to the concave side of the first. On 
the clear glass paint hair, complexion, drapery, 
and background. Tragacanth paste is made by 
simply simmering the gum in hot water. 
I made a pretty pair of lamp-mats from the ra- 
vellings of Brussels carpet; also a handsome rug. 
Cut the carpet into narrow strips and ravel out- 
With knitting cotton knit one row, then one 
row of the ravelled carpet, taking two or three 
threads a finger length long and knitting it in 
the middle, leaving the ends all the same length 
on one side, knit in strips and sew together. 
I have also made a beautiful carpet for my din¬ 
ing-room out of two or three old ingrain ones. 
Having washed the carpets clean, I then cut 
them in strips half a finger length wide, ravelled 
out each edge, then sewed the strips together and 
wound in balls; had it woven as rag carpet, and 
when finished, to my surprise, found I had a 
Chenie Brussels. Mrs. A. B. Ingham. 
Ripley, Ohio. 
AIR-CASTLE. 
Card-board Cross on Velvet. 
touched up with a little gold powder. The top was 
also black, and a wreath of embossed flowers gum¬ 
Olr air-castle we made of silver cardboard work¬ 
ed with two colors of blue worsted, then finished 
with tassels of small white glass and chalk beads, 
such as were used for collars years ago. T. M. M. 
