The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-29

face of the table is covered When this is
accomplished the effect produced is some
thing like a mosaic, or a piece Of crazy
patch work. OF course. amy particular
scheme can be worked out in this way.
For instance, a top made entirely of bits
of blue and white china would be charm
ing. Or if one has enough pieces of
similar color, a star can be fashioned 10
radiate from the center. White china also
% can be blocked in to produce a smart eff
feet 1t is always a point to be ren1em-
bered that the putty hardens quickly and
the pieces should therefore be first col
lected and all set in at once, If possible,
during the same day. AS they sink the
soft material naturally rises up between
them and forms putty ridges that must be
smoothed down until exactly even with
the china. 1t is now desirable TO go over
the surface with a coating of shelac, APP
piled with a small camels' hair brush.
After this has been done it is a good scheme
to put the whole thing away for day
or two, or until 1t has become perfectly
solid and dry. The final touch, and enc
that adds greatly to the beauty OF the top,
is to cover all the lines of putty with the
same sort of gilt used to regild old pic
ture frames. This, too, should be done
with fine camels' hair brush. After this,
a good washing with cold water Is about
all that the table requires
The china shops are very good natured
about encouraging this sort of work. In
fact, an instance is known where a prom
inent firm in New York sent, upon appli-
cation, a whole barrelfull of broken bits
to a young matron who wanted to make
such a top, but had not the fortitude to
patiently wait the breakage of her own
household gods. Among the collection
were many exquisite and distinctive
things.
Jardineres and small vases are made
through following the same process, only
the execution is done upon perfectly plain
earthen jars covered with putty instead
of a table top These things give quite
an air of extravaganza TO a summer We
randa. or even to a rather pretenuous liv-
Ing room.
Another burst of ingenuity seems to
have centered itself in new plaster of
paris plaque. 1t has come as a welcome
way OF preserving some of the exquisite
colored heads and floral pictures which
we yearly have sent to us on calendars.
A little good taste and considerable MIN
bleness of fingers is all that is required,
in addition 40 an agateware pie plate
some plaster of paris and water, a knife,
a bit of tape and curtain ring, with
pretty coored picture which has been
neatly cut out from its background and
a bottle OF gilt paint. These various
things are then handled IN the following
way At first the plate should he filled
with water, which, however is soon toss
cd out again. the object being simply to
have a moist surface. The picture is then
taken up and placed face downward in
the center of the plate. AS soon as 1t is
seen that 1t adheres- to ii quite closely,
The plaster of paris. which has previous
ly been mixed with water until Il Is
smooth and of the consistency Of thick
cream, is poured in upon II, and in a suf-
ficient quantity 20 Ill the plate up to the
very top. Here, then, the knife is useful
in smoothing it over. AT this point. also.
contrlvance Is arranged for hanging up
the plaque in the future. The piece Of
tape with a curtain ring on one end OF Il
Is pressed down in the plaster, where It
soon hardens into permanency. As soon
as IL is found that the plaster is sufIi-
ciently hard, the knife can be slipped
around the edges OF the plate to facilitate
the whole turning out well. When this is