Fig. 56
Fig. 56
Fig. 56
Have you ever noticed how, when it rains, one road will dry at once, and on another your footprints will hold the water like a cup for hours? Do you know the reason for it? The first road is sandy, and so the water filters through the coarse particles and soon disappears. The other is mostly of clay, which is close and fine, and after your foot made that little hollow it was doubtless half baked by the sun so that it became like natural pottery. You probably know all this, and have felt with your own fingers the difference between the sand, in which you have built forts and dug with your shovel in the summer and played with on the kindergarten sand table in winter, and the soft, smooth clay that you have formed into bird's nests, eggs and other things in kindergarten.
Years and years ago, before our great-great-great-grandfathers were even thought of, some man noticed the same thing that you do—that onepart of the earth held water for hours, while it disappeared so quickly from other parts—and it set him thinking. Why not make a bowl in which he could carry water when he was travelling or hunting in dry places? This is the way, some wise men think, the making of pottery began. Cups and small vessels could easily be moulded from small lumps of clay, but large pieces—great bowls and jars—it was soon found would have to be formed in a mould. Shallow baskets, pieces of gourd or fruit rind, were the moulds in which these large pots were started.
Fig. 57
Fig. 57
Fig. 57
In beginning the bottom, either a small piece of clay was patted flat into a form like a cookie and fitted into the bottom of the mould, or else a strip of clay was coiled round and round into a mat shape, working the coils together with the fingers. The sides were almost always built up with coils of clay, then, with the fingers and some rude tools—smooth stones, bits of shell or pieces of gourd—they were smoothed and polished. Soon the potters began to decorate their vessels with patterns cut or pressed into the damp clay and even painted them with coloured clay, ground fine and mixed with a liquid. The clay objects you enjoyed making in kindergarten were not verystrong. A bowl or cup that is moulded from such clay will not hold water for very long either. It will soon soften and fall to pieces. That is what happened to the first clay bowls and cups.
If clay is baked in the sun it becomes a little harder and more useful—but not much—so the first clay workers found that they must bake their clay pots more thoroughly if they were to be really strong. Some of the old potters—like the Catawba Indians—baked their vessels before the fire, and as the clay they used was very good they found it made them hard enough. In other tribes the potters made a bed of bark, set fire to it and baked the pot until when it came out it was red hot. At first the clay workers used the clay just as they found it, but when they began to make large pots and cauldrons to cook in they found that powdered shell or sand mixed with the clay made them stronger and less liable to crack in baking.
The cooking vessels had almost always roundedbottoms, because in those days the floors of houses were of sand or soft earth into which the rounded bottoms would set and hold the pots upright. These pots were set directly over the fire and kept in position by stones or sticks of wood. Some that had handles or flaring rims could be hung over the fire by cords or vines.
Fig. 58
Fig. 58
Fig. 58
The Indians moulded all sorts of things out of clay besides these utensils. Drums were made by stretching buckskin over the tops of earthen pots. Then there were whistles and rattles, trowels, modelling tools, figures of men and animals, and many toys like those shown in Figs. 57, 58 and 59. Beads were also made of clay, and sowere tobacco pipes in many shapes. One would have the face of a man on the bowl, another a goat with open mouth, or a bird with its neck outstretched and bill parted, and on another the bowl would be formed by a natural-looking snake coiled up for a spring.
Fig. 59
Fig. 59
Fig. 59
In time men learned more about clays and how to mix and form and bake them, until now, as you know, pottery that is beautiful and serviceable is made all over the world, and in great factories china and porcelain made of the finest clays are moulded, decorated and fired for our use. It will be interesting to you sometime to see one of the factories where such ware is made, but although it is so fine and smooth and perfect and so useful to us, I doubt if the workmen who make it have half the pleasure in their task that the first pottershad in moulding their rough cooking utensils and clay pipes. So I am glad to think that although you may never be able to make china, you can work in clay as the Indians used to do, for that you will enjoy far more.
Fig. 60
Fig. 60
Fig. 60
Fig. 61
Fig. 61
Fig. 61
Of course you would like to make something that you can use, something that will not crumble and break like the things you modelled in kindergarten. To do this you will need to get a clay which can be baked—or fired, as potters express it—and you must have a clay that is so mixed or arranged as to bake well in the kiln (or pottery oven) to which you are going to send it. If you live near a pottery where flower pots or gray stoneware are made you can probably arrange to buy your clay there, and after your pottery is finished have it baked at the sameplace. The clay that is used at a stoneware pottery is arranged so as to fire at a much greater heat than the flower-pot clay, and so the ware is stronger, but the flower-pot ware will be strong enough for the things you will make. Although this clay is gray before it is baked, it comes from the kiln a beautiful Indian red.
Fig. 62
Fig. 62
Fig. 62
You will not need many tools beside your own fingers and thumbs. One boxwood modelling tool the shape shown in Fig. 60, and another with more flattened and rounded ends (see Fig. 61) will be enough to begin with. These you can buy at a kindergarten-supply store. Later you mayneed the sheet-steel tools shown in Figs. 62 and 63. Dealers in hardware sell the sheet steel, and these tools can easily be cut from it—doubtless the dealer will do it for you.
Fig. 63
Fig. 63
Fig. 63
Buy fifteen or twenty pounds of clay at a time, ready mixed if possible. If it comes to you in the dry state—in rock-like pieces—you must first pound it to a powder. This you can do out of doors by spreading the lumps of clay on a paper laid on flat stone and pounding them with a smaller stone, or, if it must be done in the house, spread the clay on a strong bench or table and pound it with an old flatiron. It is now ready for soaking. Put a little water in an earthen crock and add the powdered clay to it, mixing it with your hand and adding clay until it is the right consistency to mould. If you find you have toomuch water, pour off some after the clay is well mixed, and if it is still too moist, spread it on a board in the air until it has dried out sufficiently.
Keep the clay in an earthen crock with a cover. Pour a little water into it first, just enough to moisten the bottom of the crock, and then put in the clay. When it is to be left over night or a longer time, make deep holes in the clay with your thumb and pour water into them. Lay a damp cloth over it and cover with the earthen top. If at any time it dries out so that it cannot be easily moulded, let it dry entirely, pound it to powder again and mix as already described.
If you live in the country the place to work with clay will be in an outbuilding, a woodshed, barn or workshop where there is a good strong table or bench. The best place for a city child to work is a playroom where there is a wooden floor, an old table and nothing valuable to be harmed with clay or water; or a light, dry cellar. A girl should wear a long-sleeved apron and a boy a pair of overalls. In such a workshop and costume you need not give a thought to clothes or carpets.
Have a pitcher of water and a small bowl for the "slip"—or clay thinned with water until itis about as thick as cream—which is almost as important as the clay itself.
When you are ready to begin work, take a lump of clay about as large as a grape fruit; pound and knead it on the table. Next draw a strong wire through it, dividing it into halves. Press the two outer surfaces together and knead out the air-holes which you will see on the inner surfaces. Repeat this process several times, and all these air bubbles will finally be expelled. Suppose you begin with something simple—some tiny red building bricks which will delight your small brother—perhaps even you may not feel to old to enjoy playing with such a "real" toy.
Materials Required:About 3 pounds of clay,2 level boards, 15 by 20 inches,½ yard of white cheesecloth,A rolling pin,A foot rule,A strong, sharp knife.
The clay of which these bricks are made should be well kneaded, and it should also have a great deal of what potters call "grog" mixed through it. "Grog" is baked clay pounded into small pieces—an old flower pot will do if you are usingflower-pot clay. Mixed with the unbaked clay it tempers it, that is, it makes it less likely to shrink and crack in baking.
Cover a level board with a piece of wet white cheesecloth and tack it securely upon it. Mould the lump of clay into a square, by hand, lay it on the board and pound it with the thick part of your hand into an irregular square cake, then roll it with a rolling pin till it is about three-eighths of an inch thick. Have ready another board the same size and covered with wet cheesecloth, lay it on top of the clay sheet and reverse it so that the clay shall be transferred to this second board. Roll it again till quite smooth and set it away overnight. The next day take a foot rule and a sharp pencil and mark the clay sheet into bricks, two inches long by an inch wide. Cut them out with a strong, sharp knife, but do not lift them until they are thoroughly dry, which will be in three or four days. They should then be carefully packed and sent to the pottery to be fired.
Materials Required:A piece of clay about the size of a lemon,The wooden modelling tools,A bowl of slip,A pen knife.
Fig. 64
Fig. 64
Fig. 64
The Mexicans mould tiny whistles of clay, which are as simple as possible to make and very fascinating to own. If you would like to make some for yourself and your friends this is the way to do it: Mould a small piece of clay into a cup shape about an inch across and three-eighths of an inch high. Put it in the air to dry for ten minutes. Now roll a piece of clay, about the same size, on the table with the palms of both hands (near the base of the thumb), lightly, yet so as to make the clay roll entirely around with each push. If the roll flattens from too hard pressure, pat it till it is round again and roll it until it is of even thickness—about quarter of an inch in diameter. It is then flattened evenly by patting it with the fingers, one end is cut into a long point and the coil is started on edge with the narrow side up on the top of the cup of clay, whose rim must first be wet with slip. Bend the upper edge of the roll of clay in quite a little, to follow the shape shown in Fig. 64. Hold the long end ofthe clay strip with the left hand, while, with the thumb and middle finger of the right hand held on each side of the coil to support it, the forefinger presses it down firmly on the top of the little cup. When the coil has gone all the way around cut the end into a flat point, which will fit evenly in with the one at the beginning, and press the edges together with the flat part of the nail of your forefinger. Do this where the edges of the coil come against the rim of the cup. Make quick and firm yet short strokes of the nail up and down, inside the cup and out. Then let it dry for a short time, about ten or fifteen minutes. Roll another coil in the same way and attach it, after brushing the top edge of the clay cup with slip, bending the top edge of the coil in very decidedly so as to leave only a small opening at the top. The third coil is made in the same way, but put on so as tomake the sides go straight up like the neck of a bottle or vase. One more straight coil completes the neck, and a piece of clay is then put across the top, closing it. After the whistle has dried for an hour or more a triangular hole is cut with a knife in the lower part (see Fig. 65), and a slit in the top. A hole is also made in the bottom. It should then be thoroughly dried for several days before sending it to be fired. Not every one of these whistles makes a good clear sound, but they are so easy to mould that you will not mind one or two unsuccessful attempts when you finally make one that blows clear and shrill.
Fig. 65
Fig. 65
Fig. 65
Materials Required:A piece of clay about the size of an orange,A bowl of slip,The modelling tools.
The Indians used to make clay rattles like the one shown in Fig. 66. It is formed like the whistle except that the cup-shaped piece which is made in starting should be an inch and three-quarters across and three-eighths of an inch high.
Roll the strips of clay as already described and brush the edge of the cup-shaped piece with slipbefore attaching each coil. The handle should be about three inches long. Before closing the end of it drop in four or five clay pellets, about the size of small peas, which have been well dried in the sun. Then seal it with a piece of clay, let it dry for several days and send it to the pottery to be fired.
Fig. 66
Fig. 66
Fig. 66
Materials Required:About 2 ½ pounds of clay,The wooden modelling tools,The oval tools of sheet steel,A bowl of slip,A low wide bowl,A small sponge,A knife,A ground glass slab about a foot square,A cloth in which some ground flint is tied.
One of the best ways to attract the birds is to have a drinking dish, wide and generous, always ready for them on the lawn. This is of course taking for granted that you live at least a part of the year in the country. Isn't it delightful to think that you can make such a dish with your own hands? It is a little more difficult than the other things you have made, but what of that—it will be worth the trouble if you can give a lawn party to the birds every day! As this is to be quite a large dish, you will need to have a mould to form it in, or at least to support the sides in starting. Choose some low, wide bowl or dish, one about two inches high and ten inches across the top. Have ready some powdered flint tied up in a piece of cotton cloth—you can buy it of dealers in potters' supplies or possibly at the pottery where your clay work is fired. This is to dust over the inside of the mould to prevent the clay from sticking to it. Take a lump of clay, about two and a half pounds, knead and pound it until all the air bubbles are worked out. A small piece of the clay is then patted out with the hands on a table or board and rolled smooth with a rolling pin until it is three-eighths of an inch thick and about two inches wider than the bottomof the bowl you have chosen. Lay it in the bottom of the mould, which has first been dusted with ground flint. Press the clay lightly but carefully against the bottom and sides, making sure that it fits close against them. Then cut the top edge even with one of the wooden modelling tools. With the same tool cut crisscross strokes in this upper edge and wet it with slip, to prepare it for the first coil of clay, which is made and attached like those used in forming the whistle. These coils should, however, be larger—about an inch wide and long enough to go all around the bowl once. Join every coil in the same way, taking care to press each one against the sides of the mould as well as upon the coil beneath, and to smooth the inside of the bowl with your fingers and the modelling tools. After attaching a coil, let the bowl dry for ten or fifteen minutes—in the air, unless it is a cold day. Be careful never to let your clay work freeze or it will be spoiled. When the bowl is about two inches and a half high set it away overnight to dry. In the morning it will have shrunk so that it will slip easily out of the mould. Turn it bottom up on a table and wet the cracks between the coils with slip, then fill them in carefully with clay of the same stiffnessas that of which the bowl is made. Never put water or wet clay on a piece of clay work that is almost dry, or it will crack. After it has been set away for a few hours to harden, make it smooth and even as follows: First take the oval tool of sheet steel with rough edges, hold it in your right hand, not straight but bent to fit the curves of the outside of the bowl; with it scrape the large humps away from the sides of the bowl, making quick, light and short strokes in every direction—up, down, across and diagonally. When the largest humps have been removed, go over the bowl in the same way with the smooth-edged oval tool. Then take a damp sponge, one from which the water has all been squeezed, and pass it lightly over the bowl, smoothing it with the fingers. Make it as even and perfect as you can.
Next the bottom is to be finished. Draw with a pencil a circle on the bottom of the bowl, about an inch in from the edge all around, and scrape, with the sharpest wooden tool, a layer of clay out of the bottom within the circle, so that the outside ring shall form a ridge about one-sixteenth of an inch above it. Now cut the top edge of the bowl as even as you can by eye, using a knife. Then make it perfectly even in this way: Pour a littlewater on the ground-glass slab, hold the bowl bottom up and move it firmly yet quickly round and round on the wet surface and then quickly slide it off at the edge of the slab, before it has a chance to cling to the glass. If the bowl seems too heavy for you to hold securely in moving it about so quickly, it will be wise to let an older person do this for you. Then there will be nothing more to do but let it dry for a few days and send it to the pottery to be fired.
A Rainy Day in October
All summer long the out-of-door gardens kept us busy, planting, weeding and watering. When we had had a week or two of sunshiny weather we began to wish a cloud would sail over the blue sky and bring the rain our thirsty flowers needed. We could see the reason for rainy days in summer-time. Now, however, it is different; a rainy day in autumn is so cold and disagreeable. It settles down to work in a business-like way—not like a summer shower, which has, all through, a hint of the sun behind the clouds. No, an autumn rain is chilly and gray and lasting, and the best way to forget it is to find something interesting to do indoors.
Suppose we plan an indoor garden. There are the plants that were brought in from the garden the other day—geraniums, heliotropes, lobeliasand begonias—all need our care and attention. A boy with a taste for woodworking can make a shelf and put up brackets in a window where the sun will reach them. Even a plant table may not prove too difficult for him.
There is one particularly interesting thing that both boys and girls can do, and that is to plan Christmas gifts of budded or blossoming plants for their family and friends. How is it to be done? Why, by planting bulbs in October. You have seen bulbs, of course, at the florists; they are mostly dingy brown or yellow and look like onions. If anyone in the family had a garden last summer there will be sure to be catalogues of seeds and bulbs in the house, and you can begin by making a list of the bulbs you wish to send for. Such a number as you have to choose from—tulips, crocuses, lilies, hyacinths, narcissus, daffodils, and plenty more. They are not costly either. Hyacinths can be bought for from six to fifteen cents each; these are the ordinary ones. Roman hyacinths, which have beautiful white flowers, cost only four or five cents. Chinese lily bulbs are more expensive; one can be bought for ten cents or three for twenty-five cents, but they are large and the blossoms are so fragrant and beautifulthat they are well worth it. These are grown among pebbles in a dish of water. They will look well in a glass dish or in a shallow pottery bowl—such as you can buy for ten or fifteen cents at a Japanese store. For hyacinths, tall, slender glasses are to be had at the florist's for fifteen cents. They come in several colours, but the dark green is best—and that reminds me that there is a case you can make of rattan and raffia around one of these glasses to enable you to hang it beside a window. This you can do some other rainy day.
The Chinese lily bulbs are put into a dishful of tepid water which has a few small pieces of charcoal in it. A number of small stones are fitted around the bulbs to keep them upright and steady, and then they are put near a window where the sun comes. Hyacinths may be grown in the glasses or in flower pots, just as one chooses. A mixture of good soil from the garden and sand is best if they are to be grown in pots. Be careful in taking the garden soil to sift it through your fingers, making sure that no worms are lurking in it, to trouble the bulbs later on. Put stones for drainage and some pieces of charcoal at the bottom of each pot. The bulb is planted so thatabout one-third of it is left above the earth. If it is to be grown in water, use rain water and fill the glass so that the base of the bulb will just touch it. However they are planted, in pots or in glasses, they should be left in a dark, cool place like an airy cellar, until they are rooted. This will take about two weeks for those in glasses and six for the potted hyacinths. If it is possible, bury the pots in the open ground about six inches deep, or cover them with soil, for about five weeks. They can then be put into the window garden. Consult the bulb catalogues for suggestions as to the care of your plants.
Materials Required:A dark green hyacinth glass,2 weavers of No. 2 rattan,2 weavers of No. 2 black rattan,A bunch of copper red raffia,A tapestry needle, No. 19.
After you have bought your hyacinth glasses, and before the bulbs are put into them, you may like to make for each a simple case of basket work by which it can be hung against the window frame.
Fig. 67
Fig. 67
Fig. 67
It is made of rattan rings bound together with raffia of some colour that will look well with thehyacinth blossoms. A dark green glass with a covering of black and the natural-coloured rattan bound with copper-coloured raffia is a good combination, if the hyacinth is to be white.
Make two rings of black rattan like those described in the directions for making a sponge bag (see ChapterIV). One should be large enough to slip over the glass, down to about half an inch from the bottom of it, the other to three inches from the bottom. This second ring must be made on the glass, as the flaring top will not allow so small a ring to slip over it. This will not be difficult to do. Tie the rattan around the glass just below where you wish it to be placed (about two and three-quarters inches from the bottom), then slip it up where the glass is narrower and twist the ends around this foundation ring twice, as shown in Fig. 22. This makes a ring of three circuits, the foundation ring counting as one. Make four rings of the natural-coloured rattan, each measuring two inches and a quarter in diameter on the inside. These are made with two circuits; that is, after tying the foundation ring the ends are twisted all the way around it once, instead of twice as the black ones were, and are cut just so that they will lap. Bind these fourrings together in a hollow square with bindings five-eighths of an inch long of raffia in buttonhole stitch (see Fig. 67). Fasten the ends of the rings by making the binding come over them. Slip this square over the top of the glass and down between the two black rattan rings. Here each of the four light rings is bound with raffia in buttonhole stitch to the black ring above it, as well as to the one below. To make a loop to hang it by, tie a ring of black rattan around the neck of the glass, twist its ends twice around it, and then without cutting the ends tie them into another ring an inch and a quarter in diameter, inside measurement, which stands out from the glass and forms a loop. This ring is made with two circuits.
Later on, in November and December, there may come days when you are kept indoors, andthen perhaps you will like to do some more gardening with bulbs. Shall we begin with the spring bulbs—tulips, crocuses and daffodils? It is wonderful, isn't it, to think of being able to plant them when out of doors the earth is covered thick with snow? This is how it is done: Buy from a florist or seedsman a fibre mixture which they sell for this purpose. Take a large tub or pail and put some fibre into it, add plenty of water and stir the fibre thoroughly with a stick. Let it remain in the water for two days, stirring it from time to time so that it shall get water soaked. It will then be ready for use. If you plan to give the plants away when they are in bud they should be started in jars or bowls that can be included in the gift. Japanese or Spanish pottery bowls can be bought for from ten to twenty-five cents each, and one of these with a daffodil or narcissus growing in it will make a delightful birthday gift for someone you love. If you are not planning to give them away, of course you will be able to collect about the house enough bowls and jars of china and pottery to hold them. Put a few pieces of charcoal at the bottom of each dish—these are to keep the water pure and the fibre wet. Put into each bowl some of the wetted fibre until itis about two or three inches deep, depending on the depth of the bowl. Place the bulbs on the fibre so that they just touch and fill all in with the wet fibre. Put more fibre over them and press it gently down and around them—not too hard. Fill the dish in until it is nearly solid. Now put the bowls away in a cellar or any dark but airy room where they will not get frostbitten and watch them day by day to see that the fibre does not get dry; it must be kept moist but not soaking wet. Be especially careful that the bulbs do not get dry. When they are all rooted and have grown perhaps an inch, bring the bulbs into a lighter room and let them have plenty of air. Put them on the window sill or even in the garden in the middle of the day, if it is not too cold, and as they begin to show some buds water regularly and often.
As early as February you can begin to plan your out-of-door flower garden and start some seeds indoors. Tuberous begonias, Canterbury bells, verbenas, single dahlias, scarlet sage or salvia, tufted pansies and cosmos can all be started now.First of all you will need some flats or low wooden boxes—they should be about three inches deep and not too large to handle. If it is possible to get such shallow boxes at your grocer's so much the better, otherwise you can have a soap box or two sawed down to the required height. If they have no cracks or holes for drainage, bore some and partly cover them with pieces of an old flower pot, rounded side up. Put pebbles or other rough material in the bottom of the box. Now you are ready for the soil. Get good, rich loam from the garden and sift it into the boxes. You can then begin planting. The large seeds should be planted about half an inch deep, medium sized ones as deep as four times their own width; the very small ones are just pressed into the earth, and the smallest should have a piece of glass placed over the box so that they will not dry out entirely. Wet the soil until it is quite moist and press it with a level board after planting. Set the boxes in a sunny window, one that faces south or southeast,and keep them moist, but not wet, with a bulb sprinkler (see Fig. 68).
Fig. 68
Fig. 68
Fig. 68
This blustery month of bad weather out of doors you can have a delightful time with your indoor garden. The bulbs you started in fibre should be in bloom by this time, and while you are enjoying them you can start some flower seeds for your out-of-door garden.
This is the time to plant what are called annuals—that is, plants that live just a year—like batchelor's-buttons, sweet peas, nasturtiums, four-o'clocks, marigolds and zinnias. Use flats or shallow wooden boxes, like those already described, to plant in. Choose good garden soil and, before filling the boxes, heat it in the oven, very hot—this will kill the weed seeds. Sow the seeds in rows an inch and a half apart and three-quarters of an inch apart in the row. When all the seeds are up, thin the little plants out so that they will be an inch and a half apart in the row. Put them in a sunny window as close to the glass as possible and keep the shades rolled high. If you do not give them enough sun they will becomethin and spindly—like children who never go out. Turn the boxes now and then so that all sides will get the sunlight. You will need to put some labels into each box, bearing the names of the seeds that are planted there. The best ones are made from the covers of old grape baskets. Cut them into strips, write on each the name of the seed and the date, and stick it into the earth.
A little garden for a little girl
A little garden for a little girl
A little garden for a little girl
Gradually as the weather gets warmer you can give the little plants more air by opening the windows, and later by putting them out of doors in some sheltered but sunny spot. When there is no longer any danger from frost, the boxes can be set out of doors day and night, only taking them in in case of a severe storm.
The seedlings may need to be separated and transplanted indoors before it is warm enough to set them in the out-of-door garden. Common grape baskets do very well for this purpose and hold about a dozen little plants—flats may also be used. Allow as much space between the seedlings as possible, for if they are too close the roots will twine about each other and make it very hard to transplant them later on. When they are large enough to be transplanted put them into a basin of lukewarm water and plant them in theirnew box one at a time. Do not put them in the sun for a few days, but keep them shaded until they have taken root.
Fig. 69
Fig. 69
Fig. 69
Of course you have seen gourds, perhaps not growing, but surely you know how they look when dried. Hard, smooth-shelled things of a beautiful golden brown colour, they grow in the strangest shapes. Some are round or oval with a queer twisted stem (see Fig. 69). They have many uses—to hold the stockings open and smooth (so that grandma can darn them easily), as bird houses, match holders, and even for drinking cups.
They are the fruit of a vine which would be charming to train on a trellis or arbour in your out-of-door garden, and then when harvest time cameyou would have the interesting gourds to dry and use as you chose.
If you would like to raise them, sow the seeds in shallow wooden boxes indoors in March. Plant them a quarter of an inch deep, and when the little plants crowd one another and are strong enough to transplant remove them to larger boxes and plant them six inches apart. When planting the vines out of doors in May or June put plenty of manure about them and give them ample space. If the vines bear many gourds, and all small ones, pinch off some and the others will develop better. Do not pick the gourds until they are quite ripe; that is, when they begin to look slightly yellow. They need plenty of hot sun in order to come to perfection. Leave them as long as possible on the vines, only being careful that they are not touched with frost. In the South they are sometimes left on the vines all winter.
After picking them, hang them in an airy place in the house or out of doors. Leave a little of the vine on each one and they can then be hung by strings tied to these handles. If you follow these few rules your gourds should dry smooth and hard.
Do you know the smell of lavender—that sweet, refreshing perfume that clings to some of grandmother's treasures of linen and embroidery? One catches a whiff of it in old gardens sometimes, and it is always welcome. You can buy the seed from a florist or seedsman—Lavandula verais what the true English lavender is called, and that is best. If it cannot be had,Lavandula spicais next best. It takes time to raise either, but it will be such an addition to your out-of-door garden that you will not regret the time spent. About the first of March the lavender seed should be sown, in window boxes or flats. Make shallow drills with your finger, drop the seed in and cover lightly. Sprinkle them every day with your bulb sprinkler until they come up. When the little plants each have four leaves they may be transplanted. Before starting to transplant them they should be thoroughly wet. Set them five inches apart. In the winter protect the plants with litter—leaves, straw, etc.—six inches deep. The next year, in March, they should be set in rows three feet apart.
When the plants are in full bloom the sprigs arecut, and then dried in a cool, darkened room or closet. Lay them on paper so as to save all the blossoms. The lavender flowers may be made into the daintiest of sachets by filling with them sheer linen bags or pale lavender silk ones.
The sprigs that are left after the blossoms have fallen may be used like Chinese incense to sweeten a room, by lighting the blossom end of a single piece and letting it burn in a vase or incense holder.
It is wonderful what your head and hands can do when you begin to plan gifts for family and friends at Christmas, birthdays and the in-between times when "un-birthday presents"—as "Alice in Wonderland" called them—are so welcome. But I am sure you know the breathless feeling of having to make or buy a long list of Christmas presents with only two weeks or so in which to accomplish it. Why not keep a gift box or drawer, where you can pack away the pretty things you take such pleasure in making on dull days all the year round? There are ever so many things—games, toys, baskets and beadwork—which you will find in other chapters—that will help to fill this gift box, and I am going to tell you about some others.
There are several things to think of in planning a gift. It should be something that will be within your means, something that is worth giving, however small—not "trash"; but what is most important of all is that it shall really please the one who receives it. If it can be a lasting pleasure so much the better.
Suppose you try keeping a notebook; begin it now, and write down the little things that you hear the family wish for during the year—tiny things, maybe, but just what they want. For instance, Aunt Helen, who writes, never has enough pencils—her nieces and nephews know why. Father is unable to find an express tag when he wants one, because he has no case to hang close beside his desk. Joe says he wishes someone would make him a chamois cover for his new knife—it is getting scratched already; and mamma cannot find that recipe for potted pigeons that she cut from the paper Saturday evening. What a number of entries you will be able to make in your gift book! See how it reads:
Aunt Helen: One dozen pencils.Father: Leather tag case and tags.Mother: A blank book with her newspaper recipes pasted in.Joe: A chamois knife case.
Aunt Helen: One dozen pencils.
Father: Leather tag case and tags.
Mother: A blank book with her newspaper recipes pasted in.
Joe: A chamois knife case.
And this is just a beginning. When you visit your friends you will soon see or hear what little things will please them. Then you can begin collecting the materials for your gift box, and when a rainy day comes what pleasant hours you will spend.
Let us begin with the
Materials Required:Some scraps of chamois skin in the natural or another colour,1 skein No. 4-0 beads in a colour that will harmonise with the leather,1 E bead of the same colour,A spool of letter A sewing silk the colour of the leather,A No. 11 needle.
Fig. 70Fig. 71
Fig. 70Fig. 71
Fig. 70Fig. 71
One of the simplest and prettiest gifts you can make is this beaded knife case. If you have made the Indian costume described in Chapter V. you will have plenty of scraps of chamois left. Otherwise you can buy a small chamois skin in the natural colour, or, if you prefer another colour, skins of beautiful tints may be bought. Red is very effective and not as costly as some others. In buying a skin, choose a colour that you will not tire of, for you will be able to make so many small things of it that it will be well to have a colour you will always like; either red or green or a soft brown that is not too light will be a good choice.
From a piece of cardboard cut the patterns shown in Figs. 70 and 71. If the case is for a penknife, the larger one (Fig. 70) should measure one inch wide by four and one-eighth inches long, and the other should be the same width but two and three-quarters inches long. Cut two pieces of chamois from these patterns, lay the smaller one against the larger, with the rounded ends of both together and the edges of the sides fitted evenly, and baste them so. Now start at the top left-hand edge of the smaller piece, where it comes against the edge of the larger one, and sew the edges together with the stitch shown in Fig. 72. This is how it is done: Thread a No. 11 needle with sewing silk the colour of the chamois. Fasten the end by sewing through and through the edges of the case. String three beads and make one over-and-over stitch throughboth edges of the case, bringing the needle out at about one-eighth of an inch from where it started. Run the needle up through the third bead, string two more, make another stitch, run the needle up through the last bead strung, and so on. When you have gone all the way around the double edge, continue the stitch across the top of the smaller piece and around the rounded top of the larger. Next a loop must be made to fasten the case. Hold a small pencil at the top of the larger piece of chamois close to the rounded edge, and, starting about an eighth of an inch from the centre of this end, fasten an end of a needleful of sewing silk;take a stitch around the pencil and in at one-eighth of an inch the other side of the centre. Take six or eight stitches back and forth in this way. This will make a loop, which should be covered with buttonhole stitches. Now slip the knife into the case, turn the flap (the rounded edge of the larger piece) down and mark the place to sew the large bead over which the loop is to fit, in order to fasten it. Sew an E bead the colour of the smaller beads at this place, bring the loop over it, and the case is complete.