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The four petals cut from the darkest shade of pink should be coloured in the manner already described, with a mixture of carmine and ultramarine applied on the dull side, and applied at the point T over the bases of the stamens. The coloured surface will of course be outside, and the edges will overlap each other as the I series in camellia. These petals must not be curled.

The calyx has now to be applied. Presuming that it has been cut out of pale pink wax, according to the pattern given above, it must be curled with the smallest pin in the following manner : - The pattern being laid upon the palm of the left hand, the head of the pin must be rolled along the dotted line X, Y, Z, very lightly, and then with considerable pressure along each of the segments in the direction of the dotted lines to Q, R, S, T. The handle of a paintbrush should now be laid along the line from X, Y, Z, to W, and the sides of the calyx folded over it. The edges being made to "fold over each other slightly", should be rubbed down with the handle of another brush; and the tube of the calyx having been thus formed, the first brush handle should be withdrawn. The tubular calyx should then be slipped up from the bottom of the wire over the ovary, and pressed firmly to its place, thus giving steadiness to all the parts. The nails and fingers will finish neatly these parts. The point of the pistil should be redipped and floured, and the blossom is completed as soon as the stalk is thinly covered with light-green wax.

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Several leaves should also be made of various sizes with stalks about an inch in length. The dark-green upper surface should be marked with a pattern drawn upon paper thus: - Lay a sheet of dark-green wax, with the dull side up, on a thick piece of blotting paper, and having laid over it the drawing paper on which the pattern has been drawn, go over the lines with a hard pencil. This will leave the impression on the wax, by which it can be cut out. The leaf may be finished by laving a light layer of wax on the under side, with fine wire between for a stalk, as with the camellia. The stalk may be covered with green wax painted with carmine. The flowers and leaves must be attached to the stalk by covering the main stem with wax after fastening the leaves and flowers in their proper places. To make the sprig natural, some unopened buds should be added. The seed-vessel 0, being made in the same manner as before with green wax, the bud B must be made solid, of scraps covered with pink wax rubbed smooth with the steel part of the curling pin. There should be also some fruit, or seed - vessels partly ripened - imitated by a knob of green wax rather larger than the ovary at the base of the flower.

Waxen Flowers And Fruit Part 4 564Waxen Flowers And Fruit Part 4 565

We propose to conclude by explaining-how the foregoing principles are applied to the imitation of the composite order of dowers These in some points differ so much from most other blossoms, that our first section would be incomplete without it. The composite is the largest natural order which systematic botanists have established. Its flowers are readily recognised by their general character, the types of which are the daisy, the sunflower, the china-aster, the common tansy, the groundsel, and the well known dandelion.

The head, or flower, consists of many blossoms, brought together upon a flat top, or receptacle, formed of small strap - shaped leaves, called bracts (B). The yellow centre, marked C, consists of florets whose corollas are not developed. One of these heads may therefore contain two hundred florets, which in a wild and uncultivated state may not not only possess corolla) at the outer edge, as in the common daisy ; or may be covered with corollas, or doubled, as in the highly cultivated dahlia, where the central disk or eye entirely disappears. What are known as the single flowers of this order, as they require peculiar management, are the subject of the present paper.

As a specimen flower we will take the china* aster, because on the one hand it is not so delicately small as the daisy, nor on the other hand, is it too large for a bouquet. It allows of great variety of colouring also, and will harmonize with the flowers which have gone before.

Having procured two flowers, lay the cardboard sheet on the table before you to receive the parts of the flower which you dissect; and taking it to pieces, place each in its appropriate position. The developed petals will be found generally to consist of two rows, and would lie upon the cardboard as in the diagram. A vertical section should then be made of the disks and florets, to give the idea of the thickness of that part of the flower, and this should be laid in the centre of the cardboard. As strips of wax as small as those required for the petal of the china-aster or the composite flowers generally, are so small that they are easily affected by the warmth of the hand, it is better to cut out twenty-four pieces of the proper size and shape (see diagram), and prepare them before proceeding to lay the foundation of the waxen flower. This allows the petals time to cool, and saves trouble in practice. The petals must be cut in thin pale blue wax, about the eighth of an inch longer than the real flower-leaf, to allow sufficient wax to adhere to the basement. The natural petals will be found to be crimpled in a delicate manner, which we found at first difficult to imitate; but the following plan answers well. Take a hard cedar pencil, and having sliced the top obliquely, cut the straight edge so made into regular but close notches, as deep as practicable. With this, by firm pressure, indent a piece of card ; then grain each wax petal by laving it upon the card, and pressing it gently with the notched end of the pencil held obliquely The pencil should be damped before it is drawn along the petal. This simple mode of crimping wax petals will be found useful in many other cases.