The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-09
PRETTY TRIPLES
ARE MADE FROM
SEEDS AND PODS

These are the days of the year when
the ingenious sojourner in the coun-
try finds a perfect treasure store of
suggestion and material in the infinite
variety of seeds that Nature fashions
for tree. herb and vine.
To begin with. there are the cante-
! loupe seeds. Dried in the sun until
they are easily separable from the
pulpy filaments that hold them to-
gether, and then thoroughly washed
| and dried again, they are as pearly
| and pretty for decorative purposes as
any shell or coral hundredfold
| the cost. These little buff-colored
seeds are especially nice for screen
and portiere work, in which they are
used as if they we're beads or shells.
| Waxed thread or silk. or, better still,
extremely fine pliable wire. may be
used to string them on. 1t is mat
| ter of taste whether the seeds be used
| lengthwise, sidewise, or laid fatty one
on top of the other until they point in
all directions, like the strings of un-
| cut coral. OF course many more
strings of them are required when
| they are used vertically. but this ar
rangement gives an extremely delicate
| and graceful effect.
For stringing, seeds should be used
when not thoroughly dried, as they
are then less apt to crack. An extra
pint of prepared seeds should be re-
served by the pOssessor of screen or
| portiere. as with the artificial heat in
winter a few may split and fall away
| from the wire. The two halves may
be replaced with the help of a drop
/ of glue, or a whole new seed from the
pint in reserve.
| Watermelon seeds, with their
OnyX-like coloring and tracery, make
| attractive festoons about mantel or
doorway. One of the latter arranged
| with a sort of lambrequin of these
dark, fiat seeds and straight portieres
to the floor of the light pearly cante-
loupe strings, was most effective.
Tomato seeds are very difficult to
handle on account of their size, but
their color, a soft old gold or light
bronze, and their fine velvety texture,
| make them exquisite material for
mats and small bits of drapery. They
have to be strung with the finest nee
| die obtainable on silk as near their
| own color as possible of like quality.
| Each seed must be cross-threaded to
keep it in place in the design. They
| repay the trouble, for when finished
the fabric is very durable as well as
dainty.
To make the silky, fairy-like puff
balls of pompous of thistledown and
milk-weed ovid cotton'), the pod
should be gathered while still closed,
the outside husk or covering removed,
and the silk separated from the CEN
trail foundation to which it is joined
by the seeds at the base, and the ends
opposite the seeds tied evenly and
firmly together The ends of the silk
to which the seeds are attached, are
Joined. and when thus turned outward,
to form the surface of the puff-ball,
they present a fluffy, billowy appear
ance not secured when otherwise
treated.
The immemorial "cat-tail' needs lit
tie treatment to make it an artistic
adjunct of den, cosy-corner or library,
but it's rich tints are much enhanced
by gliding the stem and a few of the
long, swOrd-like leaves. When the
down begins to fall, as it always will
| after a season or two, it will be found
to make delightful pillows, soft, light
and impregnable to moths
The graceful, seeded heads of oats
and many kinds of grass are preserv-
ed and made attractive ornaments by
dipping them in a strong solution of
variously colored dyes or alum, either