being mixed with whiting; but if a clear colour is desired, glazing is resorted to. Any transparent colour can be used for glazing-sienna, vandyke brown, or damp lake mixed with strong size (some artists add a little treacle) painted over the local colour; and only, of course, where a shadow is required.

An easy way of producing patterns is to send for a sheet of French royal transparent paper, and another of black transfer paper, each of which is supplied by Messrs. Winsor and Newton, at 6d. a sheet. Place the transparent paper on the design, and copy it through; then place a piece of black transfer paper, black side down, on whatever object you wish the design to be-paper, wall, or woodwork; put the transparent paper over it, taking care that it is straight (you should have guiding lines on the transparent paper and on the object to be decorated), go over the lines lightly, remove the transfer paper, and the operation is done. You must be particular not to make any wrong lines, as it is difficult to remove the strong black mark of the transfer paper.

OIL-PAINTING.

IN the first place, the wall that is to be painted on should be quite dry. If it is not, the result will be disappointing in the end. There are numberless recipes for curing damp walls, but the only one that is sure to be efficacious is to have the wall covered with sheet lead rolled very thin, fastened on with copper nails. If the case be not so desperate as to require so strong a measure, there are pitch papers, enamels, and varnishes sold for this special purpose with which the wall should be covered before the paint is applied. Or Carson's Anti-Corrosion Paint may be used throughout. There is a slight roughness of surface to be observed in these paints, and they are more particularly intended for exterior use; but still for country churches and other buildings the interiors of which are likely to be damp, this slight roughness is decidedly preferable to the spots and discolorations likely to come on the surface of more delicate tints, and the shades of stone and cream colour are very pleasing. Messrs. Carson also sell most lovely tints for indoor work, the smoothness and beauty of surface of which leave nothing to be de

sired, but they do not claim to be specially dampresisting. These colours are sold in powder, at about 34/- per cwt. When mixed with the requisite amount of oil (about 8 gallons), one cwt. of the paint in powder will cover about 400 square yards of wall, so that it is easy to calculate how much paint will be required to cover a wall of any given size. To put it roughly 1 lb. to 4 square yards. Of course, the delicate tints need only be got for the last two or three coats, the priming being done with cheaper colour.

Whatever paint is decided on, the first step to be taken is to give the wall a coat of weak size—1 lb. to I gallon of water. Then comes the priming. Mix red lead, dryers, and boiled linseed oil. It is generally thought better that this oil should not only be boiled, but boiling. It should be mixed thin, i.e. very little red lead and a good deal of oil; the proportion is 10 lbs. of red lead powder to a gallon of oil. There should be no turpentine-commonly called turps in these first coats, which must be repeated till the ground ceases to absorb, which is known by there being no more dull spots and patches. If the surface of the wall is uneven, it must be rubbed with sand paper, or with pumice stone ground with water and rubbed on with a piece of flannel. Then proceed with the actual colour of the ground. Ist coat, proportion-3 raw oil, 4 turps; 2nd coat, proportion

-raw oil and turps, equal parts; 3rd coat, the same. If the effect wished for is a glossy and shiny one, increase the oil and diminish the turps; but if, on the contrary, a dulled surface is preferred, the last coat must be what is technically called flatting, the proportion of which is I oil to 3 turps. At the same time, it is better to say at once that flatting requires skilled labour. It must be put on before the last coat is quite dry, and it must be put on very evenly and regularly. However, a fairly flat effect may be given by using a mixture of 1 oil to 2 turps; and I may add that the more oil and the less turpentine is used the better the work is likely to wear. Of course, "dryers" are mixed with all the coats, except where Carson's paints are used, when they are sent incorporated in the powder colour. The dryer principally used is litharge; but all dryers should be used with caution, as they are likely to spoil the paint; and it is better to let the paint dry slowly. If practicable, it is advisable to let two or three days pass between each coat. The way to find out whether the wall is dry enough for another coat is to breathe on it. If the breath does not sink into the paint, it is hard enough to be painted on. The woodwork of the room should be painted to match the walls. If at all greasy, it should previously be scrubbed with soda and water. If, as is probably the case, the woodwork has been painted before, it will only require two

coats; and then the panels, bevellings, etc., can be picked out either with another colour or with another shade of the same colour. The panels of the doors and shutters offer a fine field for ingenuity, and may be painted in a dozen different ways. Conventional design, either floral or geometrical, painted in the shades used on the wall and dado, are the simplest of all these ways, and yet look very well when correctly done; but it is hardly necessary to say that geometrical designs are nothing if not accurate. These

designs should be stencilled in the manner previously described. They are done far more correctly in this way than they could possibly be if painted by the usual method. Remember always in painting in oils not to have the paint too wet, and not to fill your brush too full. In the one case the paint runs, in the other it drips. For painting the panels of a door, of course you would use your oil-tubes (except for stencilled conventional patterns), which can be relied on not to play tricks. Classical figures copied from some of the many good art journals of the day, and coloured with discretion (in faint colours and not too many of them), look very well with a bright background painted in lustra colours-metallic coloursgold, silver, bronze, etc., which may be procured at a small outlay, and in the use of which no difficulty will be found.

All the patterns which I have given are of neces