Umcaiter Farming. Saturda 38 Mrs . Evelyn Hess Crafts Have Crafts of all types and descriptions have become in creasingly popular over the past few years; however, for Mrs. Melvin (Evelyn) Hess, Hunsucker Rd., Lancaster, crafts have been a part of her life for some time. Mrs. Hess is one of a very few women who paint tinware and furniture as a hobby. The work takes time, patience and a real understanding which limits the number of individuals interested in pursuing such a craft. Mrs. Hess first became interested in painting by wat ching her sister paint minature furniture as a child. “An Amishman used to make minature wooden fur niture for us and my sister would paint designs on the small settees and dining room suites." “Ocassionally, I would help her with the work and became interested in painting." Painting designs on tinware took some instruction and Mrs. Hess learned as an apprentice from an area woman who had done much of the tedious work. Mrs. Hess proved to be an interested student and today has many works of beauty to substanciate her skills. To paint tinware and furniture, oil paints are employed. The actual designs may either be traced on the object or painted on free hand. Mrs. Hess has done numerous trays, tin pots and watering cans with floral and fruit arrangements as well as with scenes she has remem bered. Painting furniture is also a painstaking work as Mrs. Hess usually refinishes the furniture before the actual design painting is done. She has done several chests, decorating them with colorful designs and has also refmished bedroom suites and odd pieces of furniture. When asked how she decides what patterns to employ on a certain piece, Mrs. Hess admitted that it is not as easy as it may seem. “Some of the patterns are old ideas that have been used for many years,” she explained, “and others I just design or sketch from things I have seen while traveling.” One piece in her collection is a tray decorated with bluebirds resting on branches of blossoms. Mrs. Hess said die has seen a decoration to that effect on a card and adapted it to her idea for the tray. Not much of the modern furniture of today is hand Country Corner This week in Lancaster County, we experienced our first major snowstorm. Nearly six inches of powdery flakes blanketed the country side making the trees and houses seem like lonely silhouettes. All the weather might have embarrassed the groundhog yet hopefully spring will not be too far behind For many in this area and all over the state, spring will bring with it a myriad of activities to keep people busy. There will be plots to ready for the family garden, flower beds to prepare for the summer annuals and of course acres to be plowed and seeded for the summer crops. While there is still a lull before the rush, now is a good time to order seeds, clean and prepare garden tools and check machinery for loose belts, broken bolts and worn out parts Spring Check-Up With horse health problems now more complex than ever, it is adviseable to arrange a spring check-up for your horse Regardless of whether your horse is for pleasure or work, he still requires attention at this time. Veterinarians can check for internal and external parasites as well as vac cinating your animal if required Your veterinarian might suggest a vaccination for Clostridium tetani, commonly known as tetanus, since many horses are prone to injuries and cuts Other vaccinations you might consider for your animal include those for influenza and strangles contagious infections and those for en cephalomyelitis or sleeping sickness Thorough examination of your animal’s vital organs, teeth, eyes, ears and feet are also an im portant part of a spring checkup For more information on a spring check up for your horse or pony, please consult your veterinarian Read Country Corner next week for some con sumer news and tips Feb. 8. 1975 by: Melissa Piper Associate Editor with: Melissa Piper ASSOCIATE EDITOR Been A Part Of Her Life V ‘ / * J Mrs. Evelyn Hess displays one of the many trays she has decorated with an oil painted design painted as it was some years ago. Most of the decorated furniture today is imported from the European countries and Italy, and bears the designs of a few artists. Thus, Mrs. Hess has become one of a very few artists to keep the art of design painting alive in this country. Another Hobby One would think that painting as a hobby would be too time consuming to even think of having more. However, Mrs. Hess also takes pleasure in flower arranging. Most of the flowers that she uses in flower arrangements are grown by herself during the summer and dried or preserved for winter arrangements. Mrs. Hess uses status, straw flowers, baby’s breath, money plant and zinnias along with many other varieties to give her arrangements many different moods and textures. The money plant, a tiower with rounded disßs as blossoms, is quite effective and Mrs. Hess uses the plant for a distinct oriental effect while she combines zinnias, baby’s breath and numerous other varieties to create a Williamsburg type bouquet. One particularly interesting arrangement that she created consists of dried flowers and birds arranged in the center of a glass lamp. The glow of the lamp lends a warm yellow and gold effect to the arrangement, making it seem quite real, as if the viewer were looking at a minature flower garden. Many baskets of dried flowers laced with the delicate hues of the purple status and orange of straw flowers grace the Hess household along with line arrangements with painted tin pitchers as their base. Her favorite piece of work, Mrs. Hess displays the rug which she hooked using pieces of wool fabric. In the background is one of the many arrangements she has made with dried flowers. i t A > Along with her regular crafts, Mrs. Hess has done some decopauge work for her children as presents. Mrs. Hess admitted that although the work was fun, it was also very time consuming as the decopauge procedure takes quite some time. An area farmer cut the wood for Mrs. Hess’s pictures and with old prints she had, Mrs. Hess created pictures that were quite beautiful. , Decoupage is an old art which is accomplished by pasting a picture or print on a sanded piece of wood. The wood is then covered with layers of varnish or a decopauge finish which gives the finished product a dimensional appearance. Mrs. Hess did 18 pieces for her children with each picture requiring over thirty coats of finish. Hooking rugs has also been a favorite past-time for Mrs. Hess, who has become quite noted in that craft field. Mrs. Hess took a course in rug hooking at the Landis Valley Museum several years ago and started working on her own. The one piece which brought attention was a rug with a rose design which she made by tearing strips of wool to achieve her design. “Finishing the rug took quite awhile as I combed the area auctions buying old wool coats to use for the fabric,” she explained. “Often I had to dye the material until the certain hue I wanted was obtained.” It might have taken much time, however the finished product was quite worth the effort. Mrs. Hess traveled to several areas to explain rug hooking and displayed her favorite accomplishment which received many com pliments. Along with her many interests in crafts, Mrs. Hess is also a member of Farm Women Society 18 in Lancaster County and in her spare time likes to visit with people in the area who need company. It is with these mdividuals that she shares her faith and friendship often sharing reading material of a religius nature that she feels will be of help and guidance. And besides her other duties, Mrs. Hess likes working in her family’s garden and cans numerous varieties of vegetables for the winter use. Mr. and Mrs. Hess have four sons. Ken is a research worker at the Columbia University Medical Center; Mel is a law student; Don teaches school in Egypt and Rick, the youngest, is a senior at the. Lancaster Mennonite High School. A busy woman-yes, but Mrs. Hess usually seems to find the time for a little bit of all her favorite crafts. In fact, her present project is refinishing a jelly cupboard that belonged to her parents. Rug Hooking & Decopauge Want to Find a New Recipe? Read Home on the Range.
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