Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1881 — USEFUL HINTS. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL HINTS.

Take a new flower-pot, wash it clean, wrap in a wet cloth and set over bntter; will keep it as hard as if on ice. Milk, if put into an earthen can, or even in a tin can, will keep sweet for a long time if well wrapped in a wet cloth. Lack and Velvet Tidies. —These are made by sewing velvet ribbon and insertion together alternately, finishing them with a row of lace and insertion. Black velvet and white lace look best, but some like colors. Scarlet velvet and black lace look very rich. Japanese Tidies. —Paste a Japanese picture on a square of white glazed cambric, then a row of black velvet overlapping the edges ; outside of this a row of bright satin ribbon, and put on a row of white lace to form a ruffle. A picture pasted on a square of pink satin, and edged with white Breton lace, is handsome. Work Basket. —Take two common peach baskets, paint them black and varnish them. Fasten them together by the bottoms, and line them with silk. The top one can be furnished by having two little pockets, a needle-book and pin-cushion. On each outside panel put a bright embossed picture, and around the top of each basket put a strip of gilt paper. They are truly pretty when finished. A Home-Made Hammock. —A New Bedford carpenter constructed a hammock after an original idea. The only material necessary is an ordinary flour barrel and some rope. The hoops are knocked off and the staves separated. A hole is then bored through the center of each end of the stave, and the rope is simply reeved in and out of these holes so that they are fastened firmly at intervals of three or four inches apart. Whisk-Broom Holder. —Cut two pasteboard hearts, ten inches long and eight inches across the top. Cut two wedge-shaped pieces, three inches long and one inch across the top, for the sides. Cover with silk, satin or veb et, and line with flannel. After joining together, work the edges with silk of some pretty color, in button-hole stitch. In the center of the front either paint or work a monogram, or some pretty design. Hang up by a cord and tassels of silk.

Imitation Ground Glass. —Cut from tissue paper or thin white muslin fancy figures, and then with transparent gum fasten them upon the glass. These are good for hall doors. The same end may be obtained by applying to the windows with a brush a hot solution of sal-am-moniac, Glauber’s salt or Epsom salts. The crystallizations in the first will be in straight lines ; the Epsom salts will produce four-sided prisms, and the Glauber’s salt six-sided ones. A perfect and beautiful screen can be formed in this way. Waterproof for Leather. — The following is recommended for rendering leather waterproof : Twenty-four parts oleic acid, 18 parts ammonia soap, 24 parts water, 6 parts raw stearic acid, 3 parts tannin extract. The oleic acid is first melted with the raw stearine, then the ammonia soap is added, and afterward the extract and finally the water. The ammonia soap is obtained by treating oleic acid with ammonia until the smell of the latter does not disappear after a lengthy stirring. By adding to the whole mixture a solution of two parts copperas in six parts of water, a deep black color is obtained, admirably adapted for shoe leather.