Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1884 — Living Cameos and Bas-Reliefs. [ARTICLE]

Living Cameos and Bas-Reliefs.

This fascinating .entertainment can be prepared by children, at short notice, with very little trouble or expense. ‘The articles required are two sheets of [large, card boards, two sheets of pink Siissue paper, and two sheets of white \eotton wadding, ono ball of white and one of pink velvet chalk, a lead pencil, a pair of scissors, six yards of black cambric, a few tacks, and a little paste. One sheet of cardboard is fastened ou the side wall of a darkened room, so that the shadow of the lace of ¥ person with large and regular features will fall upon the centei of it when a lighted candle is held iu front of the side of the face at a distance of three feet. A cup should be placed between the face and the cardboard and kept in position by the pressure of the head, in order, so far as possible, to prevent any movement on the part of-the sitter. The candle must be so placed that the shadow of the profile ia iu the center of the card board; the outlines are then to be traced w ith a pencil. The card board can then J>e taken down and the profile carefully cut out; buck of the had usually being enlarged, so that various methods of dressing the hair, may be permitted. This white card board will be ready for the bas-relief after the outer edge has been cut into the form of a circle, and mado thicker by several rings of pasteboard of the same diameter, but only three inches, wide. When cameos are to be exhibited, the outer surface should be covered with pink tissue paper. A curtain of cheap black cambric or any plain-colored material, reaching from the ceiling to the floor, is then hung at a distance of about two feet from the baqk wall of the room where the exhibition is to take place. The cardboard is fastened into a hole made in the curtain, so that the center of the opening is about six or. seven feet from floor, the and a chair or small table is placed close behind this curtain and another small piece of black cloth is tacked to the wall behind the opening. The person whoso face is to form the bas-relief stands upon a chair or table so that the face fits the opening in the card board, about one-half of it projecting in front of the frame thus formed. The side-face thus exposed isN chalked and the hair is covered" with white w adding, which conceals it, and also can be fastened in waves, plaits, or classic knots: for eameoes, pink chalk, and tissue paper take the place of the white. Very pretty art studies can thus be made by inexperienced persons.

When it is desired to show several of these art studies consecutively, it will be well to have a pink and white frame placed side by side about one foot apart, as then they may be shown together or separately : the one not in use being covered -with a little curtain of black cambric. Thus a pleasing variety can be produced by showing either a cameo or a bas-relief or both together. Faees of children or of grown people can be used as desired, as it is not absolutely necessary that the features should exactly fill the cut profiles in the card board. The eyes are always closed, and a little eaUi should lie rubbed on the eyelids jusv*l>efore the face is shown to the spectators. The frames may be placed between thick window curtaing draped above and below them: this will save the trouble of a black curtain, as the performers can thand in the window behind the curtain. The best manner of liglitmg them is from the top; and w hen the room has no chandrlier. a lamp can, be held at the left side as high as can bed one conveniently by a person who sands upon a chair or short step-ladder. —George B. Bartlede, in St. Nicholas. There are 100,000 deaths yearly inLondon, and all the bodies are buried in the surface soil around the city, that is. in thirty years 3 nOO.ODO bodies. In twenty years, says Sir Spencer Wells, a body becomes clay, and London has, therefor* always 2,000,000 bodies undergoing “harmful decay.” The much boasted at beautiful present is woven, in the loom of time, out of the tangled tatters, worn-out patches, and cast-off shreds of a long forgotten past— Gourerj*««- Herald.