After all cutting with edged tools has been completed, all pieces should be carefully sanded to insure the removal of all scars, pencil lines and other imperfections.

Sandpaper should be used on a small block. Care should be taken that no paper hangs over the block, thus rounding the edges of the work being finished.

In sanding over a first coat of shellac or paint a block is not used, but the sandpaper is folded two or three times and used under the finger tips. Care must be taken especially not to wear through the finish on the edges.

Paint is difficult and unsatisfactory for younger children to use. Colors handled by beginners will run together and will be "dauby" in appearance and a detriment rather than a finish to a toy. Added to this is the likelihood of a generous application on the painter's hands and clothing.

The writer has had excellent results in using the ordinary colored wax crayons on toys. Crayon is easy to apply, has a pleasing color tone, is clean and very satisfactory for the beginner. After all of a toy has been colored a fairly heavy line may be drawn free-hand, at the point of contact of the colors, with an ordinary drafting pen and India ink. Pains should be taken to see that the ink is dry in one place before applying in another. If the crayon has been put on with pressure and uniformly deposited over the surface the ink will "take" without spreading and the result is a clean-cut finished appearance.

For more advanced workers the toys should be painted with either commercial or enamel paints, which are available on the market in all colors, or with colors mixed by the boy himself. If the boy mixes his own colors much of the mystery of the ready-mixed paints is done away with.

By adding to white enamel a small amount of a selected color, ground in oil, various tones of the color may be obtained.

In painting any object a first or priming coat is applied. Flat white is an excellent all-round primer. After the priming coat has dried thoroughly on a toy, it should be sanded lightly to remove any rough places with No. 0 sandpaper and dusted. Then the final coat should be applied.

Gray is also very good for the first coat except where a white or very light colored paints are to be used for the finished coat.

When painting small toys or parts of larger toys it is economy to have a string or wire stretched between two hooks six or seven feet from the floor, on which to hang the painted article.

Drive an inch brad into some part of the toy that will not be seen, such as the lower edge of the animal toys, and attach a short length of string or wire to this and hang up as before described. This nail will be handy to hold the toy by while painting and when hung up is out of the way, is not touching anything to cause marks on the paint, and is high enough up to be where the temperature of the room will assist in the drying process. Remove this nail after the toy is dry. If possible toys should dry in a special room where it is quiet, with no dust stirring or drafts blowing, and where the temperature is fairly uniform, not falling below 60 degrees.

Paint should be applied with the tip of the brush, holding the brush nearly vertical, using a uniform stroke and taking care to prevent "tears" or surplus paint running over an edge. The brush should be in proportion to the size of the article painted, and the strokes should be outward toward the edges rather than from the edges inward.

Features and fine lines on the toys may be placed with No. 3 round sable brush or with India ink in an ordinary drafting pen. The latter method of outlining and drawing in features has proved most successful with the writer's classes, as the solidity of the pen allows a firm pressure on the surface of the work and insures a uniform line. Fine or coarse lines may be made by adjusting the pen to suit the desired need.

Considerable skill is needed to satisfactorily place lines with a fine pointed brush held in the hands of an inexperienced boy, and the drafting-pen method simplifies the problem immensely.

Adjoining colors, outlined by this method, improve the appearance of the toy fifty per cent.

Dull colors may be "livened up" by applying a coat of white shellac or varnish.

Toys having parts of various colors, such as carts, etc., should have the different parts painted before assembling.