Page:Embroidery and Fancy Work.djvu/79

Rh necessary sometimes to leave small bits of the pattern uncut, so as to hold the design in place. When the paint has been applied, these bits will appear as blemishes, and must be carefully painted in by hand. This process of stencilling can be applied to many uses. Tiles and plates can be very prettily decorated in mineral colors, and the stencilled patterns can be afterward touched up by hand. When a pattern is to be repeated a great many times, a stencil saves much labor, and insures a greater degree of uniformity.

Some economically inclined people transform Brussels carpet from which the pattern is worn off into very serviceable oilcloth by painting the wrong side. Generally, a plain coat of yellow ochre is considered sufficient, but a really pretty floor covering could be made by stencilling a border, consisting either of one of the key patterns, or of a continuous leaf or vine patterns. I have seen in an artist's studio a matting on the floor, painted grey with a border of Indian red. The centre was a square of grey surrounded by a border of red, of the same width as the outside border. This red was edged on either side by a line of black, and the centre border was divided into small squares by black lines. Each of these squares had little figure pieces painted in black. The effect was extremely pretty, and by means of well chosen stencils could be easily achieved by one wholly ignorant of drawing.

Stencilling is particularly useful in the decoration of large surfaces. A pretty frieze can be easily executed by this means, and the whole wall itself may be enlivened by means of the stencil. We are apt to think of whitewashed walls with a certain degree of scorn, but distemper painting was after all but a variety of white-washing, and there are several considerations which plead with many in favor of the use of a lime or whiting wash for our walls. The first of these is its superior