How To Copy From Nature
To take the pattern of a natural flower, you must remove the petals
carefully, sorting out how many there are of an equal size. Take the
shape of one out of each set, in the following manner: Place the petal
upon a sheet of writing paper, holding it firmly to the paper with the
point of the fore finger of the left hand. Take a large brush containing
a very little colour and pass it round the edge. The exact form will be
left upon the paper without tearing the edges of the petal, even though
it were unusually fragile. When the requisite flower cannot be procured,
a proper pattern can be obtained at Soho Bazaar, or at my residence, 35,
Rathbone Place, where I am happy to receive visitors, daily, from ten in
the morning till six o'clock in the evening. Place the pattern upon the
dull side of the wax, and as the grain runs the length of the same, cut
each petal accordingly, for the wax takes the paint much better in that
direction.