WORK COLUMN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue III, 20 January 1900, Page 141

WORK COLUMN.

In my sketch I give a design for a very pretty hand screen. The foundataion is one of the palm leaves that can be bought at any fancy warehouse, and its decoration consists of the ac-cordeon-pleated tissue paper which we see in such attractive colours almost everywhere we turn. First of all the paper must be stretched over the fan and gummed at the back, and then

another piece put over the back, turned over the edge and gummed down to the front about an inch from the edge all the way round. Then a very full and fussy frill must be made: this is much more effective if two or three well-blended colours are put together, and the paper should always be doubled. so as not to have any edges showing. The screen is finished off at the handle with a large spray of artificial flowers. Some clever fingers might make these out of the tissue paper itself. A big bow of ribbon may be substituted if preferred. An artistic com bination of blue and green might be made, when large cornflowers or floppies would be a suitable finish to the whole thing. The children may think I overlook them sometimes. It is not. always easy to find something that little fingers ean commence and carry out by themselves, but I think they might manage a group of l>ook-mark-ers if they are very careful and only set to work with clean hands. And I am sure they will find some church or reading-desk in their neighbourhood which will appreciate ■ their efforts. Take several twenty-four inch lengths of half-inch corded ribbons In bright colours, plain, hand-painted or embroidered, fold each in two. gather the lower end into a point finished off with tassels, twist the top into a coil, suspend it to a handle formed of a lineh wadded roll covered with faille or galon, and add to it a cord describing a drooping loop. button L holed over with silk twist. It occasionally happens that we become possessed of some bits of old oak. maybe neglected panels of some old pews, long since torn up to make room for modern seats, or perhaps some that ornamented a quaintly fashioned four-post bedstead. I saw some the other day. most decoratively adapted. and here is the design, showing how four ]>anels might very well be utilised. The piece of furniture is one of those nondescript kinds which ean be used as a- sideboard in a diningroom, or as a what-not for china in

either morning or drawing-room. Two of the panels decorate the large drawers in the table part, w’hile the other two appear reversed in position on either side of the two cabinets, the rest of the cabinet consists simply of narrow shelves, which are carved with

a small conventional design in harmony witli the treatment of the panels. It will be found very effective, and one which can easily be carried out by that favourite workman of mine to whom I always allude as the “local carpenter.”

She: “It breaks my heart to see you come out of the tavern.” He: “A man can’t tell what to do. This morning the minister made a lot of talk liecause he saw me go into the tavern, and now you are scolding because I’m coming out.”

Little Johnny: “Mamma, let’s play I am your mother, and you arc my little boy.” Mamma: “Very well, dear, how shall we play it?” Little Johnny: “I’ll tell you: you start to do something, and I’ll tell you not to.”