The French employ velvet, fine cambric, and kid for the petals, and taffeta for the leaves. Very recently thin plates of bleached whalebone have been used for some portions of the artificial flowers.

Colors and Stains

I

Blue.—Indigo dissolved in oil of vitriol, and the acid partly neutralized with salt of tartar or whiting.

II

Green.—A solution of distilled verdigris.

III

Lilac.—Liquid archil.

IV

Red.—Carmine dissolved in a solution of salt of tartar, or in spirts of hartshorn.

V

Violet.—Liquid archil mixed with a little salt of tartar.

VI

Yellow.—Tincture of turmeric. The colors are generally applied with the fingers.