On this principle every kind of furniture can be made by any man who is ingenious enough to simply measure boards, cut square holes, and adapt pins to them. Such articles as are made by this process are very much stronger than any others, and they have the great advantage that they can be easily taken apart, packed, or be stored in very small space when not in use; and the style is of course more adapted to carving than ordinary furniture. The writer has in his possession chairs 250 years old made on this principle. The seat is a square nearly two inches thick, in which four holes are bored, into which the legs are simply set, as in a milking-stool. Between the hind legs two square holes are cut, into which similar tenons made in the lower end of the back are fitted. In these tenons two square holes are cut, just exactly on the other side of the seat, into which square pins are driven, Fig. 65. With a very little ingenuity or will, anybody can contrive to make any piece of furniture on the same principle. The seats of chairs and stools, or the faces of tables, should never be carved, for very apparent reasons. There is plenty of space for the carver to work at on the edges and legs, and this may be made striking enough by means of colouring and gilding, Figs. 64 and 66.

Boxes. These have formed in all ages favourite subjects for decoration. They vary from the smallest casket to the chest. A box with the lid forms five panels, or, seen from any point, three. In Italy, of old, they were often carved without and within. Boxes may be made by simply gluing, nailing, or screwing together, but they may be so dovetailed by an expert workman that the juncture is quite imperceptible. Vide “Forty Lessons in Carpentry Practice,” by C.F. Mitchell. Cassell and Co. It is a feat in cabinet-making to do this perfectly, and boxes thus joined are very expensive. The appearance of boxes is much improved by the addition of moulding-strips, bases, and projecting ornaments. The student is advised to carve or buy a few bosses, such as heads of animals or faces, and rosettes, and try the experiment of fitting them to a box or carving them on one, Fig. 67.

Caskets for Cigars. This applies also to receptacles into which glasses for flowers may be put. Take a cylinder of wood, turned, or made up like a barrel, and fit a base to it, and a lid. They may be made of very large joints of bamboo, which may also be beautifully carved, and partly coloured in the lines, as is common in China. It is best for turned cylinders and bamboo to have them surrounded with metal rings to prevent their splitting. They may also be made square, that is, as boxes.

Trays for Cigar Ashes. These are best when carved from hard wood, such as box, though any other may be used. It is much better that they be made rather larger and deeper than many in use, as ashes are continually being knocked out of small and shallow ones. They may be round or square, like a fish or a small book (with a lid), a shell, a tortoise, or a scooped hand, a face, or a figure of any animal or human being, Fig. 68.

Basket-work. This is very easily imitated in wood, and it forms a very pretty and fanciful style for many kinds of objects. Take any kind of basket-work, either that of split osiers, which are half-round, or Italian rush-work, or American Indian, which is made of flat strips of ash or pine-bark interwoven, or Indian rattan, and imitate it with flat gouges or firmers. It is very easy work, and beginners soon become expert in it. It improves the effect, when the work is finished, if dark colour be painted into the depressions. Basket-work may be used for diaper ground. The American Indian basket-work, in flat strips from one-third of an inch to an inch in breadth, is easiest to imitate, and may be executed with a single V tool or firmer.

Casks, Small Barrels, Kegs. These are useful for waste-paper boxes, or to contain canes and umbrellas. When carved and coloured they form very attractive articles of furniture. They may be used for garden seats. Heads of animals appliquÉ to these, some for handles to lift them, or else holes must be cut in them for this purpose, vide Fig. 56.

Frames for Pictures or Looking-glasses. These give a wide range to the wood-carver, for all borders are suitable to frames. Heads may be appliquÉ to corners and centres of frames. It is very much to be desired that designers and carvers would exert their inventiveness and endeavour to break up the monotony and feebleness which characterize most frames, vide borders and photograph frames.

Horns. Horns may be carved, as previously described, and imitations of them in wood are easily made. They are ornamental objects, and useful when hung up to contain small objects. They can, by steeping in hot water, be softened and flattened, vide initial to Fifteenth Lesson.

Tiles. These are really panels. They are pieces of wood from half an inch to an inch in thickness, the size of ordinary tiles, carved in bold relief with free hand, coloured or not, and are very useful for house decoration, chimney-piece borders, cornices, and corners. The tile when employed with much repetition becomes the diaper ornament.

Window Gardens to contain flower-pots. These are square chests, as long as the window is wide, and from a foot to eighteen inches in depth. They may be made with two or three panels, or one long panel in front, with one at each end. They form admirable subjects for decoration.

Albums, Portfolios, Book-covers. These are panels, and afford an infinite range of design and effects in wood-carving. They may be very beautifully and easily ornamented in mere stamping and outlining (vide Lesson II.), or by putting in diaper grounds, or basket-work, or by very low relief carving, in which case there should be a border in a little higher relief to protect the pattern from being rubbed, Fig. 70.

Canoes. In many countries large or real canoes are made from one piece of wood and elaborately carved. Very pretty miniature canoes may be made from one to three feet in length from any kind of wood, and covered with any kind of ornamentation. It is not necessary to excavate them from a single block or log, as they may be made from two or more pieces. They form useful receptacles for many objects.

Panels of Doors. These might be generally ornamented. Every kind of wood-carving is applicable to them, but it should be remembered that for all such decoration a large, free, and bold style is absolutely necessary, and that it is unwise to make mural work, which should be visible at great distances, out of pretty flowers or too delicate work. A room with good bold door-panels, wainscot, or dado and a frieze, seems half furnished, while trifling and feeble ornaments detract from such appearance. The great secret of the attractiveness of mediÆval and savage decoration is its energy. Even eccentricity and grotesqueness lose all that is repulsive in them when they are simply and vigorously set forth.

Carved patterns in low relief may be applied to door-panels.

Foot-stools. These are really small panelled boxes, unless made with supports or legs.

Benches. Simple benches are seldom decorated, but they are admirably adapted to it. Never carve the seats, unless they are made to fold up to protect them from the rain, in which case the under ornaments of choir-seats or misereres may be appropriately used. When the bench has a back it becomes a rude sofa or settee or settle (Anglo-Saxon setl, a seat). Properly speaking a settle is a long bench with a high back. This may be carved in panels. There was an old Saxon and early English double chair made to seat two, which is like a short settle.

Hanging Boxes. These are boxes generally made with a back, which is the longest piece, and which goes above and below the receptacle part. They are useful for newspapers or letters. Every kind of carving is applicable to them, Fig. 71.

Key Boxes. These are small hanging cabinets. In every family there are many loose keys of trunks and furniture lying about loose, and hard to find when wanted. If there were a key box they would always be readily found. Make a box or frame, let us say eighteen inches in length by ten inches width, of four strips of deal or any wood. These strips may be half an inch in thickness by an inch in width. Nail or glue them together so as to form the four sides of a box. Then take one or two or three strips of thin planed board, and neatly nail them on to form a back to the shallow box. Now take a panel, which is to form the lid or door of the cabinet. It will be better to make a narrow frame of four strips, and set the panel in this, as a door, with hinges and lock. This is to be hung up on the wall. It will very much improve the whole if the interior and outside of the cabinet, or all the deal, be stained to match the door, which, as it is to be carved, should be of walnut or oak, or some better class of wood. Then get some small silver or plated-headed nails and drive them in rows in the cabinet. The keys are to be hung up on these.

Cabinets. These may be in the nature of upright boxes with doors, with three sides ornamented, the fourth being placed against the wall, or three-sided for a corner. The forms of cabinets are extremely varied, and the artist should pass much time in designing them. They are of all sizes, from great armoires for clothing down to caskets. The word cabinet is derived from the French cabane, a cabin. The earliest dwellers in Italy made the receptacles for the ashes of the dead exactly like the cabins in which they dwelt.

Sabots or Wooden Shoes. These serve admirably to carve, and are very pretty when coloured or ivoried, bronzed in antique style, or otherwise ornamented. Sabots are useful to contain small articles, and may be turned into cigar-ash holders.

Umbrella Handles. These offer an inexhaustible field for the designer and carver of small objects.

Tankards. These and all kinds of cylindrical objects are the same as regards design as panels, only that the pattern when not in set divisions must be continuous, or going round without a break. They have been already described.

Pen and Pencil Boxes. A very convenient form is that of a round-turned wood, plain, upright jar. Small square or round carved boxes for such a purpose are not hard to make. They may be made like towers or castles, the trunks of trees, barrels, or almost any hollow objects.

Pilgrim Bottles and Powder Flasks. Take two pieces of board, each one inch thick, plane them smooth, and saw both into ovals exactly matching, of, say, six inches by ten. Cut away the centre from both. Fit them exactly. Then round each half in such a manner that, when brought together, they form a round ring, like a French loaf. Then carefully hollow out the centre of both, including the neck, and glue the halves together. Carve the outside, Figs. 72 and 73. During the Middle Ages such bottles were made of many sizes to contain gunpowder. They were carved from ivory or hard wood, and were covered with a very great variety of subjects, such as deer, dogs, wild boars, birds, cupids, scenes from the heathen mythology and the Bible, as well as ordinary grotesques.

Shrines or Reliquaries. This is the conventional name for boxes or caskets made exactly in the form of houses, the lid being one side of the roof. The shape is a convenient one for a box. They were covered with ornaments of the most varied or grotesque kinds.

Mummies. The Egyptian mummy or its outward box or sarcophagus forms an excellent subject for a useful box. Take two pieces of wood, adapt them to make a box, like the Egyptian type, that is, the lid being about one-fourth as thick as the box. AppliquÉ or glue more wood on to the lid, in the centre. The whole may be then smoothed into shape, painted and gilt, or else carved in low relief, or simply stamped. It may also be all gilt, and the dot work and shadows painted in brown or ivoried. Take for model a real sarcophagus. The work is not difficult, and the result will be a very handsome object.

Roman Sarcophagus. This is simply a square box carved in very high relief, after the pattern of a Roman tomb. The ornaments may be appliquÉ. These sarcophagi are very beautiful when ivoried.

Books. A very pretty pattern for a box is an old book of the twelfth or thirteenth century, with its clasps and other ornaments in high relief. One of the covers is set on hinges, and forms the lid. Care should be taken to polish and ornament the whole so as to look like an original. It was very common to make the sides of old books of wooden panels, which were carved in high relief. Silver and brass or iron clasps and studs taken from such old books may be bought in many bric-À-brac shops.

Staves or Alpenstocks. A staff four or five feet in length is more useful for a pedestrian going a great distance than a cane, and it is remarkable that it should have fallen into such disuse. In old times in northern countries they were often made square, the corners being slightly rounded, and were then covered with Runic inscriptions and ornaments. These were very often almanacks, so that a man wishing to know what was the day of the week or month had only to consult his staff, or to “up stick.” These were called clogs. They might be acceptable and useful to many tourists. They were commonly carved by the peasants, and a few may possibly still be found in Suffolk.

Spoons. Wooden spoons are easily carved and ornamented. It is very curious, that quite apart from any modern slang attached to the words “spooney” or “to spoon,” two spoons, from their fitting together exactly, are considered in many countries as a type of matrimony and perfect agreement. In Wales, as in Sweden and Algeria, it is usual to present a newly married couple with a piece of wood carved into the form of two spoons, and I myself possess specimens of such. If anyone wishes to establish the custom in England he would probably find that the present would be generally welcome. Two spoons in one cup are, it is well known, the sign of a happy marriage. I have seen large wooden spoons carved and painted and varnished, or gilt; two of these tied together with a ribbon were hung up as an amulet to secure peace.

Bellows. These are carved in low relief, and may be ornamented by simple indentation or outlining and stamping. It is the easiest course to get the wood and saw it out, half or one-third inch walnut or oak, and then carve it, and have the bellows made up, Figs. 74 and 75.

Platters. Take a piece of panel, one-third to half of an inch in thickness, and saw it out into any shape, such as that of a fish, a wild boar, a pig, a cat, a rabbit, tortoise, hare, etc., care being taken that the shape always approach that of a circle, an oval, or at least a diamond. Most animals can be drawn fitting into a circular border, as you can ascertain for yourself by putting a cat or a hare, etc., into a hoop. Indent with stamped work or carve in ribbon-work, low relief, finish and polish with care, dye black, and then oil or varnish. These are useful for interposing between cups, vases, etc., and the table-cloth. Very pretty effects may be produced by inlaying small discs of pearl or ivory to form the eyes, etc.

Lunettes and Spaces. It will often happen that there is over a chimney-piece or door, or under or over a window, a space like a semi-circle, or half an ellipse or oval, or square or rectangle of any kind, which might very well be filled in, and it will be found that, in most cases, there is nothing more appropriate than wood-carving. It will be an easy matter for anyone in the least familiar with drawing to adapt the designs in this work, or in the “Manual of Design,” to such spaces.

False Sofa-backs. When a plain flat lounge or sofa is placed against a wall its appearance may be greatly improved in one of two ways. Firstly, a carpet or cloth may be hung on the wall, just matching it in size and meeting it. Secondly, and this is very effective, get boards or panels made into a piece, just as broad as the sofa is long, and from two feet to any height you please. It may reach down to the ground, or begin with the sofa. Carve it. This will seem to be the back of the sofa, or a guard for the wall; in any case it will appear very well. It may be made of separate panels, say six or eight inches by twelve or sixteen, made up into a frame. Such pieces may be placed to back any kind of furniture which rests permanently against the wall.

Door Pieces. Panels just as long as the door is wide, and from one to two, three, or even four feet across, when carved, form handsome decorations to place above a door; they may also be used to place above windows. Inscriptions, or simple figures with ornament, look very well on them.

Outside or FaÇade Pieces. Many a house, be it mansion or cottage, which seems utterly prosaic and plain, might be greatly improved if between its windows, on the outside, there could be set ornamental panels. These may be painted, carved in stone, moulded of Portland cement or other artificial stone, and in many cases carved of wood. Ornamented inscriptions in old English, and simple figures, are suitable for these panels; in any case let those who adopt them try not to have the commonplace cupids and ornaments generally seen in mural decoration. It may not be in good form to be grotesque, but those who entirely avoid it are almost always commonplace. Fig. 76.

Wood or Coal Boxes. These are square boxes with lids, to be placed by the fireplace. The coal-scuttle, with the coals, may be placed in them. In carving everything of the kind it is a good idea to introduce ornamental lettering and appropriate mottoes.

Bread Platters. These may be seen in every fancy or furnishing shop where wooden wares are sold. They can be much improved by carving to serve as round panels.

Chimney-pieces. These generally consist of pilaster panels and strips, and anybody who can execute these in detail can have them made up. It is desirable for the pupil to copy a few or many chimney-pieces, great or small, from real ones, and adopt the ornaments from them. And as they are articles which receive a great deal of wear and tear and rubbing, it may be well to remember that too delicate finish is misplaced where scrubbing with soap and sand is sure to set in some day, and where, at any rate, dusting and other processes are inevitable. After a few years the foliage or flowers undercut to the last degree, begin to shed their leaves, and appear broken or ragged. Good flat-carving, which endures anything, is better than this, and the roses, even if in high relief, would look none the worse for being solidly though conventionally cut. A good chimney-piece and a handsome high-backed armchair can be very well executed by anybody who can do ordinary panel carving.

There is no fireplace in even the humblest cottage for which a chimney-piece may not be made. Its upper portion can in most cases be made to support shelves or a cabinet; when in a corner these of course are triangular. Gothic or ornamented lettering may be used in the ornament. For this, proverbs or quotations relative to the fireplace are appropriate.

Beams. When the beams which support the floor above are left exposed, the room is improved by being made higher. If these beams are carved, even if it be done rudely, the whole room seems to be adorned. This is strikingly the case when the beams are stained a dark brown, and then touched up a little on the prominent points with gilding. If it be too difficult to carve the beams in situ or in place, it is easy to ornament them with applied carved ornaments. Pains should be taken to make these appear to be uniform with the wood.

Racks. These may be for umbrellas, hats, garments, pipes weapons, and other purposes. Great ingenuity and taste can be developed in designing them. Of one thing let the designer be very careful. Let him see that the pegs or hooks are strongly fixed and are not ornamented. I have seen such pieces of furniture, in which a four-cornered sharp-edged flower is placed once and even twice on a hook, while on others there is at the end a projection more than an inch in diameter, which is flat on the back or under side, with a sharp edge. The result is, that when a coat is hung by the loop on such a peg and is then turned or twisted once or twice, as often happens, it is almost impossible at times to get it off.

The Boss or round central projection formed a very important part or speciality in mediÆval wood-carving. It can be advantageously used as a centre, and sets off to good effect surrounding flat or plain carving. It is sometimes used as a handle for chests. It is, when a simple half-circle, very easily sketched into shape. It may be formed into the head of an animal, a flower, a single curling leaf, or several leaves. The student is specially urged to copy as many as he can from Gothic designs. A boss at the bottom of a bowl, or in a saucer or plaque, produces a good effect, the concave surface round it making a beautiful effect of shade, which might be more frequently employed by picture-frame makers. This ornament, which is very easily made and very striking, is thus prepared. Get a bowl or a shallow round platter; any turner will make one for you. Then carve from a hemisphere of wood a head or a boss of leaves or flowers, or a dragon. Round the bottom with a file to fit, and with glue and a screw fasten it to the bowl. The interior of the bowl may be polished, varnished, gilded, or ivoried.

Clock Cases. A common clock is not very expensive, and when it is properly repainted and set in a well-carved frame its value will be very much enhanced. A tower is a very good subject for a clock case.

Vestibule. The small ante-hall, between the first and second door, common in very many houses. This can be ornamented with a wainscot or dados in long panels. It is very often thus decorated in America. For cottages and country houses, or even for town mansions, such panels may be beautifully and fitly decorated with gouge-work in grooves, a flat pattern in simple cutting-in, such as any person may learn how to execute in a few hours. Fill in the pattern or cuts with dark paint, and if exposed to changes of temperament or rubbing, let it be oiled or varnished. The same work is of course as appropriate to halls as any other rooms, but the vestibule, being small, may serve for a beginning.

Staircase Balusters. These afforded inexhaustible work for the artists of the olden time, and they should be tempting to every wood-carver. It is not at all necessary that they should be strictly of open work, in lattices or rails, as beautiful objects of the kind were once often made in panels. But the carver should especially be aware of projecting leaves or crochets, as they are very apt to “catch” garments.

Garden-work. Much bold wood-carving may be executed for gardens in a great variety of forms. Stands or tables for potted flowers and tubs may be decorated, panels placed in walls, and summer-houses made in far greater variety than they are at present. Poetry supplies an infinite variety of inscriptions appropriate to gardens, which may be carved and ornamented. It is worth noting that statues of Flora and Pomona and Vertumnus in simple archaic forms were used to protect gardens and orchards among the Romans, and it would be an easy matter to carve these in low relief in panels.

Gates. The gates of country places, gardens, etc., afford a wide scope for the skill of the carver, and as they are the first objects generally seen about a house they may be most appropriately ornamented. In this, as in much other work, the art of the carpenter is combined with that of the carver. It should be, however, remembered, as regards gates, as of all decoration whatever, that anything which can ever be in any manner in the way is not beautiful, sensible, or proper. There should never be a jagged or pointed ornament wherever it can “catch” clothing.

Bedsteads. The bedstead was of old considered so appropriate for carving, that I find in an excellent old Italian work on furniture more illustrations of this article than any other. Even very simple and cheap ones may be redoubled in value by a little judicious carving.

Trays. These may be made in great variety, to contain many kinds of objects. As a rule the tray is a long shallow box, but it may be carved from one piece of wood, and is then used to carry objects in, the single piece being necessary to give it strength. If ornamented with carving the tray forms an attractive object when hung up on the wall. And it may be here remarked that one great object of all carving is, that most objects which are useful in some way shall be ornamental when not in use. We do not wish to have trays and coal-boxes in the way if they are plain, but when decorated they serve as well as pictures to ornament a room.

Coal or Wood Boxes. See Wood or Coal Boxes.

Salt Boxes, Collection Boxes. These very useful articles need not be limited as regards contents, nor confined to the kitchen or to “collection.” If the part of the box which goes against the wall, or its back, be lengthened, the salt box becomes a kind of bracket. Vide Hanging Boxes.

Shelf-boards. It very often happens that a literary man, or draughtsman, or architect, though his work-table may be large, finds it crowded with books, etc. To find place for these the shelf-board is very convenient. It is simply a board, let us say one foot wide, placed on two supports, which lift it twelve or fifteen inches from the table. To economize room these supports may each be a square open box, in which books may be placed. The advantage of this shelf is that it may be displaced at any time when the table is cleared. A plain board in a room is not an attractive object, its edge, or even one side of it, may therefore be carved.

Brackets and Bracket Shelves. These useful objects may be made in a great variety of forms. The simplest is merely three pieces of board fastened together in a triangle. In the illustration, Fig. 77, there are five pieces. The centre of b slopes at an angle of 45°. Bracket shelves are made by hanging two brackets and laying a board across them. A bracket may be made on a longer board, and have two or more shelves, it then becomes a hanging rack or cabinet. Or the support may be a long strip in which pegs of wood or metal are placed, on which objects are hung. A very great variety of carved or stamped ornament may be adapted to brackets.

Violin and Guitar Cases. In the old times these were often elaborately carved, and thus formed an ornament, instead of being, like all now used, anything but attractive.

Handles for Drawers. The hanging or hinge style of old-fashioned handles, now so prevalent, has the drawbacks of not being always easy to open or “find,” and of frequently breaking. The knob, which was screwed on, was always wearing out and getting out of order. The best and most practical kind is made with a square shank which passes through a square hole in the drawer. It has also in itself a square hole into which a square pin is driven, which holds it fast. Carving in very low relief may be applied to ornament these handles, but it should never be such as to produce positive inequalities, such as press into, or may hurt the hand. If the pin be slightly wedge-shaped, it can never wear out, nor can the handle become loose, since when it does, all that is required is to drive it in further. A very plain chest of drawers may be made much more attractive with a handsome set of handles. Handles are another form of bosses.

Applied Ornaments. Old Roman bronze coins, such as may be bought for two or three pence, are often quite handsome enough to be applied with beautiful effect in caskets, tankards, or boxes. Lay the coin on the wood, draw its exact circle with a pin, and do this until the line is rather deeply scratched. Cut out the disc with great care, so that the coin may fit tightly into it. For this purpose very thick coins are preferable. Let it project a little from the surface. Fasten it in with diamond or Turkey cement. Of course, medals or coins of any kind may be used. Make a border in the wood round the coin, and if you like, apply other ornament to this border. Large nails with circular boss heads are very effective in furniture. Chests may be beautifully ornamented with them.

Waste-Paper Box. A carved box is much more “sightly” and solid than an ordinary waste-paper basket. The box may be carved in a basket pattern, and made rather wider at the top than the bottom.

Borders. Any ornament continued in a line or strip forms a border. A wave line, or one made of hemi-circles, joined or not with ornaments in every compartment, is a good plan for a border. So is a vine of any kind. When the hemi-circles are squared and joined, it becomes the basis for the Greek Meander or Wall of Troy. Angles and other forms are also used. Any diaper may be repeated so as to form a border. Borders around panels and other margins, and all along the edges of boards for shelves, brackets and most of the works mentioned in this list, may be executed in highly decorative effect, and with an ease and precision difficult to attain by carving, with the hammer and stamps mentioned in the first lesson. Lines are first drawn on the work as guides to place the punches to insure regularity.

Pilaster. Though this term is generally applied to what may be called a flat-sided pillar against a wall, or a flat half pillar, in wood-carving it means quite as often a perpendicular border in relief. Like borders, pilasters are used in many ways in decoration, as on walls, bureaux, cabinets, sideboards, tables, or wherever a long “strip” is to be filled.

Base Moulding. This is generally a border which is the lower portion of a piece of furniture, etc. Thus, if there is a panel and frame, and under this, just over the “feet,” a carved strip, it is a base moulding. Narrow fillets on these may be also decorated by stamping.

Sideboard or Buffet. A piece of furniture eminently adapted to ornament. It may be made with a back or with shelves, niches, or a cabinet placed on it instead of a back.

Alms Boxes, Money Boxes. These are made up for churches, generally after Gothic designs, and afford a wide range of design.

Lectern. A church reading desk. This has always been a favourite subject with wood-carvers, Fig. 78.

Ends of Pews. A favourite subject for carvers in the days of old, vide Fig. 80.

Porte-papier. A very useful article to carry paper, or a sketchbook, or to press leaves and flowers and convey them home. Take two pieces of board, from one-third to one-half an inch in thickness, and six inches by eight in size, more or less as may be desired. The paper is placed between these boards and the whole secured with a hand-strap. It is usual to carve a flower pattern on these.

Ring or Circular Boxes. Take a board, of any thickness, e.g. one of two inches, and make of it a disc or circle, using the steel fret saw, Fig. 16; then marking out another circle within this, saw out a ring about three-quarters of an inch in thickness. Adapt to this a bottom and lid, both, of course, also circular. It will be like what is known as a cheese box. To double the depth saw out two rings and glue them together. This will give four inches depth. Boxes may thus be made of any shape, such as a fish, and then carved.

Photograph or Mirror Frames, or Mounts. Take a piece of thin board, six inches by four or five, or any size required. Cut out of one corner of this as much as will be required for the photograph or mirror, leaving enough wood for a pattern. These have become very popular of late, Fig. 79.

Triptych. Two folding covers or boards on hinges, intended to cover a picture or carved or enamelled or inlaid work. These triptychs may be used reversed as writing desks, or else carved on both sides, and then when open hung on the wall as ornaments. When there are only two boards, as in an album, it is called a diptych.

Encoignures. Tables made with an angle to fit into a corner of a room.

Shields. Carved in wood, these form beautiful ornaments.

Incitega. A kind of stand or table for flowers. It was generally made of rods or strips, but it may be very easily formed like a box, that is, a truncated pyramid reversed. The sides are carved.

Monopodium or Centre-table. A small circular table supported on a central stem or foot, used by the ancients at social entertainments.

Orb. A globe covered with ornaments carved in low relief. They form very effective decorations.

Finial. A terminating ornament, corresponding to a flower as a crochet does to a side leaf, Fig. 80, etc.

Coin-brackets. Brackets made to fit into the corner of a room.

Corner-cabinets. Cabinets adapted to a corner of a room. There are also coin or corner objects of furniture of all kinds.

Mouldings. These are narrow borders or strips, and are very effective in giving relief in long spaces. A good effect for a full border, a diaper ground or a broad pattern, may often be made by doubling, trebling, etc., mouldings. By using the folding mirror a segment of any moulding or border may be converted into an ornament to fill up any given space, of any shape. There are several tools specially made for cutting figures in mouldings.

Poppy-heads. There are many cases where carving may be applied with good effect to relieve bareness. “Such ornaments, generally small groups of foliage” (though often figures with leaves), “were formerly placed on the summits of bench-ends desks, and other clerical wood-work” (F.W. Fairholt). Poppy-heads can be placed, however, or adapted, to all kinds of furniture, with a variation in form, Fig. 80.

Sconce. A wall candlestick, which usually takes the form of a projecting bracketed support in wood or metal. They originated in the fifteenth century, and were generally of enriched design. They may be sawed out of boards, or carved in many forms.

Trellis-screens. These are thin boards of open lattice-work, generally made by fret-sawing and subsequent carving. They are useful to place behind windows, and for many purposes.

Tympanum. A triangular space, which may be filled in with carved ornament.

Verge or Barge-board. The gable ornament of wood-work, used extensively for houses in the fifteenth century. It affords a wide field for decoration.

Wreaths. Carved circles or rings of wood, which form beautiful ornaments, especially when hung up at intervals. They may be used for picture-frames, Fig. 81.

Acerra. A square box, on legs or supports.

Heads and Legs. When a cylinder, or square stick, or horn, or oval box, is made to rudely resemble a figure by adding to it a head and legs, this is so called.

Ædicula. A small house or tower, generally used as a box. Very effective and beautiful articles are thus made.

Ante-fix. Ornament carved in stone or wood, or made from terra-cotta, “to give an ornamental finish or to conceal unsightly junctions in masonry” (Fairholt). There are few country houses or cottages where they cannot be applied.

Ciborium, Synedoche. Very richly adorned receptacles in which the Host is kept. They may be imitated for cabinets. In Spanish churches they are called custodia.

Cyma. A moulding consisting of a round and hollow conjoined, termed cyma recta when hollow above, and cyma reversa when the cavity is below.

Modillons. Brackets in Gothic architecture, the lower portion often in the form of a grotesque animal or human being.

Hand Mirrors. These afford an endless field for design. Fig. 82.

Echinus. The egg and tongue or egg and anchor moulding, much like the heart and dart ornament. It is easily made and is very effective. Faces may be cut on the “eggs.”

Outlines. Figures of men, animals, etc., cut or sawed out of boards, and either painted or carved. They are common in Italian churches. They form very effective hanging ornaments. Birds can be adapted to beautiful outlines.

Hammer Beam. The projecting end of a beam, often carved.

Hood Moulding. The moulding which covers or surmounts a door or window on the outside, forming a sort of hood or weather-guard. It is also called a dripstone or weather moulding. It can be beautifully ornamented, and thus becomes a striking decoration.

Impost. The horizontal moulding on the summit of a pillar from which the arch springs.

Console. (French.) Brackets in furniture.

Perfume Chests. Boxes with perforated lids in which is kept pot-pourri of rose leaves, or a mixture of powdered orris-root and spice.

Churns. A carved churn is a fanciful ornament, used to contain papers, etc. The handle is fixed to the cover and serves to lift it.

Handles for Bowls, Cups, or Boxes. These are sawn from board from one half to an inch in thickness, and then fastened to the bowl or box, generally with screws. When gracefully or quaintly shaped they convert any ordinary bowl or tankard, with very little trouble, to an attractive ornament. They are almost peculiar to Sweden and Norway, where they may be seen in museums in very great variety.

Bark Frames. A curious and striking ornament may be made in this manner. Take a piece of cork, oak, or other bark, which may be a foot in length by six inches. Make in it an oval or circle, in which carve any subject. The writer once had an image of the Virgin thus carved, which was much admired. Dark brown bark is much improved by having gilding roughly spread on its projecting points. If the ground of the carving be gilt and the bark left in its natural condition the effect will also be good.

Three-legged, or Milking Stools. These are commonly carved on the seat. Ornaments may be carved and better applied as in Fig. 83.

Fig. 83. Three-legged Stool.