Pass the long hat-pin (Fig. 258) through the exact centre of the canopy (Fig. 261) then put on one of the corks (Fig. 260); work this up tight to the canopy that it may hold the latter in place. Twist the cork around and around on the pin, as it will be apt to go on crooked if the pin be forced carelessly through the cork. String on another cork, working it up the pin midway, then slide on the bands, with the animals attached, pushing the pin through the exact centre of the pasteboard; next put on the large spool.

made in it before using; puncture two one inch from the front edge and four inches apart in the lid; then make two more holes through both lid and box on the front side half an inch from the top and five inches apart, as seen in the illustration. Fig. 257.

Stick the loaded pin through the centre of the box-lid, bringing it well down, and cover the extreme point of the pin with the last cork in order to prevent the pin from coming through and pricking. This cork must lie firmly on the bottom of the inside of the box.

The merry-go-round is now ready for the machinery to set it in motion. Pass the string around the spool and cross the two ends in front (Fig. 259) keeping the ends crossed; thread one of the ends through the two holes on its own side of the box, bringing the end out from the front of the box, do the same with the other end of the string as shown in the illustration. To prevent the string from accidentally slipping back through the holes, tie a shank button on each of the ends.

Now, holding the box with one hand, gently

with the other hand and see the animals go dancing around, just like the big wooden griffins, zebras, and giraffes on real carousels.carousels.

Of course, the merry-go-round needs boys and girls to ride the animals and enjoy the sport. Look them up in the advertisements of old magazines, newspapers, or wherever you can find paper young people. Cut them out neatly and let them take turns riding on the different animals. When cutting out the legs of the paper children, merely cut up a deep slit to divide the legs in order to make the riders cling firmly to the various animals.

The brighter the colors used in the merry-go-round the gayer and more attractive its appearance. There is

in the toy; even grown people are interested and amused as they watch it whiz around with its burden of happy little paper children. Another lively game for paper children is the

(Fig. 265), where each doll actually waves its own little paper flag as she dances to and fro.

Make four small flags of different colored tissue-paper, each 1½ inch wide and 3 inches long, which allows for fastening to the staff.

Four little paper girls can be cut from Fig. 266. Take four half-sheets of stiff, unruled white writing-paper, fold each lengthwise through the centre; then trace Fig. 266 and cut it out of an extra piece of paper. Lay this half figure with its straight edge on the fold of one of the papers and with a lead-pencil draw a line around it. Cut out and open (Fig. 267). Make four dolls. Cut the flag-staff off the right hand of two and off the left hand of the other two, that the hands on the outside of the group, when the dolls Fig. 265.
Fig. 265. are in place, may hold the flags (Fig. 268). Draw or paint a face and dress on each of the little girls, being sure to use the inside of the bend or fold for the front of the doll, as this slight inclination to fold forward after the doll is cut out and straightened out flat is of great assistance in bracing the figure when it is in position. Cut a slit up between the feet, but no further. Let the legs be of one piece, to insure greater strength to the standing doll (Fig. 267). Fold the flag-staff lengthwise, also the hand holding it, and give to each of the paper children one of the home-made tissue-paper flags by pasting a flag on every flag-staff (Fig. 268). When the dolls are ready, obtain a very flexible, slender, cloth-covered, long steel from a dress-waist or stays, and tie a strong black thread from end to end, making a stretch of nine or ten inches. On the centre of this thread tie another about a yard long (Fig. 265), and on the steel foundation fasten the four dolls. They should stand erect, one on each end, and two midway between centre and ends.

Fig. 268 shows the method of pasting the feet of the figures on the steel; slide the steel up between the feet; then bend them forward and glue one foot on each side of the steel, flat against it. Fasten a flag, about four and a half inches long, on the end of a long, strong hat-pin; then stick the pin firmly in a small pastry-board and slip the steel with its pretty children over it, resting the centre of the steel flat against the pin, which is now a flag-pole (Fig. 265).

Take hold of the loose end of the thread and step-back from the table on which the dolls are placed. When a sufficient distance away to cause the thread to stretch out straight give it a number of gentle jerks in quick succession. This will cause all the paper children to rush back and forth, waving their bright flags in triumph.

They can enter more heartily into the play if there is music, and it gives life to the “flag dance.” Ask your companion to strike up the “Star-Spangled Banner” on a comb while you make the little paper children dance in time to the music, which you can do by jerking the thread to the musical rhythm.

Find three large-sized button-moulds and some burnt matches for your

Select round matches, as they will fit the holes in the button-moulds. Place one mould flat down on a piece of orange-colored paper and draw a line on the paper around its edge. Cut out the circular paper and paste it on the flat side of the button-mould; then pierce a hole through its surface, exactly over the hole in the mould, slide a match, unburnt end first, through the mould, until it extends about one-third Fig. 268.
Fig. 268. beyond the bottom of the mould. If the match does not seem firm, fasten it in place with a little mucilage. When this top is finished, make two more of the same size, one covered with red and the other with green paper. No string is necessary for spinning these tops; merely give each one a twist with the thumb and second finger of the right hand and around it goes.

consists in spinning the three tops, one immediately after the other, the red top first, then the orange one, and last the green, allowing them all to whirl around together and not disturbing them in any way until the last one to cease spinning falls. The top which keeps up for the longest time scores the first point. When the first round is finished set the tops twirling again, commencing with the orange one and taking the red one last. Mark down the score of the winning top and give them all a third and last trial, leading with the green top and bringing in the orange last. The top which gains the greatest number of point wins the game. Should each top gain a point, the game would be a “tie,” and necessitate the playing of it all over again.

In case two friends would like to join in the sport, the game may be changed. Let each, with closed eyes, select a top, leaving one for the hostess. At a given signal have all the tops spin at once. The top which stands up longest wins the first point, and the greatest number of points the game. Allow two rounds, making six points to each three-handed game.

If you would like some bright, lively fireworks, the kind you can manufacture at home, make them the day before the celebration, and there will be no necessity of waiting all the long hours until dark before seeing the sparks fly. Begin the fun early the next morning, and fire off these queer fireworks the entire day. The

is very satisfactory, affording three times the enjoyment of a simple one-story affair. Fold a three-inch square of stiff red paper diagonally across from corner to corner, making two folds, which cross at the centre of the paper. Unfold and cut the square along the folds almost to the centre (Fig. 269); then pierce the alternating corner flaps with a long, stiff hat-pin, allowing each point threaded on the pin to remain there; run the pin through the centre of the paper (Fig. 270) and shove the red pin-wheel up close to the large round head of the hat-pin. Push a small cork on also, to prevent the pin-wheel from slipping. Work up another cork on the pin, about an inch or so below the first one; then make a larger pin-wheel of white paper and slide it on the same hat-pin, holding it in place with a third cork. Cut the last pin-wheel still larger and make it of blue paper. Shove up a fourth cork on the pin, and below, against it, thread on the blue pin-wheel. No cork will be required under the last pin-wheel; the hat-pin being now pushed firmly into the end of a stick, the blue pin-wheel cannot slide out of place (Fig. 271).

When ready, run with the toy, or whirl rapidly around, holding it in your hand, and see how beautifully the three parts spin, the whole appearing like a whirling red, white, and blue pyramid.

Another

has a button as a foundation. Take a large cup and trace two circles on yellow paper measuring three and a half inches in diameter; make two smaller circles of red paper, two still smaller of green paper, two others—decreasing in size—of yellow paper, and the two smallest circles of blue paper (Fig. 272). Separate the disks into two groups exactly Fig. 272.
Fig. 272. Fig. 273.
Fig. 273. alike; then fasten each of the two sets of disks together by placing one over another; they will form two vari-colored disks, each a duplication of the other. Select a large button and place it between two vari-colored disks. Be sure to have it in the centre; then with a large pin or needle punch two holes through the disks, covering the corresponding opposite holes in the button. Thread a string through the two holes and tie the ends together (Fig. 273); join the edges of the two disks and the pin-wheel will be ready for action. Place the first two fingers of the right hand in one loop, and of the left hand in the other; give the string a twirl and pull the hands apart. The motion causes the string to twist, allowing the hands to come nearer together; another outward motion of the hands and the pin-wheel will revolve rapidly in another direction. By alternately bringing the hands together and pulling them apart, the pin-wheel can be kept spinning as long as you like. In making the pin-wheel, the paper may be either pasted or sewed; it is firmer when pasted.

are fiery, sparkling, and larger than the hand pin-wheels Find a large-sized empty spool (Fig. 274) for a foundation; then cut a circular pasteboard disk four inches in diameter for the back of the pin-wheel (Fig. 275). Make blue fire of strips of fringed-out bright-blue paper (Fig. 276) and paste them across each other on the disk (Fig. 277). Cut a square Fig. 274.
Fig. 274. Fig. 275.
Fig. 275. of yellow paper fringed around the edges for the yellow fire and fasten it over the blue fire. Make red fire of a circle of fringed red paper (Fig. 278) a trifle smaller than the yellow, that the yellow fire may be seen surrounding the red and the blue stand out beyond the yellow. Each succeeding layer of fire must be smaller, though not necessarily of the same shape as the last. The uneven, straggling ends add to the effect when the pin-wheel is in motion. Let the last two Fig. 276.
i_138-fig276-277.jpg Fig. 276.
Fig. 277. papers be white and green and on the top fasten irregular lengths of the thread-like tinsel left from your Christmas-tree decorations. Do not bunch it too much; have the tinsel string out Fig. 278.
Fig. 278. long in various directions, so it will look like dropping flying sparks when you fire off the pin-wheel. If you have no tinsel, finely cut stands of gold-paper may take its place. Paste the back of the pin-wheel securely on one end of the empty spool. When finished it should resemble Fig. 279. Select a strong wire nail and push it through a small disk of inked pasteboard (Fig. 280); bring the pasteboard up close to the head of the nail, then pierce the pin-wheel in the centre and run the nail through both wheel and spool. The little black card-board prevents Fig. 279.
Fig. 279. the pin-wheel from slipping off the nail. After the paste or glue has dried, hammer the nail which is in the pin-wheel upon the fence and set the firework off by means of a strong string placed over the spool with the ends crossed (Fig. 281). By holding the two ends of the Fig. 280.
Fig. 280. Fig. 281.
Fig. 281. string, one in each hand, and rapidly pulling first one, then the other, the pin-wheel will revolve so fast that it might be mistaken for one of actual fire, but unlike the real one there is no likelihood of the paper wheel turning black and falling to the ground. Yours will spin as long and as often as you like, losing none of its brilliancy (Fig. 282).

is fascinating. Its bright sparks fly up and out in every direction all over your head, hair, and clothing, but they do Fig. 283.
Fig. 283. no harm. Take a strip of stiff paper three and a half inches wide and eleven inches long; cut a hole in one end (Fig. Fig. 284.
Fig. 284. 283) and paste the two lengthwise edges together, forming a hollow tube; then pin up the open end nearest the hole (Fig. 284). Cut Fig. 285, making it about four inches across at the widest Fig. 288.
Fig. 288. point; slash the lower edge and pin this pipe-bowl in funnel shape by bringing Fig. 285.
Fig. 285. Fig. 286.
Fig. 286. the two sides together (Fig. 286); fasten it on the tube over the hole in the top by gluing the flaps down on the pipe-stem (Fig. 287). Half-fill the pipe-bowl with brilliantly colored bits of paper, including Fig. 287.
Fig. 287. scraps of gold and silver tinsel cut very small. In this way pieces too little for anything else can be utilized. Make a good supply so that you may fire off the calumet many times. Place the open end of the tube to your lips and blow (Fig. 288).

It will not take more than five minutes to make the

Cut a piece of paper about ten inches long and seven inches wide, roll it up and slip a small elastic over the roll Fig. 289.
Fig. 289. to hold the Roman candle in shape; carefully fold in one end of the roll (Fig. 289); then collect all of the scraps of bright-colored paper Fig. 290.
Fig. 290. and bits of tinsel for sparks (Fig. 290). When the sparks are ready load the candle by filling it with them. Hold the candle in one hand and gayly swing it around like a real Roman candle. In what a dazzling circle the bright paper sparks fly! No matter if they do scatter all around, they may be gathered up and used again.

If you can find a side-steel taken from a dress-stay, use it for a

Bend the ends together Fig. 291.
Fig. 291. Fig. 292.
Fig. 292. until it breaks at the centre (Fig. 291). On the broken end of one piece paste two gay tissue-paper streamers (Fig. 292). To fire it, hold the firework in an upright position, streamers downward, the papered end between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and Fig. 293.
Fig. 293. the upper end held with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. Bend the snap-fire as in Fig. 293. Let go suddenly with the right hand, then an instant later with the left, and see the firework spring up high in the air, carrying its gay trimmings with it.

Just wait until you make the

and send it flying through the air, with its long tail sweeping Fig. 294.
Fig. 294. out behind. How heartily you will laugh when it strikes its round head against some object which drives it flying backward.

A rubber ball about three inches in diameter will make a good comet’s head (Fig. 294).

Cut two strips of bright red tissue-paper, each four inches wide, the entire length of the sheet, and paste the two pieces together, forming a long paper ribbon (Fig. 295); fold this once near the centre (Fig. 296); fold again, bringing the lower folded end up to the first end (Fig. 297), then cut the paper in a fringe, making the strands half an inch wide; begin at the folded end and cut through all the layers up to the single layer of paper (Fig. 298). Unfold and you will have Fig. 299. Fig. 299.
Fig. 299. Fasten this tail on the ball with strong paste (Fig. 300). In the same manner cut another long fringe of bright-blue tissue-paper; fasten it on the ball partly beyond and partly Fig. 300.
Fig. 300. overlapping the red paper. Make a third fringe of orange-colored tissue-paper, and glue that also on the comet’s head. Fig. 301.
Fig. 301. Gather up the tail carefully so it will not tangle and set the ball aside until it is perfectly dry; then run out in the sunshine with the comet in your arms and throw it up as far as you can toward the blue sky. The comet will look gorgeous sailing through the air. When it comes down, take the ball up again and throw it as far in front of you as possible. Away it will speed with a flutter and a dash, a long, brilliant streak of color (Fig. 301). The tail of the comet can be made longer by using three instead of two lengths of the paper.

Now we will make

of any firm, strong, hollow cylinder. A slender pasteboard mailing tube, or a stick of bamboo, or a section of some shrub from which you can push the pith, leaving a hollow case, will answer the purpose. Have the hollow stick about eight inches long, and for a ramrod cut a smooth, round stick an inch or two longer. Be sure that the ramrod slides easily through the tube while fitting snugly. Fig. 302.
Fig. 302. Fig. 302 shows the ramrod in the pistol. Get a large raw potato and cut off several thick slices to use for bullets. Punch a slice with one end of the pistol, Fig. 303.
Fig. 303. then with the other, leaving the potato bullets in it exactly as they came from the slice. When you are ready to fire, place the ramrod against the bullet in one end of the pistol and suddenly push the ramrod with force through the tube, sending the first bullet flying, and as it leaves the pistol a loud report will follow. Fig. 303 shows the potato slice and the bullets which have been used. Should you be able to find corks which exactly fit the pistol you could use them instead of potato. Fasten each cork to the end of a string and tie the string firmly around the centre of Fig. 304.
Fig. 304. Fig. 305.
Fig. 305. the pistol. Remember that the success of the pistol depends upon keeping the air bottled up tight in the tube by having the bullets fit tight. If the air is allowed to escape, no report will be heard; the bullets will not pop. But never fear; you will be able to make the pistol; have confidence, patience, and care, and your work will turn out well.

are one of the best kind of fireworks and furnish lots of fun. We will make some and send them flying through the air. Cut strips of paper eighteen inches long and two inches wide, fringing them seven inches on one side (Fig. 304). Commence at the unfringed end, B, and roll them like lamplighters (Fig. 305), folding each over at top end to keep it in place (Fig. 306, C). These are the sky-rockets, and are best made of stiff, bright-colored paper, but may be of any kind except very limber paper. Make a number of sky-rockets and “fire them off” by the aid of a large, empty spool with a piece of elastic adjusted loosely over one end, but tied securely (Fig. 307). Place one sky-rocket at a time through the hole in the spool, fringed end out, and, grasping the tip end in the elastic (Fig. 308), pull the sky-rocket toward Fig. 306.
Fig. 306. you and let it fly back as you would send an arrow from a bow. There is another paper sky-rocket which rivals a real one in brilliancy, and is much easier to fire. Make the rocket of a hollow stick—a bamboo handle from a Japanese fan or parasol, or an old dried sunflower stalk will do—and Fig. 307.
Fig. 307. cut the stick about seven inches long. Near one end tie on firmly a stout rubber band (Fig. 309). The stick of the sky-rocket should be strong and slender and about twelve inches in length. Have it small enough in diameter to slide easily through the sunflower stalk. Fasten many gay-colored streamers of tissue-paper on one end, making them fully a yard in length. When all is ready, place the stick with streamers uppermost in the tube, draw back the rubber band with the stick (Fig. 310), and fire (Fig. 311). The sky-rocket goes swiftly through the air, carrying a stream of paper fire in its wake. As with the real fireworks you must be careful not to aim any of these in a direction where they will strike anyone.

They are charming, these monotypes; charming in effect when finished, delightful in their accidental results, and wholly fascinating in the method, or lack of method, used in their production. Painted with a bristle brush, a camel’s-hair brush, a sponge, a rag or your thumb, as the case may require; painted on glass and then printed on paper, with a clothes-wringer for a printing-press; can anything be more enchantingly unconventional? Yet the finished monotypes are truly artistic and beautiful. If you can paint at all, be it ever so little, you can make some kind of a monotype, and you will always have the feeling that you can do better next time. The

for your work are a piece of glass about six inches square, a tube of lamp-black oil-paint, some sewing-machine oil, and a pad of unruled writing-paper.

See that your glass is perfectly clean and free from dust, squeeze out some of the black paint in a saucer and mix it with a few drops of the machine oil. You will soon learn the consistency required, for if you make the paint too thin it will run and blot, and if there is not enough oil it will go on too thickly and smudge in printing.

Choose a photograph or print for your copy which is simple in effect—that is, one which shows a good deal of sky and broad stretches of light and shade. It may be either landscape or marine, but, until you have had some experience with the work, avoid figure pieces, and architecture. When you have learned the process be as original as you like, but keep to your copy at first; you will never make an exact reproduction. Use whatever kind of a paint-brush seems best fitted, and work rapidly that the paint may not dry. A fine soft sponge will give excellent foliage effects; this should be dipped in the paint and simply dabbed on the glass. A clean cotton rag will take off extra paint and is especially useful where water is represented in the picture. By dragging the rag or sponge over a surface too thickly painted you can loosen it and give the appearance of grass and shrubbery, or of a roadway. Soft clouds can be made by putting the cloth over the end of your finger and rubbing on the glass with a circular movement, using but little paint; for an ordinary sky make horizontal strokes with the rag, keeping the tint as flat as possible. If you place a piece of white paper under the glass the work will be easier, for you will appear to be painting on a white surface and the transparency of the glass will not trouble you.

If you have ever painted

sooner or later you will long to try one with this process. A woman’s head with flowing, wind-blown hair seems especially adapted to the work. A bristle brush and the ever-useful rag will spin the hair out, and toss it about in decorative masses. For the face you will need a small pad made of soft silk, or muslin, and raw cotton—indeed, several pads will be found useful. Cut the silk into a four-inch square, place in the centre a wad of raw cotton about the size of a hickory nut, and, drawing the silk smoothly over the cotton at the bottom, bring it together at the top; wrap with thread close to the cotton and tie securely.

Draw the outlines of the face lightly with a fine camel’s-hair brush, and lay in the shadows broadly with a large brush; then take your pad and go over the shadows, stippling them with little dabs until they are smooth and free from brush strokes. When it is necessary to deepen a shadow add more paint with the pad.

Do not put in the features with hard lines, let the face be modelled with light and shade, making deeper accents where more sharpness is required. The definite strokes about the eyes, the nostrils, and the line between the lips can be made with a brush without hardness. Hard lines never look well in a monotype; they stand out harshly from the general softness of the effect, and appear unpleasantly out of place.

When your painting is finished, slightly dampen a piece of paper by passing a wet sponge across one side, lay the dampened side carefully on the glass next to the paint, and then pass both through the clothes-wringer. Remember to hold the glass as it comes through that it may not fall and break. Lift your paper off lightly and quickly, without dragging, and you have the completed monotype, like, and yet unlike, the picture you painted. In the first place, the design is reversed, and then there are often beautiful effects which your brush could never have produced. If the painting on the glass still holds, try another print, and even a third; the first are not always the best.

When no more impressions can be taken, wipe the paint from the glass with a cloth and begin another picture.

A very pretty experiment is to use color instead of black and make a monotone of your monotype. Sepia will give the picture in soft brown, Indian red in bright red, while Antwerp blue produces the tone of blue found in a blueprint photograph. Of course oil colors alone must be used, water colors will not print.

lies in using several colors in one picture. For instance, you might make your mountains blue, your trees green, and your foreground red and yellow.

Then again mixing the colors and using them as if painting on canvas will prove interesting. The deepest pleasure in all work of this kind is to experiment and discover methods for ourselves, then to work out and perfect these methods and make them all our own.

There are various

suitable for monotype painting. Rice-paper is especially pleasing; it is soft of texture, light of weight, and has a warm, creamy tone. The monotypes printed upon it are delicate, clear, and distinct. Imported blotting-paper also produces satisfactory results, though the print is not quite as soft in effect; it has a smooth, rather hard surface, but takes the paint well. Both of these papers are used dry.

Some professionals use a Japan paper and a Holland paper. The Japan paper is very thin, and the Holland paper has a surface like water-color paper, but is heavier than the ordinary kind.

For first efforts the unruled, ten-cent writing pad is the best. Very good prints can be made on this, and one feels free to experiment as much as heart desires with such inexpensive material. The monotypes given here were painted on writing-paper and imported blotting-paper.

As there is no limit to the beautiful effects which may be produced by the well-chosen color combination in the Priscilla rag rugs, and anyone who has an eye for color (which, by the way, may be cultivated) is sure of success.

There are many new inventions in hand-looms, yet the old cumbersome loom of our grandmother’s day is still to be found in the outlying districts of most towns and cities, and the weaving done on this is fully as satisfactory as that on the new looms. Almost every village has its rag-carpet weaver, and on his old-fashioned machine can be woven all that we want in this line.

First, there are the all-wool rugs for general use in the house, then mixed wool and cotton rugs for the piazza, all cotton for bedroom and bathroom, mixed cotton and silk and entire silk for portières and couch-covers, and for covers for sofa-pillows.

There are also rugs of heavy cotton, such as denim in its dull reds, blues, yellows, greens, and browns.

The size of a rug for general use is usually one yard wide by two yards long, the yard width being the limit of the ordinary loom. Smaller rugs are woven in different proportions: a runner for the hall is three-quarters of a yard wide and of any required length, and door-mats half a yard wide by one yard long. Squares for the centre of the room can be made by having two breadths woven exactly alike and then sewing them together.

You who possess a loom of even the clumsiest design have a field open before you full of interest, for freedom to experiment in pattern and manner of weaving will lead to continually new results and there will be increasing originalityoriginality and beauty in your productions.

Collect all your available material, plan your combination of colors, and then decide whether it will be necessary to put some of the rags into the dye-pot. If you have a handsome vase in your room it is a pretty idea to take that for your keynote and reproduce its color in your rugs.

Solid colors are the best unless you wish to have part of your rug what is called “hit or miss.miss.” For “hit or miss” any short pieces may be used and sewed together indiscriminately; then again, if you have a good deal of checked, plaid, or mingled material, it may be used by itself for centre or border. It is upon the solid colors, however, that you must principally rely, as there is less of the element of chance in their use, and your calculation as to the result of your color combination will be surer.

A favorite design is a “hit or miss,” or a solid-colored centre with striped ends. A more unconventional effect is produced by making the rug in stripes of unequal width and in daring color combinations; some of these latter are startlingly barbaric and artistic in appearance and are well adapted to studio use. Again, more harmonious effects are produced by using various tints and shades of one color. Very narrow stripes of black and of white often separate wide stripes of different colors, sometimes singly, sometimes together, and when used with discretion they give a certain decision and finish to the whole. You will naturally want to exercise your own taste and originality in designing your rugs, so a description of one all-wool rug will be amply sufficient as a guide.

This rug is one yard wide by two yards long. The centre is exactly one yard square and is of solid dark cardinal red. The two ends are precisely the same and the stripes of the border follow each other in this order: Next the centre comes a very narrow stripe of old gold, then one of the same width of white. These are made by putting the strips of color only once through the loom, or once across. After these comes a five-inch stripe of old blue, again the narrow yellow and white stripes followed by a two-inch stripe of moss green, a three-inch stripe of dull light blue, a five-inch stripe of light brown, a two-inch stripe of old blue, and next the fringe a one-inch stripe of dark cardinal red. The fringe is simply the warp allowed to extend beyond the rug about a quarter of a yard at each end.

Gray is a useful color in all-wool rugs and makes an effective centre for a bright-colored border.

is a beautiful blending of reds and yellows giving a flame color. The ends are dark red, and, by degrees, the red runs into orange, which, in turn, melts into dark yellow, growing gradually lighter until the centre of the rug is a pale, soft yellow.

Pale tones of yellows and greens are sometimes combined, also yellows and browns.

Before taking your rug to the loom tack on a piece of paper samples of the rags used in the order in which you wish them woven, and write opposite each sample the width the stripe is to be made, as shown in diagram. Give this to the weaver that no mistakes may be made by him in the placing of the colors.