169 WOMAN'S HOME HOW TO BIECOIFLATE ILAMF^SKIADES REALLY pretty and artistic lamp-shades are expensive things to buy, and often it is hard to find at a shop exactly the shade which one wants to harmonise with a room which has been decorated to suit one's own individual fancy. By decorating the shades at home, there- fore, not only can more satisfactory results be obtained but a considerable economy effected. Plain shades can be obtained at a third of the price charged for decorated ones, and, with the expenditure of a little time and Two pretty lamp-shades. The one on the left is decorated with a picture let in from the back trouble, a great variety of original and dehghtful decorative effects can be achieved. Plain Empire shades made of ivory- coloured parchment drawing-paper, and wired ready for use, and edged top and bottom with dull gold galon, cost from is. 3d. to about 4s. 6d. each at Harrod's, or any of the other big London stores ; and a charming- sized shade for a table-lamp costs from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. To decorate a lamp-shade, all that is required is a tube of seccotine, a penny box of needle-pointed glass-headed pins, an old pair of curved manicure scissors, and any odd cuttings which may be left over from the chintz or cretonne covers or floral curtain- borders of the room which the lamp-shade is destined to adorn. Even with odd bits of wallpaper, excellent results can be obtained. When one has discovered the right odd- ments in the piece-bag, the next thing to do is to decide which parts of the various designs — basket of flowers, trails of green foKage, or birds — will best lend themselves to one's purpose. The wreaths or flowers chosen must now be cut out very carefully with the scissors until one has enough sprays to complete the design one has mapped out in one's mind. Next, arrange the sprays upon the lamp- shade, pinning them in place with the finely pointed pins. These pins will leave no trace behind them, and the position of the decora- tions can be altered frequently, until the ideal arrangement has been arrived at. After each spray has been shghtly sec- cotined, a small wad made of a tightly folded pocket-handkerchief must be used gently to press it into position before the next part of the design is started upon. D31 When all the sprays have been stuck down firmly, take out any remaining pins, and the lamp-shade is ready for use. If it is desired to insert a photograph or small print into the side of the shade, draw a circle on the shade a little smaller than the width of the picture to be put in, and cut out the centre with a pair ol sharp, curved scissors. Then cut the photograph a quarter ol an inch bigger than the hole thus made, and fasten it carefully inside the shade with seccotine. A half-inch border of gold paint must then be painted on the outside of the shade to make a frame ; or an even prettier effect is produced by sewing or sticking on a tiny circle of dull gold galon, to match that which is employed for finishing off the top and bottom of the shade. The choice of the decoration depends chiefly upon the period and style of decora- tion of the room, and if pictures are to be let into the sides they should also be in accord with their surroundings. For an Empire or Early English boudoir or drawing-room, for instance, tiny floral Drawing a circle on the shade wreaths and baskets might encircle the shade top and bottom, and the pictures inserted might be small carbon reproduc- tions of Watteau or Loncret subjects, or of some charming portrait of the period, such as " The Parson's Daughter," or a group by Lawrence or Peter Lely. A smoking-room shade might be treated in a sporting style. It might, for example, depict a pack of hounds in full cry after a fox, with the huntsmen, with the rest of the field, close at their heels. Amateur photographs, showing groups of children, portraits of pets, or views of places visited during a recent hoUday, printed in platinotype or on matte " Seltona " paper, make delightful decorations, if let into lamp-shades, for a family sitting-room or a wife's or girl's own special " den." The following^ are good firms for supplying materials mentioned in this section ;— Messrs. Geo. Allen &■ Sons (Mosaicon), Bratt, Colbran &■ Co. (" Heaped " Fire), Cooper, Deunison & Walkden. Ltd. (Melanyl Marking Ink), Grenfell. Frazier & Co. (jeweUery). J. L. Morison's (washerji Shynall Chemical Co. (dolls), Whelpton & Son (pills). M
