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ZEPHYR-WORK. 
I have been a subscriber for the Floral Cabinet 
for several years, but have never, as yet. seen anything 
in its columns about zephyr-work. I think if some of 
its readers could see my wreath, they would desire to 
have one also. It lias been admired by many. To 
those who understand making hair-work it will appear 
very simple to do, as the weaving is done almost the 
same in one as in the other. The only difference is, 
that the wire is crossed on the top of whatever you are 
weaving on, instead of underneath. But for the bene¬ 
fit of those who do not understand what we mean by 
weaving, I will endeavor to make my explanations as 
clear as possible, so that they may feel able to under¬ 
take the work. The materials used are: zephyr of 
different colors, fine hair wire, a smooth stick of about 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter, scissors, gum- 
arabic, a table-knife and a fine-tooth comb. Cut your 
zephyr into pieces of about a yard in length, and 
your wire into pieces about ten inches in length. Now 
we are ready to begin. Double your wire into two 
equal pieces. Place the wire at-the point where it is 
doubled on the top of your stick, holding the stick in 
such a manner that your thumb will be on top of the 
wire on the upper side of the stick; now take a piece 
of zephyr and place one end between your thumb and 
the wire, wind it once around the stick, winding from 
you, and throw the end over the hand; then take and 
cross your wire by drawing one end toward you and 
the other end from you, drawing tight and firm under 
your thumb; again take your zephyr and wind it 
around your stick and your wire as before, making 
sure to cross the wire at every winding. Each wind¬ 
ing is called a stitch. After you have woven the re¬ 
quired number of stitches, twist your wire two or 
three times tight to the zephyr, so as to keep the 
stitches from coming open. Then draw your work off 
of your stick and cut each stitch in half. Smooth it 
out carefully on your knee so that there may be as 
many half stitches on one side of the wire as on the 
other. Place your forefinger firmly on the wire and 
begin to comb with your fine-tooth comb ; commence 
at the edge and comb into the wire very slowly; comb 
each sitle until no more wool combs from the zephyr. 
Care must be taken in the weaving to have the wire 
crossed tight to the zephyr, else, in combing, whole 
threads of zephyr will comb out, which will spoil the 
appearance of your work. Next take and hold the 
wire between the thumb and forefinger at the point 
whore you twisted it when you were done weaving, 
and comb it all over in the direction of the wire so 
that the wire is completely bid. After you have all 
combed, place it carefully in a book and under a heavy 
press for about twenty-four hours ; then you can take 
it out again. Have your gum-arabic prepared, and, 
with your table-knife, spread the under side of each 
piece—-that is, the side with the wire on—with the 
prepared gum. The next day you may trim the pieces 
iuto leaves of the desired shape. 
To make white lilies, cast on twenty stitches of 
white and five stitches of yellow zephyr. To make 
yellow lilies, take one strand of yellow and five stitches 
of white zephyr. To make red lilies, take one strand 
of scarlet and five stitches of white zephyr. Trim all 
the leaves to resemble the petals of a lily—long and 
pointed—and bend so as to curve backwards. For 
stamens, cut four pieces of yellow zephyr of about half 
au inch in length, and tie them into two equal parts 
by twisting the wire firmly. Have four stameus in 
each lily. To make pansies, make three weaves of 
royal purple and two weaves of canary yellow of five 
stitches each, also five weaves of purple and yellow 
mixed, made by casting on three stitches of purple and 
two stitches of yellow. In forming your pansies, take 
your two petals of canary yellow aud three petals of 
your mixed weaves for one. For the other, take three 
petals of royal purple aud two petals of the mixed 
weaves. I think the lilies and the pansies are the 
prettiest flower that can he made iu zephyr work. To 
make a Star of Bethlehem, make three weaves of nine 
petals each, trim to a point, and join together. In 
making pink roses, cast on six stitches of white and 
twelve stitches of pink zephyr, trim the ends round, 
and form your rose as you would a wax one. For red 
roses it is not necessary to use any white; only the 
plaiu scarlet zephyr of eighteen stitches iu each weave. 
I have in my wreath three Stars of Bethlehem of each 
of the different colors, pink, white aud blue, two pan¬ 
sies, one of each of the different lilies, one white, one 
pink and one red rose, and a few buds. On both sides 
of the wreath is a row of plain green leaves. At each 
end is a small hunch of grapes, one bunch being made 
of purple and the other hunch of green zephyr. The 
grapes are made the same as you make small halls, 
using wire for tying instead of zephyr. Flowers made 
in this way may also be arranged very prettily in a 
bouquet. 
Last summer we altered our sitting-room. On one 
side there had been a large cupboard, which we re¬ 
moved, leaving a portion of the wall to he replastered. 
On the day the plastering was to he done, father was 
called away on business which could not be postponed, 
leaving the plasterers to do their work alone. As is 
often the case, when men are left to do their work 
without an overseer, so it was in this case. The plas¬ 
ter was laid on unevenly, and in some places, where 
old plastering had remained, instead of taking that off 
they plastered right over it. You may imagine what 
an eyesore that wall was to us. We placed a large 
bookcase in front of it; still all around it the wall 
showed. We were determined not to have it that way. 
We went to the woods, gathered a quantity of the 
different kinds of moss, and in the fall a large variety 
of autumn leaves, taking care to procure a number of 
pretty small ones. Then we persuaded father to cut 
ns out two pretty brackets of half-inch pine hoards; 
also, two picture-frames. We then covered the brack¬ 
ets and frames with moss and made a moss cross, 
twining them all with pretty autumn leaves. On one 
side of the bookcase we hung a bracket, with the 
cross over; on the other side a bracket, with a picture 
over. Above the bookcase we hung a very pretty 
motto, in a moss frame. Then from the motto down 
each side of the bookcase, to meet with the cross and 
picture, we trimmed the wall with ferns and autumn 
leaves, forming an arch around the bookcase, and 
completely hiding the ungainly wall. On each of the 
brackets we placed a small vase holding a few feather 
flowers, autumn leaves and Egyptian wheat I ob¬ 
tained my idea of making moss brackets and frames 
from Mr. Williams’ book on “Household Elegancies.” 
But in that it said the moss should he pasted on. I 
tried pasting but could not get it to stick, so I tied the 
moss on with fine thread. The thread sunk into the 
moss and did not show. 
Persons living in the country or in small villages 
can obtain a number of beautiful things in the fall 
from the woods and surrounding country that can he 
made into ornaments for decorating their homes. I 
have a grass basket which is quite a thing of beauty; 
it is composed of wheat, oats, aud a species of fine 
brown grass gathered in the summer and put away for 
winter use; also some fall weeds, skeleton leaves, 
bachelors' buttons, seeds from the cotton plant, &c. 
Another very pretty ornament is to make a cross or 
anchor of white paper stars and twine them full of 
small ferns. Last winter I made two small picture 
frames of colored stars, which are very much ad¬ 
mired. A beautiful way of trimming an oval frame 
is to have a card tacked on the hack of the frame 
about an inch from the edge, and then place ferns all 
around the frame, sticking the steins under the cord to 
hold them in place. After you have the frame 
trimmed, hang it up and trim the long cord with 
ferns. E. A. R. 
VARIOUS KNICKHACKS. 
The well known sponge garden sprinkled with 
hemp or canary seed, can he made more ornamental 
in this way. Make a card-board basket iu any grace¬ 
ful shape you like, and cover it by glueing on rosettes 
of tissue paper fringe. The fringe is made by taking 
strips about an inch and a half wide and then cutting 
them fine crosswise, leaving a piece on one side a 
quarter of an inch wide for a heading. Each strip of 
fringe can he readily twisted into a rosette. The 
paper may he pink, pure white, or shades of green in 
imitation of moss. Set a glass or earthen dish in the 
basket, and in it place your sponge. 
A DRUM MATCH SAFE 
Is quite an oddity, readily fashioned by deft fingers. 
Make a round box of stiff card-hoard, three inches in 
height and the same in diameter. Line the inside 
with tinted paper, and hind the edges by pasting over 
a narrow bias strip of brown silk or muslin. Fasten 
in a bottom to the box, pasting sand-paper on the out¬ 
side, and tinted paper on the inner side. Next, cut a 
strip of firm muslin, one and tliree-fourths of an inch 
wide and long enough to reach around the box. On 
this paste triangular points of red and white cloth; 
each triangle should he one and three-fourth inches 
long and an inch wide at the base; place the points 
of the white triangles at the base of the red ones, and 
cover the edges where they join with gold cord fast¬ 
ened with cross stitches of black silk. Now, paste 
this prepared strip around the middle of the box and 
border each edge with a cord or fold of brown silk. 
Make two rings of card-hoard three-fourths of an inch 
wide, and fitting closely over the box; cover with 
brown silk, pasting the edges down smoothly on the 
under side. On the outside stitch flue gold cord in a 
series of points from edge to edge, and fasten with 
cross stitches of black silk, as before. Put one of 
these riDgs on each end of the box, just so as to cover 
the raw edge of the brown silk cord, and hold iu place 
by pasting. For a cover, cut a round piece of card- 
hoard, fitting into the ring, paste sand-paper on the 
under side and cover the outside with white leather, 
which must come over the edges; a hit of white kid 
glove will answer if well cleaned. Make too tiny 
drum-sticks of wood, cross them and fasten securely 
to the cover, so that they may serve as a handle. 
M. F. B. Adkinson. 
Spots can be taken out of marble with finely pow¬ 
dered pumicestone mixed with verjuice (juice of sour 
fruits). Cover the spots and allow the stuff to remain 
for twelve hours; then rub clean, dry and rinse. 
