The Carnation
(DIANTHUS.) Pure Love.
"Yon bright carnation--once thy cheek
Bent o'er it in the bud;
And back it gives thy blushes meek
In one rejoicing flood!"
This may be made in three varieties. The flakes are striped with broad
bands of colour, the bizarres are striped with three colours, and the
picotees have a narrow margin of streaks and spots; they are all
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painted with a sable brush. To enable the wax to take the fine pencil
marks, moisture from the lips must be conveyed with the finger to the
petal. Make the strokes or bands broad near the edge of the petal, and
gradually diminish them to a fine point towards the lower end. The
petals are curled as follows:--press each in the palm of the left hand,
and roll the head of the pin twice or three times down the painted side
of the petal, taking care to do so between, and not upon the stripes.
Roll the pin once up the back of the petal, commencing from the bottom,
and not extending the same above half-way up. Cover the stem with green
wax, and place the petals on in rows of five. The calyx is cut from
double wax (light green); it is in one piece, with five points. It is
shaded rather dark green in the centre, and the points tipped with red
(very faint.) It is passed round the tube of the flower; at the base of
the same affix six small pieces of wax, as scales.
The leaf is long and narrow, cut from double wax, and a fine wire
covered and placed between to support it. To give it the natural bloom,
pass it through the prepared arrowroot. The leaves are placed on the
stem two and two, to face each other, and a small piece of lemon wax
passed round, to represent the joint that is always visible in this
flower.