The uses to which empty cigar-boxes may be applied appear to be
almost limitless. By taking them apart, washing off the paper and well
oiling, we have four panels, which can be made into a pretty little lamp
screen, the wood being susceptible of a high polish, and possessing rich
tints and color. First saw one-fourth of the length into a pointed top,
curving it gracefully to the center ; then give two coats of copal var-
nish. Dry thoroughly, and rub quite smooth with powdered pumice
stone and a wet cloth; rinse quite clean, dry, and again varnish.
Repeat this until the surface is hard and as smooth as glass. Make
four holes in the two center panels, and two in those at each end.
Next take some black glazed paper and a small piece of black velvet ;
arrange a center piece, an ornamental figure for the pointed top and a
border for the base, using some simple geometrical figures, with centers
of the velvet and the finer lines of the paper, or silhouette pictures
answer as well ; but a still more artistic mode of ornamentation is by
16 BOUQUETS.
means of black enamel paint and gold bronze. Mark out the design
with a lead pencil, then paint in the design with the gold bronze and
paint all inside of it with the black enamel paint.
Another way to use them is to wad the inside with cotton and line
with silk, drawing down each corner tight with a ribbon or cord, and
fastening it with a tiny tack or glue. Then the outside may be orna-
mented in any way, and the inside used for handkerchiefs or gloves.
BOUQUETS.
ARRANGING THE FLOWERS.
It seems an easy thing to make a bouquet as one looks over the gar-
den and sees the beautiful flowers. But after all it is a difficult matter,
and one sometimes forgets that flowers have their affinities and pre-
ferences as well as the human race. Above all give them room and not
crowd them. When flowers are massed heavily together all lose their
beauty.
When you cut the flowers for bouquets, provide yourself with a tin
basin or dish having a little water in it. Cut them, never pull or break
them ; it bruises the stems and hastens decay. Flowers will keep best
if gathered at night; the early sun seems to wilt them. Stand the
flowers up in the dish and put those of one kind together, then when
ready to arrange them you can easily tell what materials you have to
work with, and avoid tumbling them over. The water prevents them
from wilting, for flowers carried in the hand will wither in a short time.
When a flower is of good size and a fine one, it will look more beau-
tiful if arranged by itself, the single flower among sprays of fern or
feathery grasses, than if put among other flowers. Flowers are difficult
to arrange in a shallow dish unless wet moss has first been put in ; the
flower stems can then be imbedded in the moss, and it will help to pre-
serve them. If a shallow glass dish is filled with white sand and made
up into pyramid form (as can easily be done by wetting it), and the
flowers arranged in it, commencing with the tiny fine ones at the top,
and filling out with larger ones as the base is reached, the effect, will be
beautiful, and if the sand is- kept damp the flowers will keep fresh many
days.
Page 20
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The uses to which empty cigar-boxes may be applied appear to be almost limitless. By taking them apart, washing off the paper and well oiling, we have four panels, which can be made into a pretty little lamp screen, the wood being susceptible of a high polish, and possessing rich tints and color. First saw one-fourth of the length into a pointed top, curving it gracefully to the center ; then give two coats of copal varnish. Dry thoroughly, and rub quite smooth with powdered pumice stone and a wet cloth; rinse quite clean, dry, and again varnish. Repeat this until the surface is hard and as smooth as glass. Make four holes in the two center panels, and two in those at each end. Next take some black glazed paper and a small piece of black velvet ; arrange a center piece, an ornamental figure for the pointed top and a border for the base, using some simple geometrical figures, with centers of the velvet and the finer lines of the paper, or silhouette pictures answer as well ; but a still more artistic mode of ornamentation is by
16 BOUQUETS.
means of black enamel paint and gold bronze. Mark out the design with a lead pencil, then paint in the design with the gold bronze and paint all inside of it with the black enamel paint.
Another way to use them is to wad the inside with cotton and line with silk, drawing down each corner tight with a ribbon or cord, and fastening it with a tiny tack or glue. Then the outside may be ornamented in any way, and the inside used for handkerchiefs or gloves.
BOUQUETS.
ARRANGING THE FLOWERS.
It seems an easy thing to make a bouquet as one looks over the garden and sees the beautiful flowers. But after all it is a difficult matter, and one sometimes forgets that flowers have their affinities and preferences as well as the human race. Above all give them room and not crowd them. When flowers are massed heavily together all lose their beauty.
When you cut the flowers for bouquets, provide yourself with a tin basin or dish having a little water in it. Cut them, never pull or break them ; it bruises the stems and hastens decay. Flowers will keep best if gathered at night; the early sun seems to wilt them. Stand the flowers up in the dish and put those of one kind together, then when ready to arrange them you can easily tell what materials you have to work with, and avoid tumbling them over. The water prevents them from wilting, for flowers carried in the hand will wither in a short time.
When a flower is of good size and a fine one, it will look more beautiful if arranged by itself, the single flower among sprays of fern or feathery grasses, than if put among other flowers. Flowers are difficult to arrange in a shallow dish unless wet moss has first been put in ; the flower stems can then be imbedded in the moss, and it will help to preserve them. If a shallow glass dish is filled with white sand and made up into pyramid form (as can easily be done by wetting it), and the flowers arranged in it, commencing with the tiny fine ones at the top, and filling out with larger ones as the base is reached, the effect, will be beautiful, and if the sand is- kept damp the flowers will keep fresh many days.