arthenware dish with this solution, lay the leaves in it, and
cover tightly. The leaves will be bleached in six to twelve hours.
They should be taken out directly they are white, as the lime makes
them very brittle. After bleaching, rinse the leaves in cold water,
float them on to cards, and dry between blotting-paper, under a heavy
weight.

Ferns

It should be noted that if you intend to skeletonize ferns, they
should not be picked before August, and they must be pressed and dried
before they are put into the bleaching solution, in which they ought
to stay for three or four days. The solution should be changed on the
second day, and again on the fourth. After bleaching they can be
treated just as the leaves are.

Wool Balls

Cut out two rings of cardboard, of whatever size you like, from one
inch in diameter up to about four inches. A four-inch ring would make
as large a ball as one usually needs, and a one-inch ring as small a
one as could be conveniently made. The rim of the largest rings should
not be wider than half an inch. Take a ball of wool and, placing the
cardboard rings together, tie the end of it firmly round them. Then
wind the wool over the rings, moving them round and round to keep it
even. At first you will be able to push the ball through the rings
easily, but as the wool is wound the hole will grow smaller and
smaller, until you have to thread the wool through with a needle. To
do this it is necessary to cut the wool into lengths, which you must
be careful to join securely. Go on until the hole is completely filled
and you cannot squeeze another needle through. Then slip a pair of
scissors between the two rings and cut the wool all round them; and
follow this up quickly by slipping a piece of string also between them
and tying it tightly round the wool that is in their midst. This is to
keep the loose ends, which were made directly you cut the wool with
the scissors, from coming out. All that is now necessary is to pull
out the cardboard rings and shape the ball a little in your hands. The
tighter the wool was bound round the cards, the smaller and harder the
ball will be and the more difficult will it be to cut the wool neatly
and tie it. Therefore, and especially as the whole purpose of a wool
ball is softness and harmlessness, it is better to wind the wool
loosely and to use thick wool rather than thin.

Wool Demons

To make a "Wool Demon," take a piece of cardboard as wide as you wan