SPLASH-WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20520, 22 March 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

SPLASH-WORK.

■Every reader of our Nature Page will, I am sure, admire the splash-work fern study that holds the place of honour today. This is the work of Hugh Mountfort, one of our cleverest boy artists, who won tho recent splash-work contest. A correspondent who was interested in our competition has sent a letter containing directions as to how to get the best results in splash-work, so now see if you can beat the prize-winner. < " Your readers will find Indian ink a much better medium than water-colour paint," writes our correspondent. "The ink is mixed in the same way as the paints. Then in splashing on, it will be found that to use a stiff toothbrush or small nailbrush and an ordinary hair comb —the brush being rubbed along the flat of the teeth so that the splashes go through the comb—will be much better than brush and stick. The thicker the ink is mixed the smaller the spots and the softer the result. Groups of ferns look very nice laid one on the other and with a fan-like spread, the outer ones of the group on top. These are sprayed first, then taken off. the next layer sprayed, and so on, with the result you get a shaded bunch. The ferns need to be well dried, and it is better to pin down the edges of the fronds to prevent curling up when the damp ink fails on them. This work looks well done on a small table-lop of kauri or white wood and then polished."