Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-03-05

thin sheets or hlmS, In one or other OF
several different ways-by fixing them
flat, with screw and stop, and slicing off
layers with kind of spoke shave; or
holding block in the hand, and passing
1t along carpenters plane, having the
face uppermost; or causing the block to
rise gradually over the edge of the mold,
and cutting off successive slices with
smooth edged knife.
The coloring of the wax is an impor-
tant matter, seeing that in some instances
the tint must penetrate the whole sub
stance; whereas in others it is better
when laid on the surface, as kind of
paint. The choice of colors is nearly the
same as for other kinds of artificial flowers,
but not in all instances. The white Colors
are produced by white lead, silver white,
and one or two other kinds; for red, YER
million, minimum, lake and carmine; for
rose color, carmine, following an appli-
cation of dead white Ito avert yellowish
tints); for blue, ultramarine, cobalt, indigo
and Prussian blue; for yellow, chrome
yellow, massicot Naples yellow, orpi-
ment, yellow ocher and gamboge for
green, verdigris, Schweinturth green,
arsenic green (the less of this the better,
and various mixtures of blue and yellow.
For violet, salmon, flesh, copper, lilac,
and numerous intermediate tints, various
mixtures of some or other of the colors
already named. Most of these coloring
substances are employed in the form of
powder, worked upon a muller and stone
with essential oil of citron or lavender
and mixed with wax in a melted state
the mixture is strained through muslin,
and then cast in the fiat molds already
mentioned; or else a muslin bag filed
with color is stepped for a time in the
melted wax. The material dealers sell
these slabs of wax ready dyed, to save
the flower maker from a kind of work
which is chemical rather than manipula-
tive. Some flowers require that the wax
shall be used in purely white bleached
state, color being afterwards applied to
the surface of selected spots.
The wax is, of course, the chief material
employed in waX-fower making; but it is
by no means the only one. Wire bound
round with green silk ,tinting brushes and
pencils, shapes or stencil patterns, molds
and stampers, flock or ground up wooden
rag, and many other implements and
materials, are needed
The patterns of leaves and petals are
made from paper or thin sheet tin, copied
sheets are cut out in conformity with
them Only the smaller and lighter
leaves are, however, made in this way;
those of firmer texture and fixity of shape
are made in plaster molds The patterns
are laid on a flat, smooth service of damp
sand; a ring is built up round them, and
liquid plaster is poured into the cell thus
formed. Generally two such molds are
necessary, one for the upper and one for
the lower surface of the leaf. Sometimes
wooden molds are employed, into which
when moistened to prevent adhesion) the
wax is poured in a melted but not very
hot state Occasionally the entire mold
is dipped into molten wax, to produce
petals and leaves of peculiar size and
shape. The stems are made by working
wax dexterously around wires, with or
without an intervening layer of silken
thread. BY the use of flock, down, var
nishes, etc, the leaves are made to pre-
sent a glossy surface on one side and a
velvety surface on the other. A singular
mode of preparing films of usual thin
ness is by the aid of a small wooden cyl
inder, like a cotton reel, or rather a rib
bon reel this is dipped and rotated in
melted wax until it takes up a thin layer,
which layer, when cold, is cut and UNI
coiled; the difference Of smoothness
which the two surfaces presents fit them
to represent the upper and lower surfaces
of leaf or petal. The combination of
all these materials into built up flower
is kind of work not differing much from
that exercised in regard to textile flow
ers,-Sctent5fe Amertcan.
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