Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-03


PAINTING ON CHINA AND GLASS
- - ANY are the fancies of the day and
| some of the most noteworthy and sue
cessful bits of furnishing due to
these same whims. One such is the
diverting-or perverting, some might
| call it-of articles from their patent and COM
| monplace use so as to make then ingeniously
| conspicuous and decorative To illustrate nv
| meaning, let me speak of some good effects in
| arranging objects brought as curios from Italy
| by one OF our young scientists At Naples he
| possessed himself of some odd and rare mosaics
IN long marrow slabs and some irregular pieces
| OF ancient yellow marble Also As is often the
| case with travellers, he. too bought one of the
| circular table tops of Florentine mosaic work
pick three out of his collection as the best ex-
| ampies for my purpose. For the slabs and
| marbles on his return he designed library
| mantel OF wood, in which these were set as
| facing and uprights, as tiles would be used
1t Is at once striking and picturesque and moth
f, Ing could have been devised which would show
these relics to better advantage The round
mosaic table top. instead of being mounted in
the Ordinary way. is made useful by being
hung on the wall over a bookcase. where it
makes large plaque in effect as decorative as
| possible. 1t is such individuality that gives,
| certain houses charm that is all their own.
PRETTY HALL.
| The young mistress of this particular home
is full of artistic ideas, and in her hall has car
RE ont a scheme of decoration which may be
| suggestive for other seekers after the beautiful
| The walls were of the rough gray plaster that
| to many people would have seemed SO hopeless
! unless regularly papered. To an artistic eve,
however. they were full of possibilities. The
materials Cor the decoration consisted of the
gold powder that is sold In bulk at about 81
! per pound. with the medium for mixing it.
With good-sized brush she painted on it at
| intervals some conventional figure, with waving
water-llnes suggesting a connection between
them. Without any set design she distributed
| these about the walls close enough to look we'll
until the frieze was reached. This was band
| OF turquoise blue paint eighteen inches deep.
1T was painted on a small portion at a time and
the decoration put on while the paint was still
| wet, after the manner of frcsco painting
The method of doing this was truly
! original The small bellows used for
blowing moth powder about was filled with the
dry gold powder Mounted then on high
step-ladder which brought her within range
| the inventor of this novel and rapid wav of
ornamentation blew the shower of gold until
the fresh paint was sparkling with it. In some
places 1t was thicker than Ill Others thus Civ
ing the irregularity which added to the good
| effect. gold picture rod was the finish be-
| tween side walls and frieze of this very attract
| ve-looking wall. should add that the deco
| ration went up to the ceiling of the second
| story. and was especially noticeable on the
| stars where the GOLD caught the light neces-
| sary 10 bring 1t out in its full richness house
on which time and labor have been expended
! as on this to carry out some cherished idea of
| individual taste must be greater source of
satisfaction and pleasure than could possibly
| be the case where upholsterer is the inspira-
| ton of finish and furnishing
| NOVELTIES IN EMBROIDERY
Some pretty novelties in embroidery have
been seen lately which may give some hints as
to what would make good summer work 1t is
| one OF the considerations III spending some
| time away from home and the usual cares and
| occupations that plenty of reading matter be
| on hand, and plenty of work that interests
| without fatiguing. One of the articles saw
is a Tea cloth or small table cover-for it is
| suitable for either purpose-of fine white linen
Ii Is one yard square. including u quite deem
fringe. Fringe, by the way, is so much more
| graceful than hem that 1t makes better fin
Ism for table spread, of linen especially
Above the fringe is a narrow feather stitching
OF white hlo floss, with which the cloth is en-
broldered. A narrow strip of drawn work is
| above this then in each corner a design of
flower with long. spiky petals and IA few
| leaves. 1t Is very snowy pattern for the work
required and Is simply an outlining for the
| flowers, with feather stitching running down
the petals, and the leaves in long and short
stitch. The particular effectiveness is in having
the whole design outlined by COUGHING of
gold thread. which can now be purchased war
| ranted TO wash. This is couched on with fine
yellow silk or white cotton thread and makes a
charming and refined finish. Another attract
| I've piece OF work is a sofa pillow. The center
| OF the cover IS piece of dull red bolton sheet
ing lSxl5 inches IN SIZE This has bold de-
sign OF palln-llke leaves which have a heavy
outline of pink silk couched on while the leaves
| themselves are covered with lace stitched in
finer pink silk. The shade is a soft old rose.
! which Is brought into relief by the dark back
ground: Japanese gold thread outline is
| also added 10 the leaves. This center is put ON
| a pillow 22Xl9 inches and the / inches of mar
gin filled out by a full puff of old rose silk
drawn closely to the edge Of the pillow. H.
stead however, OF stopping here the silk pro-
Jects enough to make a double ruffie of the
same fuliness OF the puff of course
| which makes the pillow two inches larger
| IN appearance. The same silk is put plainly
over the back of the pillow. This idea. orig
! Inal with the designer of this pillow might of
! course, be carried out III a variety of WAYS and
| coIors. 10 embrOIdcr center seems less of AN
! undertaking than 10 DO larger piece to cover
| the whole pillow. and very rich material NAV
be used Ii desired for tins inner square For
| pun and rUtie, however. the soft India silk is
the prettiest fabric. This idea carried out in
yellow would be quite charming. For instance.
have the center of palcst yellow satin sheet
ing and embroider it with much deeper tone
OF yellow silk. The gold thread would he still
! different IN tint, while the puff and r;lli,e
! could be the darkest and deepest shade of all!
lhis would make symphony in yellow" that
! III some rather dark sombcr place would
| make glow o. color and brightness.
A BUREAU COVER.
Among tic very prettiest and daintiest pat
| terms for q LurcaU or dressing table cover is a
! scarf OF white linen with ribbon design run
nlng lrregu larly across the front with several
! curves ana turns. At the right, near one end
| Is bunch of bachelors buttons
and where the ribbon meets this il
| Is tied IN a loose bow with loops and flowing
| ends. The embroidery is all in white silk and
| the ribbon is worked III the solid stem stitch.
| while the flowers are IN the long and short
stitch, effective in raggcd-edged
petals Ribbon effects are seen
| as decorations on many articles
both IN embroidery and painting. On the
photograph frames, covered with white linen
| little punches of forget-me-nots, tied with blue
bows, are especially pretty, and the flowers
give sentiment. II intended for "a gift. Pink
! or yellow flowers and ribbons are equally
pretty. On tie glass of the little easel frames
| for photographs this same style of ornament
is seen, oil paints instead of water colors being
used however.
RIBBON EFFECTS on CHINA
! On china again these arrangements appear
and show to great advantage. On some amateur
work in china saw lately small puff box
was painted with band of forget -me-nots
! around the box. tied with bow on one side.
The top was closely covered with the flowers
| and the knob gilded, as well as a fine pattern
| finishing all the edges. On some little china
slippers intended for matches or flowers a
bow was tied high Oh the instep, which was
painted yellow quite strong in tone. The rest
god with oil