SCRAP-BOOKS
=Mother Goose Scrap-Book=
THE nursery scrap-books made of linen or colored cambric are, perhaps,
familiar to most of our readers; but for the benefit of those who may
not yet have seen these durable little books, we will give the following
directions for making one:
Cut from a piece of strong linen, colored cambric, or white muslin, four
oblongs twenty-four inches long by twelve inches wide. Buttonhole-stitch
the edges all around with some bright-colored worsted, then place the
oblongs neatly together and stitch them directly through the centre with
strong thread (Fig. 117). Fold them over, stitch again, as in Fig. 118,
and your book is finished and ready for the pictures.
[Illustration: FIG. 117--Scrap-book opened and stitched through the
middle.]
[Illustration: FIG. 118--Scrap-book folded and then stitched.]
It is in the preparation of these pictures that you will find the
novelty of the plan I propose. Instead of pasting in cards and pictures
which have become too familiar to awaken interest, let the young
book-makers design and form their own pictures by cutting special
figures, or parts of figures, from different cards, and then pasting
them together so as to form new combinations.
[Illustration: FIG. 119--Three Wise Men of Gotham.]
[Illustration: FIG. 121--Little Jack Horner.]
Any subject which pleases the fancy can be illustrated in this way, and
the children will soon be deeply interested in the work and delighted at
the strange and striking pictorial characters that can be produced by
ingenious combinations.
Stories and little poems may be very nicely and aptly illustrated; but
the "Mother Goose Melodies" are, perhaps, the most suitable subjects
with which to interest younger children, as they will be easily
recognized by the little folk.
Take, for instance, the "Three Wise Men of Gotham," who went to sea in a
bowl. Will not Fig. 119 serve very well as an illustration of the
subject? Yet these figures are cut from advertising cards, and no two
from the same card. Fig. 120 shows the materials; Fig. 119 shows the
result of combining them.
Again, the little man dancing so gaily (Fig. 122) is turned into "Little
Jack Horner" eating his Christmas pie (Fig. 121), by merely cutting off
his legs and substituting a dress skirt and pair of feet clipped from
another card. The Christmas pie in his lap is from still another card.
In making pictures of this kind, figures that were originally standing
may be forced to sit; babies may be placed in arms which, on the cards
they were stolen from, held only cakes of soap, perhaps, or boxes of
blacking; heads may be ruthlessly torn from bodies to which they belong,
and as ruthlessly clapped upon strange shoulders; and you will be
surprised to see what amusing, and often excellent, illustrations
present themselves as the result of a little ingenuity in clipping and
pasting.
[Illustration: FIG. 120--Materials for Three Wise Men of Gotham.]
[Illustration: FIG. 122--Materials for Little Jack Horner.]
Another kind, which we shall call the
=Transformation Scrap-Book=
will be found exceedingly amusing on account of the various and
ever-changing pictures it presents.
Unlike any other, where the picture once pasted in must remain ever the
same, the transformation scrap-book alters one picture many times. To
work these transformations, a blank book is the first article required;
one eight inches long by six and a half or seven wide is a good size.
Cut the pages of this book across, one-third the way down. Fig. 123
shows how this should be done. The three-cornered piece cut out near the
binding allows the pages to be turned without catching or tearing. Leave
the first page uncut; also the one in the middle of the book.
Cut from picture-cards, or old toy-books which have colored
illustrations, the odd and funny figures of men and women, boys and
girls, selecting those which will give variety of costumes and
attitudes.
[Illustration: FIG. 123--Transformation scrap-book with pages cut.]
Paste the figure of a woman or a girl on the first page, placing it so
that when the lower part of the next page is turned the upper edge of it
will come across the neck of the figure where it is joined on to the
shoulders.
Cut the heads from the rest of the pictured women, turn the lower part
of the next page and, choosing a body as different as possible from the
one just used, paste it upon the lower part of the second page, directly
under the head belonging to the first body. Upon the upper part of the
second page paste any one of the other heads, being careful to place it
so that it will fit the body. Continue in this way, pasting the heads
upon the upper, and the bodies on the lower, part of the page, until the
space allowed for the women is filled up; then, commencing at the page
left in the middle of the book, paste upon it the figure of a man, and
continue in the same manner as with the women, until the spaces are all
used and the book is complete.
The combinations formed in this way are very funny. Old heads with
young bodies; young heads with old bodies; then one head with a great
variety of bodies, and so on.
The first picture may represent a man, tall, thin, dressed in a rowing
costume, as shown in the illustration. Turn the lower part of the next
page, and no longer is he thin and tall, but short and stout, the
position of this body giving the expression of amazement, even to the
face. The next page turned shows him to be neither tall nor short, thick
nor thin, but a soldier, well-proportioned, who is looking over his
shoulder in the most natural manner possible (Fig. 124).
[Illustration: FIG. 124--Leaves from a transformation scrap-book.]
The figures in Fig. 124 were cut from advertising cards, and the head
belongs to none of the bodies.
A curious fact in arranging the pictures in this way is that the heads
all look as though they might really belong to any of the various bodies
given them.
Instead of having but one figure on a page, groups may be formed of both
men and women, and in the different arrangement of the figures they can
be made very ludicrous indeed.
=Flour Paste=
Mix one-half cup of flour with enough cold water to make a very thin
batter, which must be smooth and free from lumps; put the batter on top
of the stove--not next to the fire--in a tin saucepan, and stir
continually until it boils; then remove from the stove, add three drops
of oil of cloves, and pour the paste into a cup or tumbler. This will
keep for a long time and will not become sour.