Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 296, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1915 — Christmas Presents Easily Made at Home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Christmas Presents Easily Made at Home

By A. NEELY HALL

(Copyright by A. Neely Hall)

THIS little model of Santa Claus' castle, built upon the summit of a mountain, makes an attractive centerpiece for the Christmas dinner table. The first thing to build is the mountain, and for this you will need a large enough piece of cardboard to make a base about sixteen inches in diameter and “ top nine or ten inches

tn diameter (Fig. 4). Cardboard from a suit box will do. The lower portion of the castle is a square cardboard box (Fig. 5). Invert this box, and around its bottom glue a strip of cardboard having notches cut in the edge, as shown, for an embattled parapet wall. The lower tower stands upon the box base. It is made of a piece of cardboard notched along the upper edge, and bent into a cylinder with the edges lapped and glued together (Fig. 6). Make a roof out of a circular piece of cardboard with projecting tabs for turning down and gluing to the rides of the tower (Fig. 7). Make a second smaller tower and fasten It upon the lower tower (Figs. 1 and 8). To complete the castle, paint a number of long narrow windows upon the walls, and fasten a slim stick flagpole upon the upper tower. The mountain side must be covered with snow, and the best way to obtain the snow effect is by gluing cotton to the cardboard. Put the cotton on in varying thicknesses, to give the

mountain slopes a rocky appearance. And from the base form a trail up one side to the castle, by dampening and pressing down the cotton (Fig. 1) There must be trees, and excellent ones may be made by cutting long, slender wooden cones, similar to that shown in Fig. 2, driving a nail- into the base of each, and then whittling the surface with a sharp knife so as to make the shavings stand out in the form of boughs (Fig. 3). The way to prepare the boughs is to start at the apex of the cone, and whittle in the same manner that you sharpen a pencil, but very carefully so as not to split off any of the shavings. Stain the trees a dark green. Then stand them erect upon the mountain sides, sticking the nails in their ends down

through the cardboard. Pull the cotton up around their bases. Santa Claus should be shown-in his aeroplane about to alight at his castle (Fig. 1). His aeroplane may be suspended by a thread. The aeroplane (Fig. 9) consists of a strip of cardboard 7 inches long and 1 inch wide (A), with u V-shaped piece glued to both sides of its center (B, Figs. 9 and 10), a tail plane (C, Figs 9 and 11) glued to plane A. and a propeller (D, Figs. 9 and 12) pivoted by a pin run through its center into the edge of plane A (Fig. 10). Cut out the double picture of Santa Claus in Fig. 13. fold along the dotted line, and paste together the two halves with the exception of the feet which must be separate to straddle the framework of the aeroplane. Color Santa Claus’ clothes and toy pack with water-colors or crayons. (Copyright, by A. Neely HalL)

IT’S lots of fun maxing Christmas gifts, and the girl whe will give up the time to the work will be surprised to find how inexpensively she can provide something useful and pretty for everyone whom she wishes to remember. Likely some of the materials can be found at home, and a considers bie saving in the cost of the rest can bo made by getting your friends to buy with you. The football calendar tn Fig. 1 is a novel gift that brother will appreciate for his room. The football is made of cardboard. To make it symmetrical the edges must be curved alike, and the surest way of getting them so is by means of a paper pattern (Fig. 5). To make this pattern, take a piece of paper 7 by 9 inches in size, fold it along its center as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. bring-

ing corner A over to corner B (Fig. 3), then fold it again, bringing corner A to corner C (Fig. 4). From the folded corner measure off a distance of three inches along the short folded edge, and four inches along the long folded edge. Then draw an arc of an ellipse between the points marked off (Fig. 4), cut along' the arc, unfold, and you will have the pattern shown In Fig. 5. Place the pattern. upon the cardboard, mark out around it, and cut out the piece. Color the football with brown, crayon or water-color, and shade the surface to make it look round. Buy a small calendar pad at the

stationery store and paste it to the center of the football. Then tie a bow in each end of a piece of baby ribbon long enough to form a loop for hanging up the calendar by, and sew these bows to the ends of the football. Father or mother will be pleased with a blotter-pad like that shown in Fig. 6. It is made of four pieces of blotter four inches wide and eight inches long, and a piece of cardboard of equal' size, held together at the ends with ribbon passed through holes punched near the corners and tied in bows. The Japanese pincushion in Fig. 7 consists of a little Japanese doll with a cushion tucked under each arm. seated upon a piece of heavy cardboard. Use a piece of cardboard four Inches square for the base, and cover it with bright colored silk. Sew the doll up-

on this base. Make the pincushions out of silk stuffed with cotton Fig. 8 shows a unique hatpin bolder for mother’s or sister’s dresser, made of three thread spools glued end to end, with a piece of narrow ribbon tied to the end spools to hang the holder by. 4 The necktie rack in Fig. 9 is made of a ribbon spool slipped over a stick 16 inches long, with a piece of ribbon tied to each end of the stick. The spools of the hatpin holder, and the spool and stick of the necktie rack, may be stained or gilaed. (Copyright, by A. Neely HalL)