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By Henry 
Williams, 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1879 
No. 94. Price 12 Cents. 
THE NATURAL EASTER 
CROSS. 
This cross is in imitation of rough 
granite, supposed to be placed in 
the open ground, which at the Easter 
season is adorned with those lovely 
spring blossoms that would naturally 
be found blooming around and upon 
it in the early spring, while the ice 
and snow still cover the earth during 
some of those cold days which visit 
us after the early flowers have com¬ 
menced to bloom. The cross should, 
if possible, be quite large; eighteen 
inches high, perhaps, or even larger 
than that. The form should be 
what is called square; that is, with 
the ends of the top and arms form¬ 
ing a perfect square. Instead of 
steps at the bottom, as in the Latin 
cross before described, a number of 
rugged stones are placed around the 
base, upon which the cross is fasten¬ 
ed ; or a better way is to make the 
body of the cross four or five inches 
longer, and, screwing it firmly to a 
solid block of wood, arrange the 
stones around it up to tire point 
where the bottom of the cross should 
be. The wood is then painted with 
three coats of granite-colored paint, 
varnished and heavily sanded, and 
cut into irregular rough stones. In 
order to have the stones round the 
base of the same color as the cross, 
they are dipped in melted wax, in 
which paint-powder of the same 
shade has been mixed; and if stones 
themselves are considered too heavy, 
they may be formed of clay, plaster, 
or some lighter material, and color 
as described. 
The ice and snow are formed of 
Natural Easter Cross. 
wax, thus: Take a quantity of calcev 
wax of the purest white and finest 
quality, which melt slowly in an 
earthen vessel, placed in water. 
When entirely melted, stir into it 
one table-spoonful of fir-balsam to 
every tea-cupful* of melted w r ax. 
Stir this mixture after removing 
from the stove until it grows just 
thick enough to barely pour from the 
spoon. Then with a small dipper 
take up some of the w r ax and pro¬ 
ceed to imitate the ice, which has 
frozen upon the cross and dripped 
down in long pendent icicles; this 
is done by pouring the wax over 
the arms and allowing it to drip 
slowly, one coat upon another, until 
the proper length and thickness is 
given to each icicle. The form will 
be best seen by examining the illus¬ 
tration in Fig. ]. The wax must 
not become too cool, or it will form 
in lumps, though in some places the 
rippled appearance, natural to ice, 
looks well. A portion is also 
poured upon the top, and a little 
upon the stones. When cold, this 
work is varnished with a very thin 
coat of Demar, and before this is 
dry is thickly sprinkled with dia¬ 
mond-powder. A solution of alum 
is then made, and in it a selection 
ot pretty, graceful grasses are placed, 
until crystallized j also a few pieces 
of raw cotton are wet with it and 
laid before the fire, which will give 
them when dry the appearance 
of snow crusted with ice. This 
work requires great care and neat¬ 
ness, but when well done is truly 
lovely ^ and, it successful, a perfect 
imitation When this is accomplish- 
0 Continued on page 152.) 
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