Home Arts and Crafts

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

Home Arts and Crafts

| ORIGINAL BATHROOM jj

The diving mermaid design makes an unusual and fascinating decoration for bathroom curtains, splasher, sponge bags, etc. The original set was made with oil-silk, a material which never requires washing, hangs in beautiful folds and may be obtained in many artistic shades. The materials necessary are: Quarter yard of white American cloth (from which to cut mermaids) and for an averaged-sized splasher, allow J yard of plain green oil silk; for curtains, allow an extra 1 yard more of the material than would be required in the usual way for making curtains to fit windows. You will also want transparent glass paints,

maid. When dry, add the hair, only thinning the orange down slightly with methylated, as quite a strong colour is effective. Thin down the green a little (icd paint the tail. Wh en this is quite dry, take a very fine brush and put in all the inner lines with' red; also outline the upper part and arms with a very thin line of red. The markings on the end of the tail must also be put in in the same manner, using the green. Cover the backs of the mermaids with seccotine, and stick into position on to the oil silk. For splasher, cut a piece of silk measuring 24in. wide by 17in. in depth. From the piece left over, cut straight strips I.Jin. wide, and bind round the

one small bottle each of red, orange and green, a small quantity of methylated spirit, a sheet of carbon paper and a tubo of seccotine. It must be remembered that methylated spirit is highly inflammable and must never be used near a fire or naked light. With a hard pencil and a sheet of dark carbon paper, transfer the mermaid on to the American cloth, then cut out with a pair of sharp scissors. Cut as many mermaids as required, then commence to colour wjth glass paints. It will bo as well to practise for a few minutes with these on a spare piece of cloth, as the paints must bo thinned down with methylated spirit to tho shades required. The paint dries almost immediately it is applied, so one must work quickly. Pour one teaspoonful of the mothylated spirit into an egg cup; then add a drop or two of red paint; test the shade on a spare piece of cloth, adding more methylated or more paint as required to get flesh colour. Wash this over the arms and upper part of mer-

edges, using green sewing silk and, if possible, putting the binding on by machine. , From the rest of the material, cut straight strips, some short, some medium length and some long. Each strip should measure from lin. to J4in. wide and must be pointed at one end. tSeccotine these in place on tho wrong side of splasher, twisting the tops of tho longest strips a little. As the silk is transparent, tho strips will show clearly through and look like floating seaweed. Make the curtains in tho usual way, turning up a Sin. heir, at the bottoms. From the extra 1 yard allowed, cut two triangles, sufficiently large to " take " the mermaids which are to go on the corners. Machine these into place, putting them on the wrong side. Stick the mermaids in place, as shown in the sketch, and the curtains will be complete. Another charming colour scheme would be to use pale blue silk instead of light green, and make tho tails from silver American cloth.