54 
THE LADIES' FLOBAL CABINET. 
Decorative Notes. 
L INCRUSTA-WALTON can be applied with excellent 
results to nearly every object of use or ornament in 
the household. Its value as a wall-covering is well known, 
but its fitness for other uses is not perhaps so extensively 
appreciated. It is used with excellent effect in the manu¬ 
facture of small articles, such as wall-pockets, portfolio- 
cases, glove and handkerchief boxes, splash mats, and 
screen-panels. For the last-named decoration it is pecu¬ 
liarly well adapted. It is beginning also to be used to cover 
the tops of small fancy tables. Umbrella-stands are made 
of it, as are jars, vases, and it is also admirably adapted 
for mirror-frames, as it can be obtained in metallic colors, 
and for this purpose it is infinitely preferable to plush and 
velvet. 
With no other material, unless it be the costliest leather 
papers, is it possible to so beautifully ornament wall and 
ceiling surfaces. The range of decoration includes dados, 
friezes and wall-panels, and this variety of form, taken in 
connection with a large number of designs, widely differ¬ 
ing in style, color and finish, make anything approaching 
monotony an impossibility. The designs, which are in 
relief, are modeled after the best examples of Italian and 
French decorative art. 
A handsome dining-room screen of this material shows 
two panels covered with relief conventional flowers painted 
in colored bronzes; the central leaf, of dull gold, has 
painted on its rich surface a beautiful Chinese damsel 
bearing a tray with teapot and teacups, Lincrusta form¬ 
ing a canvas-like ground for painting. 
Besides being in many ways desirable, Lincrusta-Walton 
has other claims to consideration. It is indestructible, 
capable of being polished, and of being subjected to cleans¬ 
ing processes without impairing its beauty. It can also be 
removed from one house to another; it costs less per roll 
than the finer grades of wall-paper, and it is to be com¬ 
mended on the score of healthfulness. 
Ferns, grasses and small leaves are given an iridescent 
lustre and used in many decorations combined with knots 
of ribbons and alone in clusters. The liquid with which 
they are coated renders them stiff enough to be quite 
durable, and they are sold at reasonable prices ready for 
use. By using natural leaves, and coating them with 
varnish, and while wet dusting with iridescent or silver 
powder, similar ones might be prepared at very small cost 
by anyone not able otherwise to obtain them. 
A handsome mantel lambrequin shown at Bentley 
Brothers is composed of a straight piece of dark garnet 
velvet about twelve inches deep; on the lower edge, as 
though growing up from it, a design of Pansies is painted 
in natural size and colors, and the edge is then finished 
with a rich tassel fringe in garnet and olive color. Olive 
velvet passes across the top of the mantel, and is draped 
at the ends and trimmed with the same kind of fringe. 
Little baby hoods can be crocheted in crazy-stitch, with 
white knitting silk, and then lined with white cashmere. 
When finished with a soft frill of lace and a full bow of 
satin ribbon on the top, they are very pretty. 
Darning aprons are made of a straight breadth of fine 
white lawn one yard in length. One end is turned up 
straight across and a quarter of a yard deep, and sewed 
fast on the sides to form a pocket. On the other end a 
hem is made wide enough to insert the ribbon belt. The 
sides and top of the pocket are trimmed with lace, and the 
words “ Never too late to mend,” worked in outline, a por¬ 
tion of them being above and the rest on the pocket. 
Scissors, spool and a couple of Greenaway figures com¬ 
plete the design, which is all done in outline. The pro¬ 
verb should be of the color of the belt ribbon, and the rest 
of the design any bright color fancied which will combine 
tastefully. 
A handsome cover for a lamp shade can be made with 
a half-yard square of white surah or else pongee. Em¬ 
broider a sprig on one side or a vine around the four sides 
with crimson silks and finish the edge with oriental lace 
one and a half inch deep. Cut a circle seven inches 
in diameter from the centre of the square, edge with lace 
the remaining portion and run in a little shir, half an 
inch from the edge, in which to put a white cord elastic so 
that the cover will adjust itself to the neck of the shade, 
and tie about it a very narrow satin ribbon, the color used 
for the embroidery. S. F. 
Painting on Lincrusta. 
I N directions given for decorating this popular material, 
the effect of majolica is said to be produced as follows: 
“For a first coat, use tube colors ground in japan, equal 
parts of flake and zinc whites thoroughly mixed with 
Damar varnish. Apply to the surface of the lincrusta two 
coats of this preparation. When perfectly dry, proceed 
with the colors desired.” For the second coat: “Use 
tube colors, ground in japan, mixed thoroughly with 
Damar varnish only. The varnish should be used thin 
enough to allow the color to flow freely into deep places. 
To finish the decoration, when perfectly dry apply two 
heavy coats of Damar or white spirit varnish. Damar 
varnish, if too heavy to flow freely, should be thinned with 
turpentine, but alcohol should be used in thinning the 
white spirit varnish. Lincrusta being a non-absorbent 
material, but little preparation is necessary before gilding, 
but a coating of brown dryer or shellac varnish econo¬ 
mizes the bronzing powder and enhances its effect. When 
a burnished surface is desired, the surface is prepared by 
the application of three or four coats of the ordinary bur¬ 
nish size.” 
Madame Le Prince gives the following suggestions for 
producing metallic effects on lincrusta: For oxidized sil¬ 
ver : “ Cover in silver leaf, or, if preferred, in one or both 
silver bronzes. Glaze the silvered surface with white shel¬ 
lac varnish ; when dry, rub a brush well charged with dark 
blue gray oil color into all interstices of the ornament in 
relief, as well as upon the background, leaving the color 
thickest upon those portions of background more imme¬ 
diately surrounding the raised ornament; now remove the 
color from highest points by rubbing with a soft cloth 
tightly folded, and pass a clean brush over those parts in 
lower relief that require to be left in half-tone. Duller yet, 
more artistic effects are produced by using ‘ dry color ’ in 
