Chapter XIV: Act V: Betsy Trotwood’s garden

A long bench where David rested

A large kite for old Master Dick

Three or four flower pots to complete the picture

Nearly all properties need some decoration. Some need color, others need merely stain. Occasionally it is necessary to give the effect of carved wood. This is necessary in plays of the Middle Ages like _Sigurd, the Volsung_, and _Men of Iron_, where your properties represent old wood carving. Gesso may be used to suggest this carving. Gesso was used by the craftsmen of the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, for enriching surfaces. This is the formula for making it: 2 tablespoons of varnish, 12 tablespoons of glue (best quality), 8 tablespoons of linseed oil. Mix these three ingredients together and allow to stand. In a separate dish put 20 rounded tablespoons full of whiting and then mix with water until it is the consistency of thick cream. Pour this into your first mixture and cook in a double boiler for ten minutes, stirring constantly. Then pour into a bottle and cork tightly. The gesso is now ready for use.

Work out your design and then draw it carefully upon the chair, chest, or throne which you mean to decorate. Apply the gesso with a small brush. Be very careful to keep well within the line of your design. The gesso will give you a pattern in relief. You must keep each surface flat for at least 12 hours, or until dry. If the design is not high enough when it is dry, a second coat may be applied. When you have covered all the parts which are to be painted and the gesso is dry, rub it over with a bit of oil paint mixed in these proportions: ¾ of ivory black, ¼ of burnt sienna thinned with a little turpentine. After the oil paint has dried, add a coat of dull finishing wax and rub down.

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A fountain is a most effective and beautiful device. When placed in a garden, surrounded by miniature ferns and flowers, with birds singing, and soft colored lights playing upon its jetting water, it makes a scene of enchantment. Fountains are very simply made as you can see in this illustration. A low cake tin, with a hollow tin centerpiece, a funnel, and a piece of ¾-inch rubber tubing about six feet long, are the only materials necessary.

Occasionally there is a need for smoke. In the play of _Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp_, the genii appear out of a cloud of smoke. In _Sigurd, the Volsung_, the dragon may be made to breathe forth smoke. In the _Adventures of Alice_, you may remember the old caterpillar who sits on a toadstool and smokes his pipe. Smoke can be made from ammonia and hydrochloric acid. The illustration shows how this is done. In order to make the dragon breathe forth smoke, a rubber tube was run through its body from mouth to tail. The end that extended from the tail was connected with the tube that came from the bottles. When a boy blew through the tube, smoke came from the dragon’s mouth. In the marionette play of _Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp_, a hole was bored through the stage floor at the spot where the genie was to appear. At the clap of thunder that announced the genie’s appearance, a cloud of smoke poured forth.

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In the _Adventures of Alice_, when the caterpillar was made, a tube was run through his body from tail to mouth. When this tube was attached to the bottle tube, and the lazy old fellow took his pipe in his mouth, he appeared to blow out great puffs of smoke to the surprise and delight of everyone.

The toadstool was such a nice property that you may wish to know how it was constructed. The girl who made it found some beautiful pictures of toadstools in an old number of the _National Geographic_. She chose one of interesting shape and color as her model, and reproduced it with papier-mâché. When it was quite dry, she colored it to represent the illustration. It was winter time when this play was given. Had it been any other season, she could have gone to the woods and fields and searched out a beautiful specimen which would have served her purpose much better than the illustration.

Fireplaces and stoves are comparatively modern inventions. Braziers were used in earlier times. They consisted of a metal tripod and a basin to hold the coals. A brazier could be used appropriately in a Greek or Roman play, or in a play of the Middle Ages. The tripod could be made of wire or of tin. The basin could be made of tin, wood, or papier-mâché. Both the tripod and the basin should be painted to imitate bronze or iron. A tiny red bulb can be fastened into the center of the basin, and attached to a wire leading down from the tripod, through the stage floor. Slightly conceal the bulb with small bits of wood. The warm light from this brazier will throw a glow on the face of a marionette, who is warming his hands over it.

A marionette may carry a lantern. This marionette lantern may be made from any small tin or cardboard box. Find some pictures of old lanterns suitable for your play, and then make a lantern as much like the illustration as you can. A pattern of holes should be punched in the sides. A tiny electric bulb may be fastened inside the lantern and its wire carried up to the controller and from there to the battery.

Properties should be made in a craftsmanlike way. A craftsman respects his materials and his tools. He cleans his brushes and palette as soon as he finishes the work of the day, and puts his materials in order for the next day’s work. He never hurries. His reward is his satisfaction in the excellence of his work.

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