Evening star., 1942-08-21

lunch cloths with napkins to match.
In turquoise. yellow and pink they
could be used Interchangeable and
were most useful. While on vacation
some of the pieces were sent to an
inferior laundry where a too-strong
bleach turned the turquoise cloth
gray and removed most of the color
from several of the yellow and pink
napkins. The net result now is that
some of the yellow and pink napkins
do not match the cloths and the
turquoise cloth is very unattractive.
Would it be possible to dye these
again and get good color, or will
there still be differences in color
so that nothing goes? &c. S.
Answer feel quite sure that
you could pull these together" again
by careful dipping process at
home. Though you will have to
give this your own attention and
every few months dip them again,
you certainly cannot hurt the linen
so there will be no loss. Start first
with the turquoise pieces. Dip the
cloth and the faded napkins &C
cording to the directions on the
package of whichever dye bath you
use. Plan to make them bit deep
er in color than they were originally,
to overcome the gray tone. Rinse
thoroughly, roll in a turkish towel
and iron wet With this as a basis
you may wish to intensity the shade
Of the pink and yellow ones to
blend with the turquoise. Dip the
untaded pieces very briefly and let
the faded ones remain in the dive
bath 10 or Is minutes longer. There
may be slight difference In color,
but I doubt if you will be able to
detect it when the table is set.
Dear Miss Novel;: I have two
fine old brass lamps which have
been stored in damp basement for
some years. They are so corroded
that I am at loss to know how to
start getting them polished. Is it
safe to use steel wool on them, and
what do you consider the best pol
ish for such a difficult task? I
worked on them for nearly an hour
one day with cloth and ordinary
polish and hardly got through the
corrosion. P. ID.
AnsWer-Steel wool, unless of the
very finest quality. will scratch the
surface considerably. Of course, in
time that may be polished out, but
1t will be just one more item to
eliminate from the polished surface
1 would suggest that you take the
lamps to one of the metal experts
here In town. They have the equip
ment and materials to remove the
tarnish and corrosion efficiently and
with no harm to the metal. Then
they will buff the whole surface.
leaving it like satin. From then on,
with the care you will give it from
week to week, you will have no fur
ther difficulties in keeping it pol
ished with regular home equipment.
Dear Miss NOVEL;: I would like
to paint the top of a wooden coffee
table to match the black marble of
my fireplace facing. I understand
that simulated marble was very
fashionable at one time and salts
factory facsimile may be done with
paint. Can you give me instruc-
tions in how this is done? G.D.A.
Answer-This was done by skilled
artisans who had spent consider
able time studying their craft. If
you have some experience with
paint and brush and would be
willing to put in the time, you could
do very satisfactory replica. Give
your table top a printing coat of
paint after it has been carefully
smoothed with fine sandpaper.
Then apply about three coats of
semi-gloss enamel in deep char
coal gray tone over this. When you
study the marble you will find that
it Is not dead black, but varying
tones of grays which seldom reach
intense black. On the final coat,
stipple on the background in light
and deep grays, working on about an
8-inch space at time. Then with
fine water color brush draw in the
creamy veining as close to the origi-
nal as you can. Work quickly
enough so that the velning goes on
while the background paint is still
wet and the two dry together.
Proceed over the whole table top and
the edges and then give it about
week to dry thoroughly. After that
it may be lacquered or waxed. Much
easier, however, would be the appli-
cation of marbleized paper to the
wood top with about four coats of
clear lacquer to make it waterproof
and marproof.