Part 2 (1/2)

A bra.s.s frame is first constructed, and any wire worker will execute this so as to hold the six or eight pictures. The transparencies are made, cut down to the size and shape required and fitted in; then ground gla.s.s of the same size and shape is fitted, small bra.s.s tabs at the back being used to keep them in their places behind the transparency. The gla.s.ses should not fit too tightly in the bra.s.s frames or, on expanding by the heat, they will crack.

A hall lamp can be treated in the same way, the colored gla.s.s removed and photographic transparencies subst.i.tuted. Photos on gla.s.s can in the same way be used for a variety of other purposes, such as fire screens, candle shades, etc.

Next look up your stock of prints, sc.r.a.ps, waste prints, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 24.]

Often from a large, spoilt picture you can get a neat little bit about a couple of inches square or less; look up all these and from them a photographic chess-board can be made. Our ill.u.s.tration in Fig. 24 is intended to show what is meant, although our artist has not been happy in the selection of his material to represent photographic views and portraits. First mark out a square the size you wish the chess-board to be. Divide it into sixty-four squares and draw a neat border round it. Thirty-two of the squares are then neatly pasted over with selected photographs as varied as possible in subjects. Sixteen are fitted one way and sixteen the other. Our ill.u.s.tration is incorrect in this respect. The sixteen pictures should be placed the right way on the sixteen squares nearest to each player. When the photographs have all been pasted on and dried the whole is sized and varnished. If, however, it is desired to preserve this photographic chess-board, and at the same time to use it frequently, a better plan is to cover over with a gla.s.s plate and bind all round the edges to prevent dust from entering.

In a similar way a neat card table can be manufactured. Fig. 25 is intended to ill.u.s.trate the top of the table covered with photographs and protected by a gla.s.s plate.

A little consideration will no doubt give various other similar ideas to the reader.

Those who can work the carbon process successfully have it in their power to transfer photographs in various colors to all kinds of supports, to wood for instance. The panels of a door can be very considerably improved by the insertion of photographs on fine grain wood, varnished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 25.]

Pictures can in this manner be transferred to plates, china and ornaments of every description.

Various methods of printing on silk and various fabrics have from time to time been given. Perhaps the best for our purpose is the primuline process, as various colored images can be produced, with but little trouble, on all kinds of material. A description of the process will be found in another part of this work. (See Page 39.)

These the amateur can hand over to his better half or female relations, who with the natural feminine abilities will produce all sorts of pretty artistic articles for decorating the room.

We are well aware that we have by no means enumerated one half of the various means in which photography can be employed for decorating the house, but hope at least to have given the reader some idea of what its capabilities are.

LEAF PRINTS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.--LEAF PRINT. BY T. GAFFIELD.]

Nothing can exceed the beauty of form and structure of the leaves of different plants. Ruskin observes: ”Leaves take all kinds of strange shapes, as if to invite us to examine them. Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, fretted, fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, sinuated; in whirls, in tufts, in spires, in wreaths; endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, never the same, from footstalk to blossom, they seem perpetually to tempt our watchfulness and take delight in outstripping our wonder.” Photography has placed in our hands a simple method of preserving facsimiles of their ever varying shapes that will last long after the leaf has died and crumbled to dust. Although the discovery of the darkening action of silver chloride when exposed to light was discovered by Scheele as far back as 1777, little was apparently known of the possibilities attending the discovery until 1839, when Fox Talbot read a paper on ”A Method of Photogenic Drawing,” in which he described various experiments that could be made with paper coated with this substance, and showed many pictures of leaves, ferns, and pieces of lace which he had obtained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.--LEAF PRINT. BY T. GAFFIELD.]

The ill.u.s.trations which we reproduce herewith are reproductions from leaf prints made by Mr. Thomas Gaffield, who has made quite a study of this fascinating pastime. In a little work ent.i.tled ”Photographic Leaf Prints,” published in 1869, he describes his method. The leaves and ferns are first selected and pressed between the leaves of a book.

They must not be dried, as in that state they do not so readily permit the light to pa.s.s through and the delicate structure of the leaf would not be reproduced. They should therefore only be pressed sufficiently to allow the excess of moisture to be extracted. A sheet of gla.s.s is put into the printing frame and the leaves artistically arranged. When the arrangement is satisfactory the leaves are attached to the gla.s.s with a little mucilage to prevent them from slipping out of their places. A sheet of sensitive paper, alb.u.men, gaslight, or platinum is then inserted, the frame closed up and exposed to the light until a very dark print is obtained. The time required in printing must be found by practice; it will, of course, differ according to the intensity of the light. It is a good plan to employ an actinometer to judge the correct exposure. It is not possible to open the frame, as a double or blurred picture would result. The halves should be exposed sufficiently long to enable the light to penetrate through them and give a distinct image of the veins and structure.

When the printing is completed the paper is removed and toned and fixed in the usual manner. If platinotype or gaslight paper is used, this, of course, requires development. The resulting picture gives us a light impression of the leaves on a dark background, but if so desired, the print thus obtained can be used as a negative. It can be made transparent with wax or vaseline, and prints obtained from it giving a dark image on a white ground. It is difficult to say which picture is the more beautiful. We give ill.u.s.trations of pictures of both kinds. (Figs. 26 and 27.)

Naturally enough, the beauty of these pictures lies in the careful selection and arrangement of the leaves. Those which are too thick should not be used. Delicate ones, showing all the veins by transmitted light, are the most suitable. They can be arranged artistically, in any shape or form. We prefer, however, a life-like arrangement to the construction of various shapes and designs.

TO MAKE A PEN AND INK SKETCH FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.