Chapter XXV: New Christmas Decorations

WREATHES of the spiked leaf holly, branches of white berried mistletoe and yards of evergreen rope can be made of tissue paper to look so natural it is difficult to believe Mother Nature did not provide the material.

=Paper=

enough for the making of Christmas greens to decorate an ordinary room quite lavishly may be bought for fifty cents or less. One sheet of tissue paper will make thirty-two holly leaves. One sheet of tissue paper will make a large bunch of mistletoe and one sheet of tissue paper will make one yard of evergreen rope. Complete success in this work depends largely upon the paper used and great care must be taken in selecting the colors. The quality should be good, else it will lack the necessary crispness and staying properties.

For the holly and evergreen choose a dark moss-green paper, which is a yellow green with no tinge of blue. For the mistletoe you must have a light gray-green, also of a yellow tone, a light cardinal red for the brilliant holly berries, white for the waxy mistletoe berries and dark gray-brown for holly stems. One sheet each of the red and white paper will probably be sufficient for all the berries you will want, and one sheet of gray-brown will answer for the stems. Besides the paper you must have a spool of fine wire or coarse thread for winding and some natural bare branches or twigs, or a roll of heavy bonnet wire for stems.

Begin with the

=Holly=

and cut one sheet of the dark moss-green tissue paper in half (Fig. 395). Fold the half sheet according to the dotted lines through the middle and you will have Fig. 396. Fold Fig. 396 through the middle as shown by the dotted line and there will be Fig. 397. Bring the two ends of Fig. 397 together, folding at the dotted line, and it will give you Fig. 398. Again fold along the dotted central line and you will have Fig. 399. Fold through the middle, along the dotted line, for the last time and there will be an oblong, one and three-quarter inches wide by five inches long.

With a soft lead pencil draw the outline of a half holly leaf after the pattern (Fig. 400), the fold of the paper forming the straight edge of the outline. Cut along the pencil line, open the fold and there will be sixteen leaves like Fig. 401. The dotted line running lengthwise through the middle of the leaf shows where the paper was folded. Have a damp sponge ready and slightly moisten the fingers of your right hand on the sponge—never with your lips in handling green paper. Take one leaf in your left hand and with the moist fingers of your right hand twist each point of the leaf into a sharp spike, beginning at the top of the leaf as in Fig. 402. Twist the lower part of the leaf into a stem (Fig. 403) and, refolding the leaf down the middle, pinch the underside of the fold to form the mid-rib, bringing your two hands together and puffing the paper a little as you do so (Fig. 403). The finished leaf should resemble Fig. 404. The crinkled appearance given by pinching and twisting adds much to the natural look of the leaf. You may vary the size, making some leaves smaller than others, but keep as nearly as possible to the pattern, for experiment has proved it to be a good one.

Before putting your leaves on the stems make the

=Holly Berries,=

for they must be fastened on first.

From your red tissue paper cut a number of pieces two and a half inches square, make a little ball of raw cotton a trifle larger than a good sized pea and place it in the centre of one of the squares of paper (Fig. 405). Draw the paper up and around the ball, completely covering it, then twist the remainder of the paper into a stem (Fig. 406). Make three berries, twisting their stems as tightly as possible and bunch them. With your fine wire or thread, wrap the three stems closely together (Fig. 407) and cut off the ragged ends (Fig. 408). Take up a natural branch and wrap the stems of the berries to the end of a twig (Fig. 409). Cut a strip of the gray-brown paper half an inch wide and about four inches long, and, beginning close to the berries (Fig. 410), wrap the stem with the paper as shown in Fig. 411. Fasten three leaves to the stem close to the berries as in Fig. 412, and place other leaves about one inch apart, alternating first on one side then on the other side of the stem (Fig. 413).

When the holly is to be made into

=Wreaths,=

the branches should not be large and a small wooden or wire hoop should form the foundation of the wreath. Upon this hoop the small branches of holly must be bound, overlapping one another and extending out beyond the hoop to form a generous wreath. A bright red ribbon bow, fastened at the top of the holly wreath, gives it a still more realistic effect.

=For Mistletoe=

cut the gray-green tissue paper into pieces eight and one-half inches long by one and a half inches wide. Bring the two ends of a strip together, folding through the middle, to form the oblong (Fig. 414). Fold Fig. 414 lengthwise through the middle along the dotted line and on it draw the outline of half of a mistletoe leaf, with the straight edge on the long fold and the stem end on the short fold of the paper (Fig. 415). Cut along this outline, open the folds and you will have twin leaves like Fig. 416. Bring the two open leaves together and twist the connecting part into a stem like Fig. 417. Make a number of white mistletoe berries according to the directions given for the red holly berries and wrap them together in pairs; then nestling a couple close in between two leaves (Fig. 418) wrap them on the stem. The

=Stems=

of the mistletoe should be very irregular and branching, and it may be necessary to make them of bonnet wire in order to produce the proper shape.

Fig. 419 shows the branching irregular stem and the position of leaves and berries. Some of the twigs should be left bare, as they are so often on the natural mistletoe branch.

Fasten on the leaves and berries by wrapping with fine wire and then cover the stems with strips of the gray-green tissue paper, wrapping it as directed in making the holly branch. The only difference being that while the holly stem is wrapped with paper only far enough to cover the red stems of the berries and the leaves are put on afterwards, the mistletoe leaves must be fastened on with the berries and the entire stem then covered with the paper. You will remember that the stems of the natural mistletoe are as pale in color as the leaves, so no dark wood must show in your branch.

Hang your bunch of mistletoe from the chandelier and you will find that no one will stop to examine it too closely, and the Christmas games can be played just as merrily under the paper as under the real mistletoe.

There now remains but the

=Ropes of Evergreen=

to complete the time-honored Christmas decorations.

Fold a sheet of the dark moss-green tissue paper crosswise, then fold again and you will have an oblong a little less than four inches wide and the length of the paper’s width. Press the folds down flat and cut them open with a paper knife, then, keeping the strips together, fold crosswise through the middle; again fold crosswise through the middle and there will be an oblong like Fig. 420. Cut this oblong into a fringe, bringing the slits to within one inch of the top edge and making each strip not more than one-quarter of an inch wide (Fig. 420). Unfold and separate four pieces to loosen the fringe, then place the top edges of the four pieces together once more and, taking a long piece of strong twine, curl the right hand upper corner of the heading of the fringe over the twine near the end (Fig. 421). From this start to wrap the fringe around and around the twine forming the rope shown in Fig. 422.

When you have almost reached the ends of the first four strips of fringe, paste the ends of the headings of four more strips on to the first and continue to wrap as before. In this way you may make your evergreen rope as long as you wish.

There is just one word of caution which must go with the assurance of the real beauty of these Christmas decorations and that is: Remember to hang your wreaths and ropes where they will not be exposed to the flames of gas, candle or lamp, for while they are scarcely more inflammable than the natural greens, it is not well to take any risks and neither is it at all necessary. With this in mind your rooms may be inexpensively, prettily and safely decorated with the tissue paper Christmas greens.