r
two of its outline tell out as a dark against a spot of still brighter
light; and if it is ever so dark, be it red or blue as strong as may be,
let an inch or two of its outline tell out against a still stronger dark
in the background, if you have to paint it pitch-black to do so.

By this "countercharging" (as heralds say), your composition will melt
together with a pleasing mystery; for you must always remember that a
window is, after all, only a window, it is not the church, and nothing
in it should stare out at you so that you cannot get away from it;
windows should "dream," and should be so treated as to look like what
they are, the apertures to admit the light; subjects painted on a thin
and brittle film, hung in mid-air between the light and the dark.

CHAPTER VI

Painting (advanced)--Waxing-up--Cleanliness--Further Methods of
Painting--Stipple--Dry Stipple--Film--Effects of Distance--Danger
of Over-Painting--Frying.

I have mentioned all these points of judgment and good taste we have
just finished speaking of, because they are matters that must
necessarily come before you at the time you are making the cartoon, the
preliminary drawing of the window, and before you come to handle the
glass at all.

But it is now necessary to tell you how the whole of the glass, when it
is cut, must be fixed together, so that you can both see it and paint
upon it as a whole picture. This is done as follows:--

First place the cut-line (for the making of which you have already had
instructions) face upwards on the bench, and over it place a sheet of
glass, as large at least as the piece you mean to paint. Thick
window-glass, what glass-makers call "thirty-two ounce sheet"--that is,
glass that weighs about thirty-two ounces to the square foot--will do
well enough for very small subjects, but for anything over a few square
feet, it is better to use thin plate-glass. This is expensive, but you
do not want the best; what is called "patent plate" does quite well, and
cheap plate-glass can often be got to suit you at the salvage stores,
whither it is brought from fires.

Having laid your sheet of glass down upon the cut-line, place upon it
all the bits of glass in their proper places; then take beeswax (and by
all means let it be the best and purest you can get; get it at a
chemist's, not at the oil-shop), and heat a few ounces of it in a
saucepan, and _when all of it is melted_--not before, and as littl