Silver Paper Work

Southland Times, Issue 21196, 24 September 1930, Page 13

Silver Paper Work

A novel and interesting occupation which will fill up your spare time, and at the same time be very useful, is the making of pictures in silver paper. With a little patience it will be found quite simple, and it is an excellent, way of using up any old picture frames. After taking care to remove the glass and, clean it well, one side should be .coated with a very thin layer of Brunswick black, which is obtainable at a very small price at any oil shop. Take care not to put the paint on thickly, or failure is inevitable. It dries in a very short .time—say three hours. The next thing to do is to trace the drawing (or draw free-hand) on the paint with a sharp pencil, never choosing a too complicated figure. Scrape away the paint with a sharp instrument, such as the point of a penkife, and, taking the selected pieces of coloured paper, stick them with transparent glue on to the paint. Many colours can be worked in one picture, and any object such as a parrot presents a wide and enticing scope. When the paper is dry, the back should be painted over again with Brunswick black to make sure that there are no holes in the' first layer. Whe replacing in the frame, you will be surprised at the beauty of it. Not unlike a butterfly’s wing, it catches the light wonderfully and glitters in a very realistic way. The idea can, of course, be applied to other things. Finger-plates of plain glass for doors can be made to look very artistic, and glass bottoms for trays are effective. The larger your variety of coloured silver paper, the better pictures you can obtain.