Home Pastimes; or Tableaux Vivants Part 19

Mix some common salt with spirits of wine, in a metal cup, and set it upon a wire frame, over a spirit lamp. When the cup becomes heated, and the spirits of wine ignited, the other lights on the stage should be extinguished, and that of the spirit lamp shaded in some way. The result will be, that the whole group, faces, dresses, will be of a strong yellow tint.

COLORED LIGHTS.

Colored lights can be produced by filling globes with colored liquid, and placing them in front of the lamps, like those we see in the windows of the chemists' shops.

TO PRODUCE A MISTY OR VANIs.h.i.+NG APPEARANCE TO A TABLEAU.

Several curtains of thin gauze, or common mosquito netting, made to let down from rollers, one after another, between the audience and the scene, will give a beautiful, misty appearance; and if a sufficient number of curtains be unrolled, the tableau appears to vanish entirely, allowing room for a change of scenery. Many scenes should have one thickness of muslin before them, which serves to blend the colors, and gives a finish to the picture. The gauze must be carefully managed, as the disclosure of a ragged edge will dispel all the illusion.

TO PRODUCE SOUNDS LIKE FALLING RAIN.

Procure a box six feet long, one foot wide, and one deep. Cover the bottom with small pegs of wood one inch high, and inserted two inches apart. Place a quart of dried peas at one end of the box; then raise that end quite slowly, allowing the peas to roll gradually down to the lower part of the box. The sound they produce in striking against the pegs imitates to perfection the falling of rain. The sound can be continued for any length of time by raising alternately each end of the box.

TO PRODUCE SOUNDS LIKE DISTANT FIRING OF ARTILLERY.

Suspend a large sheet of Russia iron by means of a rope, and strike it in the centre with a heavy drumstick. At a short distance, the sound resembles the booming of heavy artillery.

TO PRODUCE SOUND TO RESEMBLE THUNDER.

Hold a large sheet of Russia iron at one end and commence shaking it very slowly. It will give out a low, rumbling sound, which can be gradually increased in power. Graduate the sounds from heavy peals to the first starting point, then discontinue the shaking for a few seconds, and repeat the variety of changes as long as is necessary.

TO IMITATE THE FIRE ALARM BELL.

Suspend to a wooden frame two pieces of steel two inches square and three feet long. Select pieces that will give out different tones, and strike them alternately with an iron hammer. They will sound much clearer and louder than any small bells.

DISTANT FIRING OF MUSKETRY.

Sounds similar to a distant discharge of musketry can be produced in a number of ways. The tenor drum can be made to give out sounds to resemble volleys of musketry. Leaden shot dropped into a large tin pan will produce a good imitation. A fireman's rattle can be also used for the same purpose.

MAGIC LIGHTNING.

Mix gunpowder with a small quant.i.ty of water and gum arabic, and with a brush place it on a screen in the background in an irregular manner, resembling flashes of lightning. The screen being previously painted to resemble thunder clouds, let there be a number of distinct flashes painted, the ends of which should be near the ante-room. At intervals of thirty seconds, touch a lighted fusee to one of these paintings, which will burn quickly, illuminate the clouds, and resemble lightning flashes.

TO STAIN THE FLESH A COPPER COLOR.

To stain the flesh a copper color, as is necessary in representing Indian characters, use Spanish brown, mixed with oil, and rub in thoroughly.

TO MAKE WRINKLES.

Use India ink, moistened with water, softening the lines with chalk, if necessary. Moustaches and whiskers may also be made with the same material.

FLESH WOUNDS, &c.

Flesh wounds and blood may be represented by the use of rose pink mixed with water.

THEATRICAL INCANTATIONS.

Dissolve crystals of nitrate of copper in spirits of wine. Light the solution, and it will burn with a beautiful emerald green flame.

Pieces of sponge soaked in this spirit, lighted and suspended by fine wires over the stage, produces the lambent green flames now so common in incantation scenes; strips of flannel saturated with it, and applied round copper swords, tridents, &c., produce, when lighted, the flaming swords and fire forks brandished by the demons in such scenes; indeed, the chief consumption of nitrate of copper is for these purposes.

LIGHTS AND SHADES.

If you wish to throw the background of a tableau in shade, intervene screens between the lights at the sides of the stage and that part of the picture you desire to have dark; _vice versa_ with the foreground.

Particular points or characters can be more brilliantly lighted than others by placing at the side of the stage a strong light within a large box, open at one side, and lined with bright reflectors. Light of different colors can be thrown successively on a picture, and made to blend one with another, by placing the various colored fires in boxes three feet square, open at one side, and lined with bright reflectors; these, arranged at the side of the stage on pivots, can be turned on, one after another, so as to throw their light on the stage.

Before one light has entirely vanished from the scene, a different color should gradually take its place.

ART RECREATIONS:

BEING

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO

PENCIL DRAWING, OIL PAINTING, WATER-COLOR PAINTING, CRAYON DRAWING AND PAINTING, PAINTING ON GROUND GLa.s.s, GRECIAN PAINTING, ANTIQUE PAINTING, ORIENTAL PAINTING, SIGN PAINTING, THEOREM PAINTING, MOSS WORK, PAPIER MACHE, CONE WORK, FEATHER FLOWERS, POTICHOMANIE, LEATHER WORK, HAIR WORK, TAXIDERMY, GILDING AND BRONZING, PLASTER WORK, WAX WORK, Sh.e.l.l WORK, MAGIC LANTERN, PAPER FLOWERS, IMITATION OF PEARL, THE AQUARIUM, SEALING-WAX PAINTING, PANORAMA PAINTING, COLORING PHOTOGRAPHS, ENAMEL PAINTING, ETC.