Evening star., 1936-12-06
Easily Made Silhouettes
Welcome Christmas Gifts
By Marjory Tyler.

~-S-p
- Christmas coming on, and
/ maybe not having 80 much
i L money as you'd like, that you
can make some Of your presents your
self? Many Of your friends and rela-
tives would prefer a gift that you had
taken the time, trouble and thought
to make, rather than just something
you had bought and wrapped.
Every home uses pictures. which
means you can give a picture to al.
most any one on your list. The kind
of pictures I am going to tell you
have seen, and is so easy to fashion
that you can turn out good looking
job with very little time and not
much expense.
First, let's get all the material to-
gether to make some silhouettes. You
will need a piece Of glass the size you
want the finished product to be; about
6 by inches is the best size to han
die. Get your father to cut a piece
the size you want, or if he doesn't
have q glass cutter, some carpenter
friend will be glad to do it for you.
II you can't get the glass anywhere
else, buy a cheap picture frame at the
l0-cent store and use the glass from
that.
NEXT, get some good-sized pieces
of tinfoil. You can get good pieces
out of a pound can of tobacco or from
candy bars. A bottle Of show-card
color (black), a small brush, and a
spool of inch-wide black tape gum
med on one side, can all be bought in
the l0-cent store. With a piece of
cardboard Just the size of the glass,
which you can find most anywhere
around the house. the materials are
all gathered.
The next step is to decide what de-
sign you want your picture to be. A
silhouette. you know, shows only the
outline Of an object, so don't choose
anything that has to have lot OF
detail to bring it out properly. Look
ing through a magazine. We find pic
lures Of ship. an old-fashioned girl,
and a dog standing in way that
shows him up well.
Choose the picture you think the
person you plan to give it to would
like best, and cut 1t out. You don't
have to trim close. just so you can
lay II fiat on the table, with the glass
over it. Place the picture so 1t is JUS,
about the middle of the glass. Next
hold the glass very still while you
trace the outline Of the picture on Il
with your brush and show-card color
TRACE only the part you want II
show in the finished product
never mind about the rest. This 1
quite easy. as you simply copy the out
line carefully, and f1ll in the middle
solidly with your show-card color. II
other words, in the picture of the dol
merely trace the dog himself. ant
don't bother about the automobile. O
the package of dog biscuits. or what
ever else happens to be in the picture
with him. With the dog or girl. vol
might put a few strokes up and down
very short. to represent grass. With &
ship a few strokes sideways under i
will make it appear to be on water.
The color will take about IS minute.
to dry. and while it is drying you car
get the background ready. Take th'
, tinfoil and crumple it a little b!
squeezing II carefully between you
/ hands. 1t is rather brittle, so be care
full not to break it any more than 70,
/ can help. It doesn't matter if yol
break it little. or If the piece ism
quite big enough to cover the who'll
picture, for with the creases that th'
crumpling gives it you can pull teal
together or add small piece on on,
side without its ever being noticed.
It is easy to hold the tinfoil in plac,
while you work by turning the edg'
of it over the edge of the cardboard
just little bit. Be careful not t,
have the part of the tinfoil which /
folded over the back Of the cardboard
more than q quarter of an inch wide
WHEN the background is prepared
w make sure the figure on the bacl
Of the glass is dry. If so, turn tn
glass over and put the painted sid
next to the tinfoil. This protects tn
picture against any danger of rub
bing off while being busted or washed
Holding the glass and cardboar,