Some Suggestions

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16819, 23 August 1922, Page 10

Some Suggestions

AN ANCIENT ART. Cl out age is an ancient art revived and dates from the fifteenth century. It has all the characteristics of poker work, with tho addition of elaborations with nails, This work may be suitably applied to wood or leather and looks effective on small objects such as powder boxes, as well as on large articles. Exceedingly lovely results can be obtained with detailed work. A group of coloured panels, recently shown to the writer, which were to he set into the walls of a handsome room, represented scenes from the Tudor period. The lacework on the women’s dresses, their jewels, and the harness of the horses were indicated by braes and pewter nails. Inspiration for designs can be drawn from old stained glass windows, old pictures and curios. Resigns are procurable and depict mythological and historical scenes, or are purely conventional. Ihe method followed in poker work is adhered to. the first step being to prepare the surface of the wood by sand-papering it. The design is outlined in poker work and then coloured either with stains or with water colours. Then the object is wax-polished. The result of wax-polishing is what is known as a ‘‘ matt ” surface, a high polish not being desirable. Some feature of the design is elaborated wjth nails, which may he of brass, copper or pewter. In purely conventional floral designs the middle of each flower may be decorated with a nail. In large pieces of work great scope is afforded for beautiful ornamentation. TWO WAYS OF LOVE. Landru pointed out to the president of the Court that iie did not look like a man that women would love, and. glancing at his unprepossessing portrait, many people might be inclined to agree. But it is a fact that when a French man loves, personal appearance counts for little in his chances of success. The ardour, the skill and the audheity of his address carry all before them. An ogr© may succeed iu love if he be a Frenchman. rhe secret of the Frenchman’s success in love is his own immense enthusiasm. He is not constant, nor faithful, but he gives himself heart and soul to the woman o.f the moment. The Frenchman never “ flirts.” Ho knows no compromise between mere friendship and genuine love. And his love affair is desperately real and earnest—for the moment. But Frenchmen neither regard love nor women lightly. Love to them is the mainspring of life. It is the motive for everything. And few women win their regard unless they have more to offer than a pretty face and a distinguished toilette. As a Frenchman puts love upon a lofty pedestal and worships it as the supreme good of life, so is he difficult and discerning in his choice of a worthy recipient of love’s honours. Frenchmen admire, above all, intelligence and distinction in Women. Perfect features are constantly neglected for personality—the subtle charm that makes plain women beautiful and simple clothes magnificent because they are magnificently worn. Love is the Frenchman’s raison d'etre. His career is subsidiary to it. He wins distinction to please some woman. He makes money to spend on her. He takes up games to earn her approval. dhe Frenchman has few men trends. His club is generally a myth. But he has many friends of the gentle sex, both past and present. And a bygone love affair, a lost amie, has always a tender memory. The average Englishman’s conception of love is entirely different. The Briton sows his wild oats in his youth and then settles down to domesticity. Calf love was sweet and life about town wa.s gay, but he outgrows love-—for love’s eake—as tho schoolboy outgrows toffee. Love after marriage becomes an accessory to his home, his career, his happiness. ft is part and parcel of his scheme of things. It is one of the ingredients in the cake, but not the cake itself. But Jove to the Frenchman is ever the beckoning Unknown—“ I’inconnu ’’ that calls into the fairyland of adventure and romance. Ilis faith in love never fails. His ardour m tho chase never cools.

V/INDOWS AND THEIR TREATMENT. From the exterior point of view, the wav in which we treat our windows has an enormous influence on the appearance of our house. The smallest villa in the humblest little road will look refined and attractive if prettily curtained, while the largest mansion may have a vulgar air when lack of taste is shown in window- draperies. The most successfully treated windows are those without douht that have fairly full c-urtaina of plain mosquito or filet net bv the yard, or of one of the striped or very lightly patterned Nottingham nets. Of course a great many people still use Nottingham lac.; curtains, but it i© a puzzle to me why they do it. Coarse lace is never beau tiful, and a large expanse of it lias ;» sort of pretentious look. The big bold patterns also that one frequently sees arc often quite out of proportion to the size of the room in which the cur tains are bung, and nowaday* we nrgetting more and more careful about

how we introduce patterns into our furnishing schemes. It is for this reason partly, no doubt, that the ivory casement cloth curtains are so increasingly popular, and are so much used even with ordinary sash windows. They have a dainty, fresh effect-, and l if the house is not too much overlooked and net curtain© are necessary to ensure privacy, these casement curtains are undoubtedly very nice. From the economical point of view they have distinct advantages, as they keep clean longer than lace or net and wear very well. A few hints on the making of them may be useful. Tf they are to come the full length of the window they need a good deep hem about six inches wide at the bottom, and the top should be turned in with a raw edge a depth of about two and a half inches and finished with the draw tape sold for the purpose. The sides should have very narrow single hems as otherwise the selvedge is apt to tear with the strain on it when the curtains are being drawn. With sash windows many peo pie have these casement curtains divid erl in the middle so that the upper part can be drawn back and the lower part left to act as a short blind. Now to consider the question from the inside noint of view. of all comes the matter of curtain rods. The heavy massive ones are seldom seen in the up-to-date house, except in very large rooms, with high windows. Something light and unobtrusive is better liked, and wooden poles often painted white do not tarnish like the brass ones, and so are more economical. The charming oid fashion of having a shelf with a pelmet or shaped piece

of material of which the curtains ars mad? has been revived of recent years, and under this a simple iron rod is all that is needed as it does not. show at all and tho rings slin over it easily. A pelmet should he mounted on a stiff lining to make it set properly and edged with galon or narrow fringe, but a simple pleated flounce is very often employed instead and this also should be lined. Inner curtains made of cretonne should always be lined. n« the single material cannot hang in good folds, moreover lining protects the cretonne from the dirt that conies through the window, and from getting rotted by the sun. THE ROOM FOR THE MAN. It is probable that nine out of every ten wives leave their husbands out'of their calculation when they plan tbeir rooms. Yet the average man has ideas on both decoration and comfort which are totally opposed to thoee commonly accepted by his womankind.

To be obliged to live in surroundings chosen to please a feminine taste may spell something very much akin to discomfort for the average man. The mere male cares a good deal more for spaciousness and simplicity than does his wife, and would sacrifice any number of knick-knacks and occasional tables for the sake of a reasonable degree of unoccupied floor space and a prospect of being able to move without coming into contact with poufs or floor cushion©, whose raison d’etre he is constitutionally unable to grasp. Give a man his choice and he will, in most instances, select a plain, mnpatterned wall covering rather than one that is a mass of patterning and design. He is fonder of direct effects than the woman, and will prefer a lampshade that is severe in outline, though good in shape, rather than one which is complicated by tassels and fringes, beads and lace. He would prefer one good picture or one fine piece of furniture to several mediocre ornaments or a number of inferior specimens, and ha 9 less respect for colour schemes than has the wife of liis bosom. But. like the husband in If Winter Comes,” he has much lees affection for wliat his womenfolk call “his den” than he is credited with having. His artistic sensibility is by no means bounded by pipe racks, bookshelves and oopie© of sporting prints, and is inclined to resent any such implications. But he likes to feel that his room harbours nothing that has not a definite function to fulfil or something valuable to add to his sum total of ea»r and enjoyment. And in that he is true to the Ruskinian gospel.