Page:Embroidery and Fancy Work.djvu/74

70 simulate the stitches in "filled in" work. An ordinary pen will do, but pens with three, five, and seven points each, can be bought for ten cents a piece, and the work is done much more quickly with them.

If you wish to use a light shade of a transparent color on a dark ground, paint first with white, scratch it in, and then paint with the required color.

Satin, velvet, velveteen, are all good materials on which to work, and I think holland linen might be used to good advantage. I have seen a lovely mantel scarf painted in oils on such linen, the background being relieved with dashes of gold. The design was dogwood, a plant that is extremely decorative in character, and that has been very much used for this purpose.

Kensington painting is not considered artistic, but it is quite pretty, and many can avail themselves of it who have not time or patience for that Art to which, like Learning, there is no royal road. LUSTRA PAINTING. It is quite important in doing this work to procure the best materials, as the metallic colors lose their tone and brilliancy if of inferior make. Bragdon's colors are recommended by the highest authorities on the subject. A complete outfit consists of from three to six hog's-hair brushes of different sizes, a china palette, six bottles of metallic, and five of opaque powder colors, palette-knife, turpentine, and a bottle of medium.

The medium must be used very freely, and must be thoroughly mixed with the colors. One can begin, however, with a much smaller assortment. One or two shades of bronze, two shades of gold, and some of the bronze green can be used to begin with; the assortment being enlarged when needed.

One great advantage that Lustra has over ordinary painting lies in the fact that it can be washed, if care is