£ _s._ _d._ Lantern 0 15 0 Colours 0 10 6 Glass 0 5 0 Paper 0 1 0 Varnish 0 1 0 ----------- £1 12 6
With these colours and glass I have painted 250 slides, which to buy would cost two shillings each, and the cost of lantern and 250 slides would thus be:--
£ _s._ _d._ Lantern 1 16 0 250 slides at 2_s._ 25 0 0 ------------ 26 15 0 1 12 6 ------------ £25 2 6
Besides this, you have the double pleasure of making the lantern and painting the slides, and showing it as your own work. The picture shown by this lantern will be nine or ten feet in diameter, and will be large enough to show full-sized slides if you should at any time buy any. If you do buy, I should recommend the uncoloured photographs (1_s._ 6_d._ each), to be got at all shops where they sell lanterns. By making two of these lanterns you can use them for dissolving views, which is by far the best way to exhibit the slides. Many brilliant effects can be obtained with two lanterns that it would be impossible to do with a single lantern. I should certainly advise you to try this. Both lanterns can be made at the same time; the directions for one will do for both. But we must get on with our description.
First of all get a carpenter to cut you a deal board, free of knots, six feet six inches long, nine inches wide, and half an inch thick. This must be planed smooth on both sides. If you have a plane, do this yourself. Now with a fine saw cut four pieces off the board, each twelve inches long, and two pieces nine inches long. These are to make the body of the lantern with. Take two of the long pieces and the two short pieces, and reduce the width to six inches. These will be the top, bottom, back, and front of the lantern. Now you must put the pieces together by dovetailing; or you had better get the carpenter to do this for you, as unless you are used to this work you would be sure to make a mess of it. Do not glue the pieces together yet. Take the piece of wood that is to serve for the top, and draw lines with a pencil from opposite corners, like Fig. 1. Now with a pair of compasses, open one inch and a half apart, put one point at the point where the two lines cross each other, and mark a circle with the other point. This circle must be cut out either with a keyhole saw or with a gouge, smoothing off with a rough file.
